Isaac Is Not The Perfect Storm

Early this evening, about the time the Republican convention is coming to order hurricane Isaac will hit the coast. Most likely it will hit New Orleans and probably by then it will be considered to be a category two storm. There will be death and destruction but the Democratic pundits on the networks will laugh and joke at the awkward position the Republicans are in, trying to balance celebration with concern for hurricane victims.


Supposedly a Katrina flashback will conjure up the image of a cold hearted or inept George Bush who really didn't like black people. It's as if it was Bush's idea to build a city five feet below sea level in a hurricane zone and then fill it with Democrats who couldn't swim. Katrina was a disaster for the Republican Party at the national level but locally most of the ire was directed at then Governor Kathleen Blanco to the point that polling convinced her to seek the tranquility of early retirement and private life. So badly was the Republican brand damaged in Louisiana that the electorate gave John McCain a mere 58.6 percent of the vote. Jonathan Capehart pretty much spells out the media's new suspense thriller. How will gentrified Mitt Romney and the Republicans react to reports of billions of dollars in property damage and death? It's all about the optics, the drama reduced to melodrama, damn Paul Ryan and his budget that the media can't comprehend. The present media is prone to drive down the level of discourse to better fit the needs of a celebrity president whose sole contribution to the country has been optics.
Capehart and his fellow travelers have plotted the script but they have neglected one surd fact. While Romney maybe asked for his input on the disaster, Obama is the man who must deliver. There maybe a few middle level FEMA employees who understand what will going on but the rest of the administration simply revels in banality and ineptitude. This is the administration of a whacked up, frat boy Department of Homeland Security, of TSA, of GSA & VA million dollar conventions, of Solyndra, of Fast and Furious and drilling moratoriums. No administration has been less prepared to deal with a large disaster. Now this administration will be given an opportunity to showcase its incompetence just before the election.