In the aftermath of Katrina, a look back at the successes and failures of the Gore and Dean administrations.
As people begin to trickle back to their homes in the Big Easy, nearly two weeks after the biggest storm in American history savaged the gulf coast, President Dean has a lot to answer for. Had it not been for the work the hapless Gore administration did to ensure the repair and upgrade of the levees back in 2002 and 2004, repairs performed in the face of massive "global-warming-hysteria" related ridicule, more than one levee might have collapsed. Of course FEMA responded quickly to the damage -- though their much-ballyhooed "coffer dam" did fail eventually, allowing more than three feet of water to flood portions of NOLA. That and massive wind and rain damage has left thousands of New Orleans home owners looking at months or even years of repairs, much like the victims of last year's multiple hurricanes in Florida.
As the aftermath of storm unfolds, with the spectacle of some hundreds of people still living in relief shelters -- though a nimble FEMA had the blankets, food, fresh water and medical care delivered in record time -- with gas prices hitting more than $2.50 a gallon in some places, with rescue workers still responding to and assessing the damage in outlying rural areas of Mississippi and Louisiana, and a death toll that may hit several hundred, it is, perhaps, instructional to examine the events of the five years leading up to the storm.
We all remember the scandalous 2000 presidential election which was decided by the Supreme Court ordering a full recount of Florida's votes -- a count marred by much bickering and turmoil, and that took until mid-January 2001. A count which, much to the chagrin of Republicans, placed Al Gore in the White House. The Gore administration's woes began almost immediately: their tax cut for the middle class, dubbed class-warfare by the right, was blamed for the mini-recession of 2001-2002. And it was in the midst of Lieberman-gate that the worst tragedy in the nation's history unfolded.
On 9-11, 2001 an inept national security apparatus, which had been lauded for capturing a dozen "Al-Queda terrorist plotters" just three weeks previously, failed to intercept the Al-Queda members who hijacked two airplanes out of Logan airport in Boston. Can anyone forget the "silent dogfight" as a half-dozen F-16s, scrambled within minutes after the planes strayed off their assigned flight paths, tried to harry the hi-jacked airliners out over open water in a deadly game of mid-air chicken? The sudden, strangled cry over the radio as the Al-Queda pilot of flight 621, who had maintained radio silence until that point, cursed America and dove into the sea, killing the plane's 127 passengers and crew? The horrifying tragedy when Major Thomas Garret's F-16 clipped the wing of flight 22 causing both his jet and the plane to crash into a bedroom community on Long Island, killing more than 400 people? The overall death toll was 701. The "ground zero" memorial is still not complete.
Following 9-11, Gore was pressured to invade Afghanistan and, oddly enough, Iraq -- pressure he resisted, citing the rule of international law. He was vilified by the media and his approval ratings sank into the low 40's. Republicans called for impeachment. Crowds of protesters took to the streets in Washington and across the nation, egged on by right wing radio hosts who claimed it was every American's duty to protest against the President and his "cowardice" in not leading the nation to war.
Meanwhile, Gore haggled with the UN over sanctions against Afghanistan for harboring presumed 9-11 mastermind Osama bin Laden -- sanctions which were quickly forthcoming, but unsatisfying to most Americans. In the meantime, unbeknownst to American at large, a joint task force of more than 1,000 American, French and Russian special forces units were scouring the Afghani deserts. On March 8th, 2002 a French team captured bin Laden in a cave complex in a little-known place called Tora Bora. Fearing American interference -- and summary execution -- the French smuggled bin Laden to Paris. Can anyone forget the surprise press conference? The green glow of the florescent lights on bin Laden's face as he read his prepared statement? The trial in the Hague? The 701 consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole? Today bin Laden languishes in a Belgian jail and many Americans still call for Belgium to be invaded to kidnap bin Laden and drag him back to America for "justice." Many Republicans called for war with Belgium, France, Russia and, again, oddly, Iraq. Some places tried re-naming French fries "American fries," but that was quickly dropped when it made them look like idiots.
The next three years were a nightmare for Gore. Democrats lost the House and Senate in the 2002 mid-terms. Gore was a lame duck's lame duck, paralyzed by constant media ridicule and Republican legislative stonewalling. His approvals never got out of the 40's. His only accomplishments were a continued balanced budget and reduction in national debt unprecedented in more than sixty years.
Gore's selection of John Kerry as vice-president to replace the disgraced Joe Lieberman was another in a long string of politically suicidal mistakes. They were immediately dubbed "Wood and Wooderer" by the media. By 2004, even after the twelfth straight year of national prosperity, record low unemployment and a stock market hovering in the mid 12,000's, the final downfall of the Clinton legacy was assured. Gore declined to run for a second term. 9-11 could not be forgotten. A president on whose watch it occurred could never be forgiven.
John Kerry was the presumed Democratic front runner. That is, until Howard Dean and Wesley Clark slam-dunked the New Hampshire primaries and the Iowa caucuses. The Gore curse became Kerry's downfall. The nearly forgotten George W. Bush tried to make the 2004 race a "re-match," even though his former opponent wasn't running. The Republicans settled on John McCain and Rick Santorum. The ticket was immediately anointed an unbeatable juggernaut by everyone in the media. Then Santorum began to talk off message and off the cuff. Dean-Clark won by a 53% majority -- impressive, but hardly a national mandate as the media took pains to assure us all.
Will Katrina be Howard Dean's 9-11? Will the media ever give him a break? How much will it cost to rebuild New Orleans? (Luckily the national debt is the lowest it's been since before WWII and we have a record amount of money on hand for just this kind of emergency.) Where will America go next? All this reporter can say is, thank God George W. Bush didn't win the presidency in 2000. What a nightmare this might have been if he had.