The Katrina Homerun

I can’t even watch the hurricane coverage on television. It couldn’t be more nauseating, with all of the spinning, politicizing, and blaming.

I find myself muting the news coverage because all I care about is the raw video footage.

Stupid issues like looting or finding, which inept government agency is “more at fault”, "will all of my favorite restaurants be gone" (from sports columnist Bob Ryan), gasoline “price gouging”, race baiting from rappers and the predictable Jesse Jackson/Louis Farrakhan types, and ridiculous comparisons to 9/11. I even just saw a post that criticized President Bush for not ordering the lowering of flags.

First of all, there is no comparison to 9/11. The WTC encompassed maybe 25 blocks total. There was no flood, loss of power or telecommunications. The geographical distances “refugees” had to travel were walk-able. Manhattan is surrounded by bridges, tunnels, and ports that facilitated assistance. Hospitals and resources abounded to help the injured and displaced. So when I hear idiots propound that,

"...if only we had the leadership of Rudy Guiliani……everything would have been fine.",

I want to pull my hair out.



The hurricane was a NATURAL DISASTER, not a Karl Rove plot or an act of racism. Furthermore, anyone who was surprised to see gross ineptitude in the government agencies is a complete moron themselves.

David Brooks in the New York Times suggests, predicts, and hopes that Katrina will enervate an incipient "progressive" movement. Here are some dreamy excerpts:

On Sept. 11, Rudy Giuliani took control. The government response was quick and decisive.

The rich and poor suffered alike.

It's already clear this will be known as the grueling decade, the Hobbesian decade.

Each institutional failure and sign of helplessness is another blow to national morale. The sour mood builds on itself, the outraged and defensive reaction to one event serving as the emotional groundwork for the next.

And the key fact to understanding why this is such a huge cultural moment is this: Last week's national humiliation comes at the end of a string of confidence-shaking institutional failures that have cumulatively changed the nation's psyche.

Americans in 2005 are not quite in that bad a shape, since the fundamental realities of everyday life are good. The economy and the moral culture are strong. But there is a loss of confidence in institutions. In case after case there has been a failure of administration, of sheer competence. Hence, polls show a widespread feeling the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Katrina means that the political culture, already sour and bloody-minded in many quarters, will shift.

Reaganite conservatism was the response to the pessimism and feebleness of the 1970's. Maybe this time there will be a progressive resurgence. Maybe we are entering an age of hardheaded law and order. (Rudy Giuliani, an unlikely G.O.P. nominee a few months ago, could now win in a walk.) Maybe there will be call for McCainist patriotism and nonpartisan independence. All we can be sure of is that the political culture is about to undergo some big change.

We're not really at a tipping point as much as a bursting point. People are mad as hell, unwilling to take it anymore.

In the spirit of my prior post, The Hillary Homerun, I will now refer to Brooks' thesis as The Katrina Homerun.

Brooks, and his ilk, sit around and dream of natural disasters, recessions, military failures, and terrorist attacks. He hopes that one cataclysmic event can convince all of the "idiots" that he has been right all along. I am not sure if this counts as a scarce example of optimism from the Mainstream Media.

But Brooks may be right in a broken clock sort of way.

Katrina may ignite public opinion, but it may push sentiment further in the direction it has been going - that would be, more intolerance for civic incompetence and more disdain for Big Media that shelters it.

Mr. Brooks, be careful what you wish for.




Although I disagree with this poster's suggestion for President Bush to engage his critics, this is a good synopsis of the MSM's coverage: A New Low For The MSM?