Apartheid, Bush style
The Republican rape of New Orleans. Plus, Rumsfeld and Romney
By The Phoenix
04/19/06 "The
Phoenix" -- -- More pitiable than being a Democrat
in President George W. Bush’s America is to be an
African-American Democrat. And even more pitiable than that is
to be a poor African-American Democrat. But perhaps the most
pitiful political state of all is to be a poor, African-American
Democrat from New Orleans.
“Ethnic cleansing by inaction.” That’s how Democratic
congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts characterizes the
Hurricane Katrina recovery plan for New Orleans endorsed by
Bush. The plan offers too little money, too late in coming,
making a mockery of his vigorous promises to rebuild the city.
There is not sufficient funding to rebuild the still-inadequate
levees that last year failed to protect the city. And this
year’s hurricane season is just weeks away. Fifteen of the
city’s 22 hospitals are still closed, including those that care
for the most needy. About 20 of the city’s 117 schools are
functioning. And toxic waste still laces the landscape.
New Orleans is about to have its first municipal election since
Katrina. And it will be a neat trick. Fewer than half of the
city’s 460,000 residents have returned. The vast majority of
those who are still refugees are African-American. But Bush’s
Department of Justice sees no reason why the election should be
delayed. After all, if Iraqi and Afghan refugees can vote in
makeshift polling places, why can’t the citizens of New Orleans?
Let anyone who says Bush doesn’t think of New Orleans in Third
World terms digest that reality.
The more important reality is that even before Katrina
devastated the Gulf Coast, New Orleans, although nominally
Democratic, was little more than a Republican colony. To the
nation at large, the African-American mayor Ray Nagin may appear
to be the personification of his city. But he is in fact a
figurehead, a puppet. Nagin is a Democrat in little more than
name. He supported Bush in 2000 and is the political creation —
or at least creature of — Joseph Canizaro, a real-estate
developer with close ties to the Bush White House.
It’s true that corruption is something of a spectator sport in
Louisiana and New Orleans. But whether New Orleans before
Hurricane Katrina was any more corrupt than the Washington of
the self-confessed criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his close
ally, the indicted former Republican House leader Tom DeLay,
remains for historians decide. In the meantime, Bush sits in the
White House very much in charge and very much at large.
Why Rumsfeld may not matter
Seven retired Army and Marine Corps generals made headlines last
week with their call for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to
resign. These guys are not exactly Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn.
They spring from the vest pocket of the American military
establishment. Hell, until recently, they were the military
establishment — or at least members of its innermost circle.
These generals — together with 60 percent of the American people
— know something that President Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza
Rice, and Rumsfeld can’t seem to get through their thick skulls:
things are not going well in Iraq. We may have won the invasion,
but we are losing the war. And the odds of our even stabilizing
Iraq — let along making it safe for democracy — are slim.Bush is
almost admirable in his pigheaded support for Rumsfeld. He’d
certainly buy himself some breathing space if he got rid of
Rumsfeld. Even right-wing partisans such as William Kristol and
Robert Novak have called for his exit, as have the conservative
National Review and the more centrist Economist. Nut jobs like
Rush Limbaugh may still be backing Rummy, but Rush’s hold on
reality has always been tentative — even under less-stressful
circumstances. For once we agree with the Wall Street Journal,
which, in an editorial supporting Rumsfeld, concluded: “We
suspect the President understands that most of those calling for
Mr. Rumsfeld’s head are really longing for his.” The buck does
indeed stop with Bush. And since Bush shows no signs of
reappraising the situation in Iraq, it probably won’t make much
difference who is secretary of defense. As long as Bush is
president, it looks as if American soldiers will continue to
die, while the civil war in Iraq spirals further out of control.
So, it seems, Rumsfeld is as good as anyone else.
Romney has no shame
Memo to America: if you like George W. Bush, odds are you’ll
like Mitt Romney. Governor Romney has that same penchant for
double-dealing as President Bush. Case in point: some may
remember Bush’s much-talked-about education reform known as No
Child Left Behind. Bush even convinced Ted Kennedy to support
it. He then turned around and royally porked Kennedy — and
others — by not adequately funding the measure. Bush got the
headlines. Kennedy ended up with egg on his face. And American
kids got screwed. Hat trick, Republican-style. Because the
Republicans control Congress, there was not much that Kennedy
and others duped by Bush could do. Now it’s Romney’s turn to
play bait and switch. Romney shared the local headlines and
dominated the national ones when the news broke that
Massachusetts had enacted a historic compromise aimed at
delivering health care to a larger share of state residents than
receive it now. Good news for Massachusetts and good news for
Romney’s presidential ambitions. Then, several days later, and
away from the national headlines, Romney issued vetoes to eight
sections of the bill, at least one of which would make it easier
for businesses to avoid paying a share of the costs. The
Democrats in the legislature say they plan to override Romney’s
veto. It’s important that they do. Bush and Romney: peas in a
pod. Bush is already a national disaster; Romney is a disaster
waiting to happen.
Copyright © 2006 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group
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