A MASTERPIECE OF OBFUSCATION

1. Valerie left...

This is not a rhetorical question. I'd really like to know what you think. More to the point, I'd like a whopper infusion of HOPE, or, I'd like some industrial strength HOPE, please, and uh, hold the whopper, hold ALL the whoppers.

Okay, the question. Let's start with New Orleans local government. How many times, call it optimism or naivety, have some number of us watched as a fresh faced, newly elected candidate began his tenure as The Man. (Sorry girls, to date, none of us has been elected. That might be on the, well, delusional side of hope.) Back to the fresh face of THE MAN.

Optimism seems reasonable enough, such as in the case of Ray, before he morphed into C-Ray. Ray wasn't a career politician, check. Business savvy, a plus for the city, check. Had not been reared on the pabulum of political corruption, in any obvious way, check, check, check. Had proven, to some reasonable extent, an ability to succeed as a professional, a leader, one with what would pass for an internal value system, check, cha-ching, check.

Nagin, a nice enough guy, native New Orleanian, seemed sane enough, that, or his meds were very well regulated. I admit it. After "stamp my name on every garbage in the city, Marc," I was ready for a guy who thought it highly inappropriate to measure the success of Mardi Gras by the tons of garbage cleared from the streets on Ash Wednesday.

Hey, I thought with enthusiasm, I really like that! I haven't heard a word about that particular statistic since he declared our success was not proportionate to the amount of crap we generate and toss on the street. Nagin started out looking and sounding pretty good, at least to me.

Oh yeah, so here is the question. Is it possible, no matter who you are, to be sent into the Jaws of the Lion of City Hall, and not, in an essential way, be The Influenced, rather than the successful Advocate for Change?

Say the guy has a burning fever for going to set that place on fire and build a new one, moving with the momentum of a speeding train, say the Bullet in France kind of momentum, and then, SMACK, run right into the fortress of, New Orleans City Hall. City Hall, where THE MAN is, to the contrary, ceremoniously masticated and assimilated into the bowels of City Hall culture.

What are the qualities requisite to be the Impactor, and not the Compacted? I have only witnessed the latter. So, what about it? What will it take to displace a culture of not yet to be purged, pure bullshit?

Sorry, the theme of crap just took on a whole life unto itself while thinking and writing about this wasteland of City (not) leadership.

Okay, that's the question. Could we sit on our stoops, drinking ice tea, or beer, or wine, and chat about it? Besides, if we don't do something different, if we do not clearly cogitate on that which we desperately want, define it, and actively pursue it, we are going to continue getting what we've always gotten. Our moldy, stinking City government must change, if we are ever to arrive at a place we can comfortably call home again.

2. Editor B left...

Valerie, in quick answer to your question, which is a good one, I'd say y'all got fooled again. (I use the second person because I never voted for him.) Nagin was just never what you thought he was. He was never the Great Impactor. Maybe he just looked that way because of his predecessors. That's only my opinion of course.

3. MAD left...

I can just picture this minion sitting down to write this flowery, optimistic, misleading prose. I suspect his instructions at the NOCVB were: "give me the most cheerful spin you can possibly put on every possible negative thought or question that might enter anyone's mind". This guy is a genius.

4. Maitri left...

Starting January on, Nagin became The Manchurian Candidate. This is why I didn't vote for him even though I was up until Christmas time. Guy needs a break - he's too tired and is letting the self-appointed cabal, headed by Couhig, do his work. Nagin is just there to make the displaced African-American population think the city's going to come back for them, while it's not.

5. Valerie left...

Editor B, sounds about right. In this case, I guess we should remember, at LEAST in the matter of voting for mayor, relativism can be some dangerous. Listen, I think those of us who got it wrong, based on relativism or whatever, would be happy to pass the hat and hire you. Apparently we are in need of a human litmus test. Next election, let's meet here. You can lend us some much needed clarity of perspective, before we walk into that little curtained booth, and pull the wrong damn lever. We just can't take another round of the Greatly Compacted. Perhaps we can form the Citizens Against Crappy Mayors Alliance, that would be, CACMA. Thanks EB.

6. adrastos left...

I voted for Nagin the first time around but planned to vote against him even pre-K. He was clueless pre-K BUT he had a better press operation and a protective press corps who swallowed everything whole. He accomplished very little pre-K because he surrounded himself with sycophants and listened to no one. The beat obviously goes on.

I also think we would have been better off with, I daresay, Morial or C Ray's foe Pennington during the crisis. C Ray hid out. I know the TP claimed that his enemies were Doug Brinkley's sources BUT that wasn't true. Jackie Clarkson and his then flack Sally Forman were the sources for his bizarre behavhior. Nagin never went to the Dome once after sending people there: Meemaw went, Mitch went.

One reason we're in the mess we're is that Nagin only believes in one thing: himself. That's why he hid out at the Hyatt when others were out helping people immediately post-K.

7. Brooks left...

This is my favorite part-

Why did New Orleans recently call for National Guard troops? On June 20, 2006, Governor Blanco, with the support of Mayor Nagin and the New Orleans City Council, requested the assistance of the Louisiana National Guard to support the New Orleans Police Department and monitor outlying areas of the city badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The National Guard has been assigned to patrol the outlying damaged and sparsely populated neighborhoods of the city. This will allow the NOPD to increase their patrols in the tourism areas and historic parts of the city, enhancing the already good safety record these districts enjoy. The city recently experienced some enhanced drug-related violence concentrated in a couple of isolated neighborhoods miles away from the CBD, French Quarter and Convention Center areas. The addition of the National Guard allows the NOPD to place extra attention on these areas to keep them safe as they rebuild.

Apparently, the guy needs a map. He could have used this one:

(there is no link to the map that appeared in the Pic several weeks back. That is due to the fact that The Picayune's website is a piece of junk and the search feature is completely useless)

What the map would have shown that instead of writing "several miles" the guy should have written something like, "several blocks, and, really, the chances that this will happen to you are pretty slim. Our miscreants rarely shoot tourists-though that's not to say that it doesn't happen. We can assure you that your chances of getting killed are pretty slim and we would, once again, like to invite you to come on down and enjoy our mysterious and beguiling city. Look for our new slogan, coming to a billboard near you; "New Orleans. Come on down. You've got a pretty good chance of not getting shot!"

8. Val left...

I voted for Nagin the first time, and planned to vote for him again, until the news of sucking his thumb in the Hyatt hit. It probably helped Nagin that so many of us closest to the fallout of Katrina were immediately without access to local information, limited to the great job Robinette did on WWL. Besides, we were busy hunting down lost friends and family, clearing roads, and piling tons of debris at West End Blvd.

Next, there were those of us who could, rearranging our houses and lives to provide support for those of us whose homes and histories were soaking in the hazmat. For months following Katrina, we were focused on the demand of the moment. And, we were struggling with survival issues, shock, loss, and overwhelming grief. Lucky break for C-Ray.

Nagin had some time off the big radar and used it well to put some distance between himself and his meltdown during the Katrina crisis. For many people, the one thing heard about Nagin's performance, was his giving Bush a national cursing out, and, well, whatever one thought of Nagin's judgment, it had some appeal. Most people took vicarious pleasure in the anger Nagin deftly directed at Bush, giving him full responsibility for the tragedies suffered.

Brinkley described this infamous rant as Nagin emerging from his tree house temporary, to apparently blow a gasket at a deserving Bush, only to retreat immediately back into his cave. Most folks just got the Nagin blasting Bush piece of it, repeatedly. If Nagin had picked one thing to do in the five minutes he spent in a suit instead of his jammies, what better action than to direct everyone's anger at Bush in such a manner as to raise the eyebrows of the entire country? Surely, this, and the national eye popping chocolate city comment were no accidents. Nagin, yeah, crazy like a fox. The proof is in the outcome, and Nagin actually, incredibly is still the Mayor of New Orleans.

As communications were restored, the story of Nagin's meltdown was still fragmented for the majority. Brinkley's book was one pivotal point, I think, in bringing so much of what happened, including Nagin's crying for his momma up on the 42nd floor of the Hyatt, to the attention of the larger population here. And, the facts just keep rolling in. One thing is for certain, Cohig used Nagin and Nagin, Cohig.

Landrieu was decent throughout his campaign, and what did the media call him for his restraint? Lackluster. Yeah, the same guy hauling water logged, half starved and terrified people out of the Ninth Ward in his own boat, for days, lackluster.

Nagin is a punk. And oh, he is the Mayor too.

9. Loki left...

Landrieu did run a lackluster campaign, far more so than any he has ever run. He also did nothing to differentiate himself from Wonka-boy. Seems almost as though he did not really want the onus of being the Mayor in the Hot Seat.

Keep in mind that whoever won we would be castigated by national media. With Nagin the reasons are obvious, he is a shattered personality who did not have many marbles to begin with. In Landrieu's case it would have made us the poster city for African American Disenfranchisement.

Could it be that a showing was needed for the L supporters who fund his campaigns? Could it be that he realised his political career, like anyone getting the spot, would end with this office?

Thoughts to ponder. In the meantime pass me some more of that Wonka chocolate, I want a head start on my political diabetes....

10. Val left...

Loki, just out of curiosity, would you define "lackluster?" This will confirm we are talking roughly about the same thing. Wonka-Boy, (love that), on the other hand, played the I'm Cuckoo for CoCo Puffs game masterfully. He incited a range of negative emotions across the country with his nutty, chocolate city, staged, gaff. The proof really is in the outcome. And this dude is the Mayor. Ray Ray got a whopping power stroke from PLAYING on the I'm just a shattered, clueless, stressed out guy theme. The media was all over it, and Nagin never had to spend a dime on that very effective national exposure. Coast to coast, he was the idiot of the month, the critizism and attacks on him rousing the ire of the African American community. Nagin weasled his way back to city hall by mobilizing misdirected rage. Old C-Ray instigated the country making the displaced Black community roaring pissed off. If they were homesick, depressed, immobilized with grief, they got over it in the vortex he created through the insinuatiions loaded in his chocolate city BS. Anger and action winning over previous passivity in this situation was the good news; the manipulation by C-Ray was reprehensible. That people were motivated out of their homesick passivity and rose up in defiance to fight for their piece of ground is appropriate. And, at least in part, Nagin exploited the toxicity of racism in New Orleans for his own agenda. Nagin, per usual, took the low road, and misrepresented himself as fighting for the Black community, ironcially by enlarging the issue of racial divide. You may well be correct in your assertions of ML and his lack of motivation, and, as just going through the motions. And, I may be naive in believing Landrieu's values are best represented by the fact of rolling up his sleeves and rescuing people in the 9th Ward, at great effort and risk at the height of the crisis. This would seem a contradiction to the intentional throwing of the race. Perhaps not, but that is what I would hope is true. Otherwise, we've got just another contradiction of values, and more duplicitious and self-serving behavior by just another pol.