Captain Future's Log

Two Americas and the Heart of Katrina

I'm not turning this into an Al Gore fan site, but you don't want to miss this post at Huffington Post, or rather the comments. The post itself by Jamal Simon is a nice reminder of what Al Gore did, as opposed to what GW Bush didn't do, during Katrina. Simon worked for Gore's 2000 campaign. He praises Gore's efforts to rescue Katrina victims, although he doesn't mention similiar efforts by others, including John Kerry. But the real eye-openers are in the comments.

There are incredibly callous comments by right wingers on how "no one starved" in New Orleans. But the real information is in a detailed description of exactly what Gore did, and all the resistance he encountered. Reading this description it became clear to me once again that there are two Americas, not identical but perhaps related to the two Americas of rich and non-rich: the America that is compassionate, public spirited, that knows we are all in this together. And Bush's America: selfish, self-serving, self-satisfied and self-righteous, ideological to a demonic degree. There was a war within Katrina between those two Americas, just as there is to some extent inside each of us. Which America will win?

. After a series of back and forths on some winger defenses of Bush, there's a long dose of reality: 2questions posted a piece by Greg Simon, President of FasterCures, which begins:

On September 3rd and 4th, FasterCures worked with a small dedicated group of people to airlift approximately 270 medical patients and evacuees from the New Orleans airport to hospitals and shelters in Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee. This is the story of how it happened.

It began with a network of personal associations. A neurosurgeon who had operated on Al Gore's son was at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, in dire straits. Information went back and forth, and Simon learned that there were patients in serious condition who had been evacuated from the hospital but were stranded at an airport. With Gore's help, he found a Memphis hospital ready to take them, and he found planes to charter. Gore immediately said he would pay the $50,000.

The rest of the story is of efforts of Americans to rescue other Americans, and of the resistance and barriers placed to their efforts. They were helped by some people in government, including FEMA, at national and state and local levels. Some individuals in government, particularly in the military, tried very hard to stop them. According to Simon, it was Gore's will to do it--he was on one of the planes--that decided the matter. But it was also many other people who stepped up.

Here are the concluding paragraphs:

Gore said that on the second trip to New Orleans, the doctors at the airport told him that the evacuation of the first 90 ambulatory patients had been the tipping point in their ability to adequately care for the other bedridden patients. They also noted that the military evacuations did not really pick up steam until after we "motivated" them with our private effort.

Of note: Throughout the entire operation in Tennessee, EMS operations in Chicago had stayed prepared to handle patients or evacuees. None ever arrived because the military did not want us to use Chicago. The volunteers in Chicago were amazing in their desire to help. Mayor Daly had been rebuffed earlier when he offered a complete mobile hospital unit for the airport and a tent city as well. Sen. Barack Obama called Gore and asked how had Gore managed to land in New Orleans when the Senator had been refused landing rights to help.

None of the airlines involved required a contract or any written guarantee of payment before sending their planes and volunteer crews - the first time Steve Davison had ever witnessed that in 15 years of chartering planes for political campaigns and other events. One official said if Gore promised to pay, that was good enough for them.

These are the two Americas we saw after 9/11 as well: the America that wants to help, that is ready to do whatever it takes, and do right by each other. And the America that doesn't care, that just looks for enemies and excuses, while it looks for bureaucratic or political advantage;, that uses dire situations to advance its agenda.

It is a matter of which America we will honor, empower and build. It is a matter of which America we will become. We will never banish selfishness and cynicism from our hearts or our political system. But we should not hold these qualities up as ideals. The country's character becomes a matter of emphasis. What will we emphasize? George Bush's America, or Al Gore's?

Today GW Bush held a press conference, again defending every outrage his administration has sponsored and committed, and stating that he expects U.S. troops to still be in Iraq when his term expires.

This is Bush's America, the America we will become if we allow this to continue. If you work for congressional candidates to get Democratic majorities, and work to make sure that investigations and Impeachment will result, then you work to take back America.

But even speaking out, and expressing shame, (in this connection, see Georgia10's eloquent and impassioned post at dkos) and standing for the America we cherish, is important. Because if the next generation accepts Bush's America, all is lost. I know people who are peace activists, working against torture, who when they doubt their effectiveness, simply look at their children, because they know their children are watching them. I'm sure there are others who work against the destruction of free speech, civil liberties, and the natural world, who feel the same way. Yet also be heartened by the stories of people who cared, who rose to the occasion in Katrina and other disasters. Who rise to the occasion every day, as underpaid medical workers, teachers, child care workers, and others who toil in government and nonprofit social services. As well as those with better paying careers who risk some significant portion of their status and wealth when they buck the Bush leaguers and do the right thing.

Talk the talk, walk the walk. It's all we can do. And yes, be ashamed. Be very ashamed of what this country has come to.