A PERSONAL LIFE UNDER WATER (Donna Brazile Lauds W )

'I'M a woman, 45 years old, whose birth certificate says 'Negro,' and I was Al Gore's campaign manager. With all that layin' on top of me, I thought nothin' could ever scare me."

CNN regular Donna Brazile, who now runs her own company out of D.C., was born in a Louisiana charity hospital. Mother a maid, father a janitor, dirt poor, no running water, Donna is one of nine children. The hurricane devastated them. She says: "I'm an African-American whose life has been a victory. But then came Katrina."

The family's whole area was under water. Her diabetic dad couldn't leave and was rescued after five days, dead bodies floating in his face. His only chair, a rocking chair, destroyed in 8 feet of water. One sister wasn't found for six days. Another's children, in the care of an older child, drowned. A disabled sister in a nursing home was only located after Donna appealed on CNN and offered $500 for someone to go there and look. The Wildlife and Fisheries operation eventually found her. An elderly cousin was raped in the Superdome. There was an autistic niece who couldn't help herself. An uncle lay trapped in an attic nearly a week.

Said my friend Donna: "Any day that you finally found someone, all you could do was burst into tears."

Then: "No difficulty with anyone putting up a casino, but the levee problem, which has been with us for centuries, never got fixed."

Donna Brazile's DNA is Democratic. During 2000's famous fateful vote, she was in Florida fighting that system that produced those chads that rejected her candidate and elected his opponent. But, today, as President Bush is pummeled for inadequacies in the wake of this tragedy, she's his fierce defender.

"Right now we need a president who will help. He's helping. I'm so grateful. Poverty and misery is humbling. I'm humbled to the core that this administration is helping the poorest of the poor. Why beat up on a president who's helping? When I'm calling around for willing hands, I'm not worrying about party affiliation.

"Like my aunt's a nurse. But she had no supplies. I called my friend Trent Lott, the senator from Louisiana. He got supplies to her.

"Kicking people who are working 24/7 to bring assistance? I don't think so. When I needed to relocate my family, some of whom were sick and on welfare, when I needed to find them housing, white people opened their hearts and homes. A Red Cross volunteer found my father. I've seen Anne Rice's house. It's in 5 feet of water. People, white and black, are reaching out to one another. If the government didn't act quickly, the people acted quickly. It's no time to play the race card."

Donna wrapped up the Louisiana mentality simply. "I know how poor people think because I was one of them. You got to think like the poor people do. Cash is king. I was able to find my family because I used what money I have. Without a credit card, you can't do nothin'. These folks couldn't get to an ATM. Even if they could, which they couldn't, they hadn't anything to withdraw. Poor folks get their checks the first of the month. This hit Aug. 28. They had no money left to get out of town.

"Their lives have since taken three stages: Shock. Anger. Depression. Finally, they're withdrawn. Their houses are gone. They never lived in another city. They're scared. Traumatized. They feel abandoned. At sign of rainfall, they quiver. Some donations brought goods that included picture frames. The frames have been put up. But the frames are empty. These victims haven't a single photo to put in them.

"When I was there, I heard cries for help during the night. Sound travels faster over water. Ever since, I've had nightmares. I dream I'm drowning. I hear my mother crying. She's worrying about the woman she worked for. And my mother's dead 16 years."

This Brazilnut's tough to crack. Hard on the outside, sweet on the inside. She tells you straight out: "Look, I know who I am. I know my only power is my mouth. I have been known to upset people. And I used what I had because Katrina was an equal-opportunity destroyer.

"These people are hurting. You can't put roadblocks in front of them. Can't tell them to go file an application. They don't know how. They have no computers. They have nothing. They're lost. Don't embarrass them. They've been humiliated enough.

"Girl, I only tell you, I applaud this president for stepping up."

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