Katrina

One year ago tonight a well-anticipated and powerful storm was bearing down on Louisiana and Mississippi and people were fleeing for their lives. We all saw the horrific human tragedy that followed, and those buses in the parking lots.

Yet nobody predicted the follow-on political storm that veered northeast and began throttling the White House in the days that followed. President Bush is still trying to recover. I'll offer a few anniversary thoughts.

What a difference a year makes. By August 28th 2005 Katrina was the fifth hurricane of the season out of a total of twelve named storms. By comparison, 2006 has seen a total of five named storms, with only one strong enough to be called a weak hurricane.

The lack of caterwauling about this anomaly from the Goreleft set is quite noticeable. These folks normally seize upon any weather extremity to suggest that Republicans are figuratively roasting planet Earth over an SUV-Big Oil campfire. When headlines don't go according to script, the voices fall silent.

Historical comparisons are often useful. The event closely resembling Katrina was hurrican Camille in 1969. The rebuilding process took years, and some of the lessons from that storm were not learned.



Lastly, among the many weird political quotes uttered during the turmoil, this one stands out to me:

"If one person criticizes our sheriffs, or says one more thing, including the President of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - I might likely have to punch him - literally," says Landrieu.

Interesting comment coming from someone whose political family had the power to actually do something preventative.

At least she checked her temper--one of her female Congressional colleagues actually did punch someone later in the year. Tough gals, these dems. So full of anger.