We are more than political props

(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

George W. Bush turned up in Louisiana yesterday, figuring it was safer to show his face in the wake of a hurricane that his administration has not yet had time to blow than to appear in person at his party’s political convention up the river.

Bush clearly needed some exposure related to something that appeared to be going right.

Once again, the people of Louisiana were relegated to serving as props in a photo op.

It’s a role that we’ve played too frequently – for Democrats as well as Republicans – to the point of becoming typecast. Frankly, I’m tired of it.

I expected no better from Republicans, but I did expect more from Barack Obama, but we’re not getting it. In his campaign, too, we are reduced to being totems to past Republican failures. The national campaign was suspended before Gustav hit. Wonderful. Thank you. But once again, Louisiana is reduced to a line in a press release or campaign statement.

Let me be clear. I don’t want Barack Obama, Joe Biden and any other national Democrats to fly into Louisiana to survey the damage, and then fly on to some other campaign event.

What I want them to do is to campaign here, in Louisiana, on the issues raised by man-made disaster that was Katrina, namely, the politicizing of disaster recovery, crony capitalism, and the dismantling of FEMA as an effective channel for disaster recovery due to those first two items.

These are the issues that are at the heart of the federal failures to respond to Katrina. They are the modus operandi of the Bush administrations ventures at home (think U.S. Attorney firings, the politicizing of science, the insertion of creationism materials at national parks) and abroad (the use of private contractors wars in Iraq and Afghanistan).

It seems to me that the best place to raise these issues is in the place where people lived through the failures and experienced them first-hand.

But, there is no Obama/Biden campaign in Louisiana (three field organizers with no media budgeted for the state does not constitute a campaign).

Over the next couple of months I am sure we will be hearing the Democratic ticket talking in other parts of the country about how the Bush administration failed us. And, there is no question that they did people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas after Katrina and after Rita.

But, if there is anything more to this than mere political rhetoric, why isn’t the national campaign down here making their case to us?

We are tired of being used as props.

Stop talking about us and come talk with us!

Just stop using us!