Tragedy on the Gulf Coast

The unimaginable scope of suffering on the Gulf Coast shows no signs of abating. On last night's O'Reilly Factor, Shephard Smith and Bill O'Reilly squabbled on-air. Smith expressed his doubts that New Orleans could ever be rebuilt. When O'Reilly challenged that contention, Smith -- who has been in the belly of the beast from the onset -- implied that O'Reilly could simply not comprehend the scale of destruction and suffering without being on the ground.

James Taranto points to a similar opinion expressed by City Journal's Nicole Gelinas, a recent resident of New Orleans. She questions whether New Orleans can ever recover:

No American city has ever gone through what New Orleans must go through: the complete (if temporary) flight of its most affluent and capable citizens, followed by social breakdown among those left behind, after which must come the total reconstruction of economic and physical infrastructure by a devastated populace. And the locals and outsiders who try to help New Orleans in the weeks and months to come will do so with no local institutional infrastructure to back them up. New Orleans has no real competent government or civil infrastructure--and no aggressive media or organized citizens' groups to prod public officials in the right direction during what will be, in the best-case scenario, a painstaking path to normalcy. The New Orleans crime rate during normal times is 10 times the national average, Gelinas writes, and "the city's economy is utterly dependent on tourism. . . . New Orleans has experienced a steady brain drain and fiscal drain for decades, as affluent corporations and individuals have fled, leaving behind a large population of people dependent on the government. Socially, New Orleans is one of America's last helpless cities--just at the moment when it must do all it can to help itself survive." There's another, even simpler reason for pessimism. Many residential areas in New Orleans are below sea level, so that it was only a matter of time before they ended up in the soup. Having experienced this horror firsthand, will residents of New Orleans (and its suburbs, which are also devastated) be eager to return and face future hurricane seasons? Would you be?

Remember, for years New Orleans was known as "Murder Capital, USA" and was world-famous for its levels of internal corruption. Certainly, there's no easy recipe for reconstruction and many observers have -- for good reason -- questioned the wisdom of rebuilding a city built on a soup-bowl-shaped swamp. But combine these geographic vulnerabilities with local governments that are, in the best of times, barely competent... and we have a recipe for continued, repeated suffering.

Taranto notes that the MSM, in predictable fashion, has pinned everything from local government response to the hurricane itself on the feet of -- who else? -- President Bush:

[A] New York Times editorial: "George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. . . . Since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal." ... Last year, when hurricane Charley struck Florida, the complaint was that Bush was too responsive. "Even before the storm hit, the president declared four counties disaster areas to speed federal money to victims," CBS News reported a year ago. "But that quick response fueled suspicion that he is using disaster politics to help his campaign in one of the most critical battleground states."

Back in realityville, prior to Katrina making landfall, President Bush had already declared a state of emergency in Louisiana and officials from FEMA, coodinating with state authorities, had prepositioned supplies in four states on the coast. In Louisiana, it would appear that a complete breakdown of city and state government has left FEMA and the arms of the DOD on their own to coordinate all activities, from search-and-rescue, to security, and logistics.

Contrast the Louisiana authorities with last year's extended hurricane season in Florida. In those instances, time after time, state and federal authorities were joined at the hip to prepare for repeated onslaughts. Prior to Hurricane Dennis, for example, the News Herald reported:

...state law enforcement agencies will perform multiple duties - including manning checkpoints, conducting patrols and securing storm damaged areas - should the need arise, Ford said. He said many of these agencies already have their officers prepositioned outside the area of the storm and waiting for requests from the EOC for deployment...

At this point, we're talking about split milk. People need help now. Click here for the Red Cross and contribute what ever amount you can spare.

James Taranto: Best of the Web