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Katrina didn't snap pols out of their denial

By PHILIP GAILEY
Published September 25, 2005

In post-Katrina Washington, people are suffering from delusions, political delirium, hyperventilation and hallucination - which means not much has changed except what President Bush called the "blame game" has given way to the "money game."

Sometimes it takes a village. And sometimes it takes a hurricane. Katrina has done what Democrats have lacked the political will to do - put poverty on the Washington agenda again. Some Democrats would like to see a new War on Poverty to expand the federal safety net for the poor, but that's not likely to happen. For their part, Republicans see the Katrina recovery as an opportunity to revive some of their pet ideas for advancing Bush's vision of an "ownership society" - tax breaks, enterprise zones, school vouchers.

One thing both parties agree on is that money is no object.

"It's going to cost whatever it costs," the president said of his political recovery campaign - excuse me, make that his Katrina recovery program. Presumably, Bush will extend the same government generosity to his home state of Texas, which was hammered last week by Rita, the latest monster storm of the season. Not to worry - Bush tells us we can pay for everything, including the Iraq war, without rolling back his tax cuts, as some Democrats are proposing.

Conservative Republicans must be wondering if Bush, who gave up boozing two decades ago, has fallen off the wagon. He's spending money the government doesn't have like a drunken sailor. Some congressional Republicans are trying to sober him up, but they're getting no help from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is either the most delusional man in Congress or the most fiscally reckless. DeLay refuses to even entertain the question of how the government, which is fighting the war in Iraq on borrowed money, intends to pay the estimated $200-billion cost for Katrina recovery. (We don't have a price tag yet for Rita's damage.)

Some GOP conservatives are talking about delaying tax cuts that have not yet taken effect, redirecting highway pork dollars to the hurricane reconstruction effort and making politically painful spending cuts.

Forget it, says DeLay, who intends to press for more tax cuts, including elimination of the estate tax. He suggested it would be difficult to offset the cost of the Katrina recovery with spending cuts because "after 11 years of Republican majority we've pared (the federal budget) down pretty good."

Does DeLay really think the American people are stupid? This Republican White House and Congress have given us some of the largest budget deficits in history. Congressional spending is out of control, and more than five years into his presidency, Bush has yet to veto a spending bill.

Democrats are trying to seize the moment, but some of the party's presidential hopefuls have become disoriented. They apparently think it's still 2004. They have resumed their campaign attacks on Bush, blaming him for everything from poverty to the poorly constructed levees that broke and flooded New Orleans. Someone should remind them that Bush's name won't be on the ballot in 2008. Forget Katrina, they'd better worry about Hillary, who could take the Democratic primaries by storm.

John Edwards, who was John Kerry's running mate in 2004, wasted no time in reminding Democrats that poverty is his signature issue. In the last election, while Kerry campaigned against Bush's foreign policy, Edwards dwelt on what he called the "two Americas" of affluence and need (what about all those Americans in between?). New Orleans vividly illustrated the poor side of that divide, and it wouldn't surprise me if Edwards makes the Big Easy his presidential campaign headquarters.

With Edwards staking out poverty as his issue, does that mean that Kerry is left with foreign policy, an issue he foundered on in his failed bid to unseat Bush? Who knows - maybe Kerry will have a coherent position on the Iraq war by 2008.

Meanwhile, Katrina has opened the eyes of the Washington-New York journalistic elite to the worst-kept secret in America - urban poverty. Katrina ripped the mask off poverty in New Orleans and its face was black. Poverty, of course, comes in all colors, and it can be found in most major American cities. Next thing you know, they will rediscover white poverty in Appalachia and CNN's Anderson Cooper, a son of privilege, will start tearing up on us again.

Philip Gailey's e-mail address is gailey@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 23, 2005, 21:42:02]