And I'll drink a health to my Creole girl and the lakes of Pontchartrain

[sovay]

This reminds me why I do not watch the news. (I do not own a television.) The levee has broken; Lake Pontchartrain is draining into New Orleans; someone just committed suicide in the Superdome; and it should no longer surprise me that any time Bush opens his mouth, I cannot wait for the next election, but what he says about this disaster is exactly as reassuring and useful as soggy Kleenex. You had to come back early from vacation? At least you have a home to come back to. See how blandly you can discuss devastation when your ranch has been scraped off the earth by a hurricane, mister. I cannot imagine what it is like to live in New Orleans or anywhere else along the Gulf Coast right now. And there's nothing pretty to say.

Comments

[sovay]

I am not faulting Bush for somehow being unable to prevent Hurricane Katrina: that would have been impossible. I am not even faulting him for not being able to make everything perfectly all right again: that would be equally as impossible. I am faulting him for sounding like he couldn't care less. I understand he's not a man with a lot of rhetorical affect—I think he has about two basic facial expressions, and one of them is "down-home sincerity" and the other is "caught in the headlights"—and that there's only so much anyone can do. But one can at least sound like widespread devastation and loss of life matter a little more than, "Well, damn, there goes my last week of vacation."

[clarionj.livejournal.com]

Thank you for everything you've said (hope you don't mind the eavesdropping but I was glad to hear this side of the ongoing tension expressed--damn, now I'll be spending the day trying to figure out how to connect eaves to internet, an unworthy distraction I'm sure). I'm old enough to have seen a number of presidents, not all I was fond of, in situations of disaster and wars, and I don't remember any taking pleasure vacations, and all of them appeared worried and worn and sadly aged. I wonder if we'll ever see genuine compassion from this man.

[sovay]

You're welcome. Feel free to e-eavesdrop whenever you like. But as for your last question, I am very dubious right now. Looking at various sites on the president's further reactions to the disaster in New Orleans (and his previous attitudes toward the city; see especially here and here), he seems most interested in exculpating himself of any negligence and least in constructive relief. And that does not help the people in New Orleans.

[clarionj.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links, though now that anger that had been working underneath is at surface. Seems like energies have to be split in two--empathy and aid toward the victims; anger and further petitions against Bush and friends.

By the way I ordered your story collection through Project Pulp and look forward to reading it. Glad to see you've a novel coming out too. Best to you.

[sovay]

Thank you! Although I am afraid that The Dybbuk in Love is not a novel but a wishfully misidentified chapbook; it did, however, get an awesome review here (which made my week far better than it had been otherwise). I would hope you still like it.