New Orleans Needs A Giuliani
It has been painful looking at New Orleans this week.
On Monday, it looked as though the city had dodged a bullet. No, it didn't. It could have been worse, true -- a direct hit of a Category 5 hurricane would have killed 50,000 and destroyed many thousands of buildings. But this is dreadful enough.
The looting and other crime is beyond unforgiveable. The New Orleans Police Department has a well-earned reputation for incompetence and corruption that will not be enhanced by reports that NOPD cops were actually participating in some of the looting. Hard to stop the looting when you're grabbing armfuls of swag off the shelves yourself.
New Orleans desperately needs a Rudy Guiliani, who could have drilled a little backbone into the NOPD, who could have led a fight against the terrible crime in this city before the hurricane, and who very possibly could have prevented the looting after the hurricane had passed.
But New Orleans does not have a Mayor Guiliani. Nor does Louisiana have a strong governor. They don't elect leaders like that in Louisiana. In this hour of greatest need, the lack of leadership at the local and state level is costing lives every day--those those who are murdered, and those won't be rescued from a rooftop somewhere because there's a retroactive effort to try to keep the animals from stealing everything not nailed down on Canal Street, Orleans Avenue, Poydras and everywhere else.
On Monday, it looked as though the city had dodged a bullet. No, it didn't. It could have been worse, true -- a direct hit of a Category 5 hurricane would have killed 50,000 and destroyed many thousands of buildings. But this is dreadful enough.
The looting and other crime is beyond unforgiveable. The New Orleans Police Department has a well-earned reputation for incompetence and corruption that will not be enhanced by reports that NOPD cops were actually participating in some of the looting. Hard to stop the looting when you're grabbing armfuls of swag off the shelves yourself.
New Orleans desperately needs a Rudy Guiliani, who could have drilled a little backbone into the NOPD, who could have led a fight against the terrible crime in this city before the hurricane, and who very possibly could have prevented the looting after the hurricane had passed.
But New Orleans does not have a Mayor Guiliani. Nor does Louisiana have a strong governor. They don't elect leaders like that in Louisiana. In this hour of greatest need, the lack of leadership at the local and state level is costing lives every day--those those who are murdered, and those won't be rescued from a rooftop somewhere because there's a retroactive effort to try to keep the animals from stealing everything not nailed down on Canal Street, Orleans Avenue, Poydras and everywhere else.
