What New Orleans Today, Says About Mister Bush and the Republican Party

http://www.progressivedailybeacon.com/more.php?page=opinion&id=1463

What New Orleans Today, Says About Mister Bush and the Republican Party
A. Alexander, March 3rd, 2007

That President Bush is still making public relations visits to the areas wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, conveys a powerful message. He is still forced to scrounge around in sheer desperation, searching for anything that resembles progress. The story that this persistent state of disrepair should clearly and loudly convey to the American people is that within the Bush administration and the Republican Party, common everyday citizens -- working and poor Americans -- really don't matter.

At least they don't matter enough to warrant an acceptable response immediately following massive disasters that result in the deaths of more than 1,000 U.S. citizens, and they don't matter enough to ensure that everything possible is done to rebuild their lives and communities afterward.

When Republicans controlled Congress, time and again, they moved heaven and earth to pass bills that provided big oil companies like EXXON, with billions and billions of dollars in tax breaks. Among Mister Bush's first accomplishments, if it can be considered as such; was to force through the Republican-controlled Congress a tax-cut package that has led to increased corporate profits, the super-wealthy becoming still more wealthy, corporate CEOs earning 400 times more than their workers, and a decline in real wages for working Americans.

Indeed, when the sums of the various parts are finally linked and the response to Hurricane Katrina is added to the equation, it becomes quite easy to understand the narrative unfolding: Within the Bush administration and the Republican Party, common everyday citizens -- working and poor Americans -- really don't matter

It just seems doubtful that -- into the second year -- had New Orleans' lower Ninth Ward been populated by EXXON CEO-types, President Bush would need to make another public relations-inspired visit to the region. Something in the narrative seems to be saying, had it been the wealthy and not the needy impacted by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast would be a shining example of that "great American can-do spirit."

Instead, sadly, as Mister Bush's latest public relations circus highlights, the response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has been nothing but a massive embarrassment to the United States of America and Her people.