When The Levees Broke

If you have HBO, I hope you will be watching tonight the first part of Spike Lee's four-hour documentary, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts." The second half airs tomorrow night. It has been almost a year since New Orleans nearly drowned in the waters of Lake Pontchartrain (while Mississipi and Alabama suffered the direct brunt of Katrina's wrath), and little has changed for the people of that town. They've been working hard to rebuild their lives, but government- at all levels- has largely abandoned them.

Few people probably remember today that on the evening of September 15th, President Bush turned on some temporary lights in Jackson Square and promised us "one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen", spelling out in great detail an immediate and grand national plan for recovery that in all likelihood only existed in the script of that speech.

The Associated Press has a great, detailed rundown of the failed promises of the government in the aftermath of Katrina. Bookmark this one. It breaks down the promises- and the reality today- into several categories: Emergency Assistance, Cleanup, Housing, Rebuilding, Levees, and Poverty.

Money quote: "The job of clearing debris left by the storm remains unfinished, and has been plagued by accusations of fraud and price gouging. Tens of thousands of families still live in trailers or mobile homes, with no indication of when or how they will be able to obtain permanent housing. Important decisions about rebuilding and improving flood defenses have been delayed. And little if anything has been done to ensure the welfare of the poor in a rebuilt New Orleans."

One could hope that the anniversary might guilt people back into action, but I doubt it. There's too much going on (wars, a deficit, job loss, etc) and the Gulf Coast just isn't high on priority list. Better luck next hurricane.

Meanwhile, on the political side of this tragedy, Digby writes on the "duelling pageants" of the upcoming anniversaries of Katrina and of 9/11. Guess which one the government wants us to remember more? Some destruction and death is more politically beneficial than others. He hypothesizes that whoever "handles the [two pagents] most skillfully will have the edge in November." As he states-

We already know the Republicans are running on 9/11. They are undoubtedly gearing up for a five year anniversary commemoration in which the subtext, as always, will be portrayal of Republicans as being strong enough and tough enough to keep the country safe compared to the vacuous and naive Democratic ninnies.

The Republicans are counting on the fifth anniversary to remind people of Bush's Bullhorn moment, which was sold as a moment of potent muscular leadership when in fact it was what he had been training for since his days on the sidelines at Andover prep...

...That brings us to the other big pageant this fall. A few days before 9/11 we are going to memorialize another day of national horror: the death of a huge swathe of an American city, while the president and John McCain shared a few laughs over birthday cake.

Salon's War Room has a similar post today: Katrina and 9/11: Unhappy anniversaries

I would add that both tragedies shared one thing in common- an absence of leadership. That's more true for the New Orleans tragedy, of course, as the numerous stories of local courage and heroism on 9/11 did help spread some light into that darkness. The Big Easy was not so lucky.

So watch the movie, write a letter to Congress or the local paper, etc... With any luck, maybe we can speed up the other duelling tragedy pageant- seeing whether either the Ninth Ward or the World Trade Center site will be rebuilt by the end of the decade.