I guess Nagin did a good job after all

On Saturday, the citizens of New Orleans had the opportunity to finally allow their voices to be heard. Eight months after Hurricane Katrina, and the disastrous governmental response, at last the people get to speak out. So they turned out at polling places to voice their opinion of the city’s leadership…and the results: Ray Nagin received more votes than any other candidate.
That’s right.

The people of New Orleans are so upset about how their leaders responded to the crisis of Katrina that the incumbent received more votes than any other competitor. This while the reconstruction is stalled, bulldozers sit idly like a New Orleans school bus, dumbtrucks drive around town empty, yet more people vote for Ray Nagin…the man who "led" New Orleans through this crisis than for any other candidate. Does this make sense to anyone?

I’ve been to New Orleans recently, and the most shocking part of the visit was the glaring inactivity. Houses sat in shambles, street lights were non-functional, roads were in disrepair. And how many clean up crews did I see in 4 days? TWO. That’s right. Over 100 billion dollars spent on New Orleans and I see two crews working. They must be really good crews.

In all fairness, Nagin still did not receive a majority vote, no candidate did, but he led all candidates with 38% of the vote and will face the Lt Governor of Louisiana in a May runoff to decide the position. But 38 percent? Are you kidding me? This man shouldn’t have gotten nowhere near that number and should have finished somewhere below the write-in votes for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. That is, IF the people were truly letting Nagin’s performance in office determine their vote, which is obviously not the case. I’m not one to speculate, but I would venture a guess that of those 38%, the vast majority were racially driven…but that’s my opinion.

Are 38 percent of New Orleans’ citizens really that disconnected, out of touch with reality and downright ignorant? Are 38% of the people satisfied with how things are going down there? If so, then I say we call their bluff and cut federal aid to Katrina recovery by 38%. At the very least, I no longer think the people of New Orleans have a right to gripe about the response to the disaster. Or maybe they should reduce their complaints by 38%. After all, this was their chance, their opportunity to show the city’s leader how they felt…and they failed. I think the message that sends is fairly loud. According to the people of New Orleans, Nagin did a pretty good job.

Does anyone out there agree?