Some Political Implications

I don't really like the idea of bringing up old-fashioned politics into this, but I read something that I thought was really interesting from an article by Andrew Sullivan in the Times Online:

What harm can come to Bush? Not much: except a worrying weakening of his ability to carry the public for the war in Iraq. A competent Democrat could clean up with a message to restore government for the people rather than for special interests. But these days, a competent Democrat is an oxymoron. Hillary has been silent. She figures she need do nothing but let the anger vent on Bush.

But in Republican circles, one real change may have occurred. In a matter of days, Rudy Giuliani’s chances of becoming the next president improved drastically. What people want now is someone who can make the federal government work again. They want an executive who can fight a war and keep them safe. Nobody represents that kind of need better than Giuliani. His social liberalism — which makes him anathema to the religious fundamentalists who control the Republican party — would be overwhelmed by his appeal to law-and-order Republicans. Those Republicans know when an almighty error has been made. And last week, their president failed them. It will take enormous political work for him to win them back now.

Once again, there are many many bigger issues at hand, but I found his analysis to make perfect sense for '08 - especially since this disaster will surely be remembered for years to come.

Nonetheless, the bundling by this administration, despite all of their denials otherwise, has been incredibly revealing of their incompetence and inability to grasp public sentiment. More importantly, people will not easily forgive what happened here - this was not a 9/11 situation that caught us by surprise. We had the projections and the manpower to save lives but they, mainly the federal but also the local levels, could not put together the necessary steps to keep New Orleans afloat or at least get more of the residents out. As some people have said, watching what has been happening in the last week has almost been like witnessing the Twin Towers come down in complete slow motion - and we feel so helpless.