Friday, September 09, 2005

Oversight

Good afternoon to all,

I've been hearing alot of word about the possible appointment of a big name to coordinate the relief efforts currently taking place, Rudy Giuliani, and Colin Powell are two names that keep coming up. Now, I must admit that I previously compared Mayor Nagin's actions at this time in his city's history to those of then New York Mayor Giuliani at that time in his city's history (9/11), but I don't know what Mr. Giuliani could actually do to help with the situation, nor do I know what Colin Powell could do. I believe that Mr. Giuliani was effective during the tragic scene in New York, primarily because he was a lifelong resident of New York, knew the lay of the land, knew how things worked down there, knew where to go to get the things he needed, etc... To believe that he would have the same sort of effectiveness outside of his city, is a bit like grasping at straws during a desperate moment. I don't question Mr. Giuliani's administrative or managerial skills, just that his familiarity with his city surely helped him during a time when chaos could have taken hold. My main question regarding Mayor Nagin was about why he couldn't do the same in the city he calls home, and knows well? I see the pictures of all those school buses submerged in the bus barn, and I think of all those poor people who had no way to make it out of the city, the waste of lives in not using those buses to help the people is not easily forgiven. As for Colin Powell, I don't know what he could do to help the situation, I once believed him to be a gem amongst what might be considered the rocks within the administration, but questioned that view when I saw him dancing a silly dance, singing a silly song, while wearing a hardhat, for some group of political or industrial bigwigs. How in the heck did they talk him into doing something like that? I sure dunno, but I don't know how he could help, unless he still has the hardhat and wants to wear it again.

2 Comments:

At Saturday, September 10, 2005 4:34:00 PM, Blogger Eli Blake said...

Thanks for the invitation.

Powell, I am OK with. Not so Giuliani.

In Giuliani's case, while he did perform admirably on 9/11, any comparison to Nagin will work in his favor anyway just because of the nature of the tragedies. On 9/11, while the devastation of the twin towers was complete, it was still surrounded by the infrastructure (including hospitals) of the nation's largest city. So the tragedy was limited to the vicinity of several blocks of lower Manhattan, and response was immediate (in fact, 343 firefighters lost their lives when the buildings collapsed, a tribute to their bravery, but also a testament to their rapid response.) In contrast, Katrina destroyed a huge area, with a population of millions of people, reaching all the way to Alabama. Federal assistance was slow, and state and local assistance were overwhelmed by the scope of the catastrophe.

Further, all of those pictures of dust covered people walking, zombie-like, out of lower Manhattan had a happy ending. Every one of them had a home to go home to, and when they walked into the door, it was a happy moment at the end of a long, awful day. One of the reasons why Katrina will be with us for so long is that so many homes were destroyed so the people have nowhere to go (and you haven't seen it all yet-- the mostly white middle class people who made it to hotels in Jackson or Baton Rouge will soon be refugees to, not being allowed to return to their ruined homes, and even if they do, having no jobs or income-- and it will be a 'perfect storm' with the new bankruptcy law scheduled to take effect on October 17.)

But the real reason why Rudy would be a bad choice has nothing to do with whether the comparison is fair or not. It is because he is a potential candidate for President of the United States. Rebuilding New Orleans will take years, and it will require someone who will be able to be on the job fulltime for those years. But, as we know, Presidential candidates spend many, many days on the road, travelling around the country, pressing the flesh, going to events and debates, and raising funds. If he is doing those things, then he won't be doing the job he is appointed to.

Of course the fact that getting this job could be a plum for his Presidential campaign would induce him to accept, but I think it would be a mistake to offer it.

 
At Sunday, September 11, 2005 6:44:00 PM, Blogger NYC said...

Well said Eli,
and welcome!

I agree with all you said,
and now that I think about it, I wouldn't be so surprised if the whole thing about floating Giuliani's name around this terrible event, might be just to get people talking about him again.

Thanks for visiting,
have a good day.

 

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