At this writing, while a good 47 percent of the people of New Orleans did not vote for Ray Nagin to be mayor, a majority apparently has.
How could a people abandoned by this man vote to retain him for another term? Check out some of these deep thoughts from voters:
“I voted for the mayor. I changed at the last moment and I said `I’ll go along with the mayor and give him another chance.'” – Irvin Morgan, 85, who described himself as a retired barber, tailor and preacher.
“He’s been through the experience already and won’t make the same mistakes.” _ Elliot Pernell, explaining his vote for Nagin.
“My grandmother’s old saying is `You stick with what you know.'” – Clarice Jamison, explaining her vote for Nagin.
Well, with attitudes like that, I sincerely hope that all have rowboats, cars, a help network, a prayer network, and more flood insurance.
On one hand, I worry about this country when Americans vote for someone as astoundingly incompetent as Nagin. At the same time, the history of the Big Easy’s corruption can’t be placed at the feet of a bunch of carpetbaggers–a city’s leadership, police department, and condition of living, is a reflection of what the people of that city want. or, in the words of Clarice, you ‘stick with what you know.’ Unfortunately for them they’ve chosen to stick with incompetence and corruption. For the best assessment of what happened during Katrina, Douglas Brinkley’s book about the storm is a must-read and should put in perfect perspective why Nagin winning is so monumentally pathetic.
As is the case with deeply damaged individuals, perhaps the conditioned victimhood of the citizens of New Orleans is so ingrained, the idea of the situation truly changing frightens them too much.
Here’s what I know–the good people of NO who did want change care about the future of NO have a lot of work to do. I have a tiny feeling that Ray “Chocolate City” Nagin is indeed going to lead NO–unfortunately it will continue to be downhill.
Every time something like this happens, I am reminded of the words of that great cynic, P.T. Barnum: “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” How sad for NO. I expect a lot more anti-President whining from that location during this hurricane season.
Will he sell the house that he bought in DALLAS after the Katrina FUBAR. They deserve what they get. Us in California too!
The people of NO deserve what they get. They had a chance to get rid of this slimy man, and they declined it. I’m sure glad he is not my mayor, this is among the most slimy pols in the county. Although pols in general are slimy with fewer and fewer exceptions any more.
As a Californian, I have some appreciation for incurably dysfunctional politics. But I think there’s something about New Orleans and Louisiana that can only be understood by a native. A big segment of the electorate seems to go for the sort of destructive radical populism that appeals to the angry poor. Remember that Huey “Every Man a King” Long rose from the Louisiana swamps. Maybe Tammy can get a NO local on the radio to explain the local mindset to the rest of us.
By the way, they’re getting ready to release a re-make of “All the King’s Men”, which is a fictionalized tale based upon the rise and fall of Huey Long. Sean Penn starrs. I’ll bet they make the film a tribute to Long’s left-wing economics.
Your analysis is incomplete.
I voted for Mayor Nagin in 2002. He was the candidate for business and positive change. After his election, Mayor Nagin helped root out corruption in city hall and tried to make the city more business friendly. He had more success in the former than the latter, but it was a positive first step. I had planned to vote for his re-election until he made the Chocolate City remark. The comment didn’t offend me or make me feel less welcome in my home town, mainly because I understood that Nagin was trying to pander, a skill which he lacks. Instead, I refused to vote for him because 1) I voted against all incumbents given the city’s lack of preparedness for Katrina; and 2) New Orleans right now depends upon the kindness of the strangers, and the rest of nation (upon whose tax dollars we depend for our recovery) viewed him as incompetent and an object of ridicule. His re-election, therefore, could jeopardize New Orleans’ recovery.
Nagin’s re-election, however, does not disappoint me. It is a far cry from 1991 when I had to choose between voting for a crook (Edwin Edwards) and a racist (David Duke), whose small-mindedness is surpassed only by his stupidity; yes, I voted for the thief. I believe Nagin will do a decent job while facing impossible conditions (and give comedians much fodder for jokes for as long as they look).
In sum, Nagin is many things, but he is not a Marion Barry. Your comment shows a lack of understanding of the situation in New Orleans, though your reaction does not surprise me (a reinforcement of my second reason not to vote for Mayor Nagin). While Mayor Nagin did benefit from the racial divide in New Orleans (he received a supermajority of the black vote), he still needed at least 20% of white vote. How do Nagin get this vote? By getting Republicans to vote for him. First, many Republicans refused to vote for Lt. Gov. Landrieu because his sister is a United States Senator with a liberal voting record. (It did not help Landrieu that news organizations called his family the Louisiana’s Kennedy’s. E.g., http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1985216). More importantly, the lieutenant governor, for all of his gifts of glib, pandered worse than Nagin: Lt. Gov. Landrieu said that he would appoint former mayors Sidney Barthelme and Marc Moral to important city advisory committees. (http://www.nola.com/newslogs/topnews/index.ssf?
/mtlogs/nola_topnews/archives/2006_05_07.html). Republicans do not view the former mayors’ honesty and ability in particularly high regard. Landrieu’s election, in their opinion, would be a return to the bad ol’ days, or probably more accurately, the worse ol’ days.
I hope and pray that you will continue to help us rebuild.
The election is stranger and more complicated than you painted it.
Nagin won with a coalition of blacks and conservative whites. The most conservative mayoral candidate quickly backed Nagin in the runoff. For many conservatives, the Landrieu political family, a family that has never been tainted by scandal, was so distasteful that they preferred Nagin.
On the bright side, New Orleans replaced almost half the city council. Career politicians were replaced with accomplished professionals. That story will get no play in the national media, but when was the last time another city kicked out half the incumbents?
I wasn’t aware of that book and look forward to getting it. Thank you Tammy!
While the result doesn’t really shock me, I wish it did. My husband and I were driving in Decatur (Georgia) yesterday and I saw a “Re-elect our Mayor – Ray Nagin” poster plastered to the side of a building. I know why it was there, but it still weirded me out just a little that anyone would bother. But they deserve what they get if he’s who they have elected.
“One day the people of Louisiana will get clean government. And they’ll hate it!”
–Huey Long
Nothing new here. Everyone knows, I hope, about Washington D.C. “Mayor for Life” Marion Barry. Same story, different city. At least Nagin hasn’t (yet) been in prison for drug abuse and re-elected afterwards.
I love New Orleans, but will not be spending my “Whitey” money in his “chocolate” city until he is out of office, and has been replaced by someone with at least TEN working brain cells.
The New Orleans’s Mayor Election receives national attention due to American political curiosity.
Parties, both republican and democrat, are watching the mayoral race in New Orleans to better understand and strategize for national elections. Questions such as how much does race and/or party determine how the majority or narrow margin obtained to win an election play out for national strategies in upcoming elections.
An obscure mayoral race, the New Orleans Elections grasped national attention as a result of natural disaster. The study of the New Orleans race leaves strategists on both sides answers as to how voters will respond given the most unforgivable and malfunctioned offensives of incompetent government.
Race certainly plays a part. Mayor Ray Nagin appeals to black voters who took the brunt of the storm in fatalities, pleaded for competency from their elected leader during the aftermath of Katrina, and whose loyalist ties connect compatible skin color, reverse racism, and counter intuitiveness resultant in the short notice of mandatory evacuation that achieved the largest African American Diaspora since imported slavery.
Wealthy whites contribute to the malfeasance of the voting populate in deciding the best candidate to be one of words rather than action in protecting their interests. The reelected Mayor won on fear and fear alone.
The African American community has gained nothing from their black mayor other than a figure head whose cowardly ways should let them starve. Landrieu, years ago, established an organization to defeat racist, David Duke in the senate. Perusing the African American cause and reducing the budget before approving pro-business taxes distinguished Mitch Landrieu the costly label of liberal attached to his name.
Unfortunately, the American public, no matter where they live, nor what atrocities they endure can research a personal political history from which to make a decision. They will rely on political spin and that the politicians can take to the bank.
LNTHOMP, Nagin is incompetent but I wouldn’t put him in the same category as Marion Barry: the man isn’t a criminal as far as we know, and for a New Orleans mayor that’s actually saying something. OTOH, Marion Barry isn’t DC’s mayor anymore, either, and Tony Williams seems to have done a pretty good job: boring and geeky, yes, but that’s a huge step up from his predecessor.
As a Tulane Law grad, I dearly love New Orleans: it’s one of my favorite places in the world. But it’s also supremely screwed up, and there’s certainly no end to that in sight.
I am a white, female, conservative native of New Orleans. I evacuated for six months to Alabama with three days worth of clothes and all of my pets. I am not rich. I am middle-class. I live in a very culturally and racially mixed neighborhood. My area was deluged with six feet of water. Many of my photos, old scrapbooks, yearbooks and things that seem worthless to others were destroyed. Like Tammy says, we are a product of our past in many respects. While I still have my memories, it’s as though the proof of my past has been wiped out.
We are in the month of September 2006, and repairs to my house are not completed. I still don’t have air-conditioning. We weren’t able to return home until February 2006 to clean/gut our home. My neighbors are in the same position. We didn’t take money from the government except what we got initially from the Red Cross and Fema for living expenses. You see, many of us had no access to our checking accounts because computer systems were ruined. Children’s medical and school records were ruined as well as there toys. People here are still traumatized by things that they saw during the hurricane and things we still see every day. My neighbor had a pack of wild dogs try to enter into her home while she was working inside because she didn’t have the front door on.
So, why do I stay? Well, my business and clients were all in Louisiana. Although that was disrupted, as an attorney, it’s very hard to take a job elsewhere because you have to take the bar exam in many other states and you can’t practice until you take and pass the bar exam. That process takes approximately 8 months. I did look for work in other states after the hurricane but many employers were reluctant to hire people from New Orleans out of fear that they would leave to return to the city.
I have a mortgage on my house, which is modest. However, if I moved, I would have to try to get another mortgage to buy a new house, which is impossible if you already have one mortgage, student loans and no job. Selling the house here was also impossible because no one would buy or if anyone was willing to buy, it was only to get a “deal” which would never pay off my entire mortgage. I would be in the same position.
Besides loving the city, I had relatively little choice but to return. But to say that anyone deserves what happened here deserves what he or she got is simply cruel and uninformed. The storm didn’t just effect black people or white people. It affected everyone across the state and the nation (i.e., fuel) in some respect. I am not asking for pity or money from you or anyone. I had insurance and I worked hard for everything I have and everything I lost. But you need to become more informed before making blanket comments about a state, city and its people.
I am well-versed in Louisiana politics and would love to discuss this and other Katrina issues here or on Tammy’s radio show. However, please don’t condemn a whole group of people because you might be uninformed or because of what you may have read in the misinformed media.