Sacrifice

MANIFESTO

As much as I despise the President, his war, and what he stands for, this is a time in history that I am hoping he will rise to the occasion and emerge as a strong leader. The damage in the Gulf region is almost beyond estimation; it seems almost Biblical. People are wading through chest-high water in a desperate search for food. Dolphins from the zoo are swimming in hotel pools. And people are looting. They are stealing guns, hijacking medical supplies, and shooting police officers.

So far, the President hasn't been off to a very good start. A New York Times editorial today calls his speech yesterday "one of the worst speeches of his life...He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end." And like a certain September day in 2001, he was not in Washington, and he took a disturbing amount of time before addressing the nation.

The logistical problems are enormous. 40% of the Lousiana National Guard is in Iraq. Gas prices are going to go up even further due to interruptions in shipping. Profiteering has already started; some gas stations have raised their prices to $4 a gallon. If national prices rise even higher , it truly affects us all. I don't own a car, but the food I buy at the supermarket didn't grow there. It came by truck, and now it will cost more money. So will everything else you buy. We will all need to sacrifice.

But as the Times points out, "this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice." (After 9/11, the President famously advised the nation to go shopping when cutting back on gas consumption would have made infinitely more sense.) As much as I enjoy reading about his all-time low approval ratings, this tragedy is almost tailor-made for the President to make people forget his slip-shod handling of everything from the war, the economy, high gas prices, and the fact that he always seems to be on vacation.

I'm not being sarcastic when I say I hope the President succeeds with flying colors. I remember being completely behind him after 9/11 and hope to feel that way again now. But this is arguably a much harder problem for him and his administration. The damage in lower Manhattan after the attacks was roughly 16 acres. The damage in the Gulf region is thousands of square miles. Whole towns have been washed away. People are living on the sides of the highways in modern-day Hoovervilles. But we all know the President is uncommonly good when meeting with "normal folks." I'm confident he will make the victims of perhaps the worst natural disaster in America's history feel like he and the governement are working overtime to aid them and rebuild their communities. And after watching how he exploited the 9/11 tragedy to go to war with a country that had nothing to do with the attacks, I have trouble imagining how this event could be manipulated for political gain by the far Right. I hope I'm not being naive.

We have a link at the top of our blog for Red Cross donations or you can click here. This is a time we all need to make some sacrifices.