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Oval Office Optimist What does Bush mean when he says America will be stronger after Katrina? He means nothing. By definition, the poor lack a lot of stuff. Ever since they got struck by poverty, the poor have been short on cash, so they’ve got no country club memberships, no stock portfolios, no little chalet tucked away in Vermont. Now it turns out they also lack historical perspective. A couple days standing in stinking water, a few square meals missed, and the poor of New Orleans have grown quickly cantankerous. They’ve got demands they want satisfied right now, right this minute. They want water and food and shelter. They want their babies to stay alive. They’ve got beef with the police and the government. On occasion, they’ve even spoken rudely to the news crews who are on hand to document their misery. The thing is, these poor folks just aren’t thinking long-term. Sure, it sucks to be them right now, but the future for all of America is looking pretty darn bright, all on account of Hurricane Katrina. On occasion, as you fumed through a traffic jam skillfully created by men at work, you may have spied a consoling sign: “Temporary Inconvenience--Permanent Improvement.” That’s kind of the situation the U.S. is currently experiencing, vis-à-vis New Orleans. How can I offer an analysis so heartless and brainless? Actually, I am simply following the president’s lead. As usual, George Bush has determined that bad news is really good news, that when shit hits the fan, the fan distributes the manure so salubriously that the result is roses and raspberries. Thus, the Oval Office Optimist declares, “This is going to be a difficult road...Right now the days seem awfully dark for those affected--I understand that. But I’m confident that, with time…the great city of New Orleans will be back on its feet, and America will be a stronger place for it.” Communication has never been a Bush strong point, and it is hard to say precisely what “it” is. Assuming the president means the entire Katrina experience, how exactly will America be stronger down the “difficult road”? The nation will undoubtedly swallow additional oceans of debt, former residents of New Orleans will be dispersed throughout the nation, and the comforting image of governmental competence will have been shattered. So what does Bush mean when he sees a stronger America? He means nothing. It’s just the mindless pap he delivers so predictably, whether the subject is death by water or death by warfare. To give the president some credit for foresight, however, it is worthwhile considering the segment of America that he knows best. Surely many corporations will profit from the massive rebuilding projects in store for the afflicted areas. Halliburton comes immediately to mind. The oil corporations, Bush’s homeboys, will benefit from a panicked Congress’s approval of extended drilling rights, water and wildlife be damned. Forget the metaphorical silver lining each cloud carries: selected pockets will get real gold from Katrina. To Bush, “the days seem awfully dark to those affected.” To the rest of the world, those affected these days seem awfully dark. When eyewitnesses make casual references to New Orleans as resembling Somalia, Haiti, or some generic Third World country, the message is clear. These black teenaged pregnant girls, these black gun-toting looters, they’re not our kind of Americans. They belong somewhere else, not in San Antonio, not in Houston, but much, much further away. International observers who watch the lawlessness and the despair quickly compare the American dream with the American reality. The poor of New Orleans now represent the ugly underside of capitalist success. Once the flood waters have been pumped away, and the roulette wheels spin again off Biloxi, the cameras and the commentators will move on, again pursuing athletes and actors. The ferocious faces of the New Orleans poor will vanish from TV screens and front pages. But in every U.S. city, those at the bottom of our economy will remain. America could use a constant reminder of their existence, and the homeless, rootless flood victims would be perfect for an ongoing gig. From the Superdome to the Astrodome to RFK Stadium to Fenway Park, let the Poverty Tour roll. Come on out. Watch poor folks sleep on cots, watch them fight for food, watch them sicken and die. Just watch them. Read more articles in Uncle Sam » |
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