Nagin (D) or Landrieu (D) for mayor of New Orleans

The election is coming up in a little over a week (May 20th), and I wanted to see what DUers thought about it.

I was surprised so many here supported Ray Nagin, since he was a republican before he ran for mayor, and even supported GW Bush in 2000.

I think many people don't know much about Mitch Landrieu except he is the son of former N.O. mayor Moon Landrieu and the brother of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. Feel free to tell us more about him.

So... who should be the mayor of New Orleans? Why?

is going the way of the DINOs from what I hear, so I don't know if her brother is any bargain. As far as Nagin is concerned, I don't know much about him so much as what we know of him during Katrina. I think NO is stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. :shrug:

from what I know about him. Which isn't alot mind you.

But on local issues, he's definately progressive enough for my satisfaction. And I guess that's saying a lot considering my avatar.

The annoying thing with Mary is that when she first ran in 1996, she was more progressive than she is now. I guess that has to do with the electoral shifts. Bill Clinton won Louisiana with relative ease in '96.

but I see no evidence that Mitch is going to shift right after he is elected. All you can do is vote on what he has done up to this point, which has been pretty good.

from him as mayor, as I heard and read

listen, read and judge for yourself

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5396118
Documenting the 'Great Deluge' of New Orleans
by Douglas Brinkley
(teaches at Tulane)

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=Nagin+Brinkley&num=30&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-
1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Great+Deluge&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_file
type=&as_qdr=m3&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images

I liked Nagin because he was seen as anti-corruption. He got many people to evacuate from NO, he had a place of last resort but really no plan that was implamented for people without cars. He asked people to bring their own food and water to the shelter but had no supplies stocked their in the midst of a hurricane season. He never declared a mandatory evacution out of risks of law suits from business owners due to potential loss of customers. I think few can defend the idea that Nagin did an excellent job in NO - the fact that no one higher up did anthing doesn't excuse it.

Mitch is more articulate and more intelligent than Nagin and has much more political experience and connection. We need someone with Mitch's experience to get done what needs to be done.

As far as party loyalty is concerned, Nagin is somewhat of a DINO. He endorsed Jindal (R) for Governor and my guess is that since that election, he hasn't been on great terms with Governor Blanco. He's crazy for new development projects, which is great to a certain extent but not great to the extent that he wants to do it. I didn't really have a problem when he allowed the Wal-Mart to be built near downtown because it was built on the site of old abandoned buildings. But now he's talking like he wants a Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or Lowes on every street corner. If you've ever been to New Orleans, you would know that the very fact that we don't have retail stores and chain restaurants all over the place is in essence what makes us New Orleans.

Nagin's also running a campaign based on race and nothing pisses me off more than racial politics, no matter who is doing it. The last time he ran he was elected mostly by the city's white affluent population and the majority of the black vote went to his opponent. Now he's courting that same black vote by trying to scare people into thinking that if we don't have a black mayor, black people won't be allowed to move back to the city. Don't get me wrong, his concerns are legitimate and I have no dobut that some of the powers that be have racist intentions, but Mitch Landrieu is not one of them. He is commited to rebuilding the city for everyone no matter what their race or economic status is.

Nagin was a decent Mayor pre Katrina, but he's shown that he's not prepared to handle tough situations. I believe that Mitch is and that's why I will be voting for him.

I hope more DUers can post their thoughts.

Sitting on my perch in Virginia... I like Nagin and think that any mayor under those circumstances may have had a hard time. It was the fed gov't that let those people down, in the DAYS following the storm. I'd like to see that message get back to BushCo.

Otherwise, I was really impressed with Landrieu during the debate! I'm glad these are your final two, great mayor either way :hi:

..... in Maryland ..... I watched the same debate last night and found Nagin preferable to Landrieu. I also felt like Nagin was getting a good deal od mostly undeserved bad press ... especially that historian guy who's always the go-to teevee talking head when the MSM needs a good Dem smear.

That said, I completely defer to the people in New Orleans to pick the best guy. I have no idea what the real issues are down there.

Playing racial politics sucks...that's a big buzzer with me.

New Orleans has so much to do with so many problems down the line that whoever takes over is only going to get one term anayway...but maybe some fresh blood (even though it's Landrieu and not a fresh face) can bring some new confidence in the wonderful city.

Having lived there for a while, it's utterly sad to see what the city is now...

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Neither one..

made in the aftermath of Katrina..that's exactly what he should do...transcript here: Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses'
Transcript of radio interview with New Orleans' Nagin Friday, September 2, 2005 http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/nagin.transcript/

Maybe include in his ads Blanco's offical request for aid, 2 days before Katrina struck, which bush ignored.

Dont know much about Mitch, except that he is Mary's brother & she probably still would be thanking bush if not for Anderson Cooper blowing his top at her. Then, finally, Mary started expressing some outrage.

I think replacing Nagin with Mitch would be like admitting it was Nagin's fault. Bush has never really been held accountable for his partying & vacationing during Katrina or Rice shoe shopping & enjoying theather in NY while the south drowned.

I think Nagin deserves another chance, God knows bush has more than his share of second chances. Hope Nagin wins.

:kick:

would have to try to be worse.

He seems promising.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Because I don't live in NO and because I'm conflicted.

If I lived in NO, my first priority would probably be who can do the better job of rebuilding the city, and getting help from the state and feds. And Lord knows, those people need and deserve everything they can get at every level.

But I don't live in NO, and I look at things from a national perspective. A Nagen win would tell America that the citizens of NO blame Bush for the government's failure to protect and defend them. They should, and people need to know that.

What happened to NO could essentially happen in any big city with a terrorist attack, or all along the coast with the increasing ferocity of hurricanes, or in most places with some other natural disaster. Repubs are NOT better at security. And anything that contributes to bringing America to that realization is a good thing.

I dont trust him!

yikes

Too bad the corporate media raked him over the coals on that one.

The thing is, Nagin is right. If left to their wishes, the wealthy corporatists who run this nation will do their best to make sure that all the poor black people, who have been temporarily displaced from New Orleans, will be permanently displaced and replaced with rich white folk.

So how is it that we can give a free pass to Nagin for claiming to know what God wants when we bash the religious WRONG for that all of the time?

Not only that, but his chocolate city comment offended virtually every white person in this city. His concerns were legitimate but his statement was WAY over the line. He referred to "those people in uptown", which is where most of the white people that have returned live, as not wanting black people to return to the city. If he had instead what you did above, "the wealthy corporatists", that would've been a different story. Nagin, btw, is a wealthy businessman himself and was elected four years ago with mostly white votes.

Nagin could have made an equally dramatic statement without offending anyone by saying something like, "Despite what anyone else says, as long as I remain in office, all people will be welcome back."

And of course, there's the fact that even if the chocolate city comment was misinterpreted, that doesn't matter when Nagin is testifying before congress trying to get us money. There's no way that the people on capitol hill take him seriously and it's very concievable that Landrieu's lobbying skills could get us a few billion more to rebuild the city than having Nagin lobby for us.

What's wrong with that? Besides, he apologized for his use of God to make his point. All in all, he was taking it out on Bush, which is fine by me. He was also mocking Pat Robertson who is always blaming natural disasters on the wrath of God.

He should've said, "George Bush doesn't want black people to return to this city," which might have some truth to it, rather than, "Those uptown folks don't want black people to return to this city." And I didn't see any mockery whatsoever in tha tspeech. I will agree that he doesn't believe what he said, but I think that the use of god and the inflamatory comments were very intentional so that he could establish himself as the "black candidate".

It was a slap at Bush and a slap at the religious right who don't hesitate to use Mother Nature for their own self-serving purposes.

As far as the chocolate city comment he made, you're right that he should've explained his point rather than show a preference for which color the city should be. Still, in no way does that comment offend me as a white person. Nagin knows that if doesn't say it, the point may never be driven home that people more powerful than him have different plans for New Orleans than he does and much whiter ones.

"thank you Mr. President" and not a word of criticism

...He will be a Democrat !

after the whole 'chocolate city' and 'god's punishment' comments, he lost me -- forever.

he's an absolute moron.

but I will trust the judgment of the people of New Orleans, and I hope every ballot is counted including those of voters that were relocated elsewhere.

I had typed "ex-New Orleanian", then I remembered that there is no such thing; if there were, why would I have bothered to reply in the first place, or switch to a non-Hawai'i avatar for all these months?

I loved it when Ray kept sayin' it to the Dumbass Supreme(TM) during the first couple of weeks after the storm. Since then, however, his "leadership" has been reminiscent of the guy who gets lost, won't ask directions and keeps on going around in circles and passing the same donut shop five times. People want to rebuild, but they can't get answers to the most basic questions about how to do so.

In the post-"Chocolate City" environment, Mitch's ability to attract a significant share of the black vote is another major plus for me. In the state the city's in right now, the old African proverb applies: "If you shoot a zebra, it does not matter whether the arrow passes through a white stripe or a black stripe. The whole animal dies."

Go Mitch, and go Arnie Fielkow in the at-large council race, 'cause your opponent is a homophobic shrew!