We built this! Isaac, the RNC, and its horribly timed message
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We built this! Isaac, the RNC, and its horribly timed message
If you had a dollar for every time chants of "We built this!" or tapes of President Obama uttering "You didn't build that" blared from the Republican National Convention in Tampa on Tuesday night, you'd have a big enough bank balance to consider opening an offshore account in the Caymans.
That was the theme inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum -- it was officially "We Built This!" Night, and so every speaker labored to somehow work in their blatant, intentional misreading of President Obama's clumsily attempted riff on how small businesses thrive with new roads and good schools. Whatever the president did or didn't mean, there was no mistaking the Republican message: They believe America only functions when a government -- one that's as small and lightly funded as possible -- gets the hell out of the way.
The "We Built This!" chant was still reverberating at 6;45 p.m., the moment that Hurricane Isaac was slamming into the Louisiana coastline. Outside the Tampa hockey rink, in the reality-based world, millions of Americans were praying that not so much that "we built this" but that we -- we the people, in the guise of our elected government spending our tax dollars -- had built this right.
Specifically, "this" would be the $14.5 billion federal investment, largely through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in rebuilding and improving the levees and flood control in and around New Orleans after the catastrophe that was Hurricane Katrina.
Make no mistake, the relationship between the federal government, New Orleans and the levees is a complicated one. As outlined by Dan Barry in his great book Rising Tide, a deadly Mississippi River flood that swamped Louisiana in 1927 was so catastrophic that it ushered in a new era of federal involvement, creating new roles for flood management and disaster relief that foretold the coming New Deal.
The problem -- as not just conservatives but progressive folks like my friend Harry Shearer, a New Orleans resident -- is that the federal government did a horrible job in New Orleans keeping its promise of flood protection, as shown when key levees failed after Hurricane Katrina, a monumental failure of proper management. (Shearer makes the persuasive case that the carnage after Katrina was not the fault of Mother Nature but a "federal flood" that he blames on the Army Corps.
Despite its mistakes, the world -- the world that's not in Tampa right now, anyway -- looked to the federal government to ensure there's not another Katrina-like flood. Seven years to the day, most of those taxpayer-funded improvements -- including the longest storm-surge barrier in the United States (pictured at top) and the world's largest water pumping station -- are in place or mostly completed.
Isaac turned out to be a deceptively dangerous storm -- not as powerful as Katrina, but remarkably persistent, hovering over the Crescent City and environs for an entire day, bringing a large storm surge and epic amounts of rain. But, as I write this, the federal protection system -- we built this! -- has held.
Meanwhile, viewers have been troubled by scenes of flooding and despair in nearby Plaquemines Parish, where there is no federal levee but a smaller, locally maintained one -- that was topped by the relentless storm.
The worst is not over, and final chapter on Isaac has yet to be written. But as you listen to speaker after speaker worship at the let-them-eat-cake altar of Ayn Rand over the next two nights in Tampa, ask yourself: What was the free-market solution to the problems of New Orleans, a city that is a national treasure?
We did build that in New Orleans, all of us. If they had any self-awareness, the Republicans should be horrified at the timing of their message. And if we make it through one more day, the rest of us should be damn proud.
Will this article allow people to post comments? It seems all the pro-Obama articles both regarding Made In America and the Republican Convention have stopped accepting comments.— AvoidSundanceVacations- Not to mention dam proud...
— Christi Herrick - I wonder, who built the arena in Tampa where the convention is being held? Do you think some taxpayer money went into it, like every other "civic" arena or stadium that is built? Ed Snyder gets credit for building the Comcast Center woth his own money. However, the city gave him the JFK Stadium property it sits on for free. Saved him millions. Now, who built what by themselves?— mike l
- Just an update, and an apology. I recently found out that there was some kind of in-house IT issue with "changing a template" (no, I have no idea what that means, either) and commenting was down at several blogs (including, apparently Christine Flowers, so there goes any conspiracy theories :-) ) Anyway, I'm sorry it took so long and for the lack of information.— will
- Well whadaya know. And there I thought that the lack of comments was because our much beloved Attytood Republican toadies and libertarian extremists were down in Florida.
--snip--
Tampa, Florida (CNN) - Two people were removed from the Republican National Convention Tuesday after they threw nuts at an African-American CNN camera operator and said, “This is how we feed animals.”
--snip--— Talking point sleuth - The levees built right because our military (USACOE), constitutionally enumerated, built it right. Community agitators, and washed up 60's activists, and OWS types can't do that.
We should let the military take over public schools, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and NPR.— jmc - I'm sure nothing could go wrong with that plan. Ask the Germans how that worked out for them 1933-1945. — abendteuer
- By the way, our uber-caring leader Obama is campaigning today while NO suffers.— jmc
“Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato” (everything for the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state)...slogan of the Italian Fascists, Barry Obama and Will Bunch.- Obama wasn't talking about government entities. He referenced businesses. Plus the government arranged the building of the levees but the money came from taxes paid by businesses and people who work for those businesses. You'll never win Will.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- If it were as easy as Will thinks do you think he'd be writing a stupid blog for $70,000 a year?
- I love class warfare.— abendteuer
- For every mis-step on the Republican side, there is an equal mis-step on the Democratic side. This is fodder for the hard core politicos to keep the real issues off of the table. But, alas, it is fun to make fun of the mis-steps.— FletcherT
- Hey Talking Point Sleuth, Please provide a link to your source for that information please. The good side of the blogosphere will be happy to research and confirm (or more likely discover that this is a hilarious lie).— Frank S.
- Yea. The government buit it right because they did it twice. They may not be good but they're slow— Phishface
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