Well, thank goodness. The New Orleans Saints have won the Super Bowl... so clearly we don't have to worry about them anymore. It's almost like Katrina never happened... right?
In the worst way.
I thought Melissa McEwan's takedown on Friday was a little much (I still do... but that can wait), but in the wake of the Saints actually winning, it does bear extending her basic point: winning the Super Bowl does not solve a host of remaining, lingering issues that stem from a failure to deal fully, fairly, or well with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Civic pride is wonderful, and rooting for the home team is admirable (even in Boston), but what's happening here, really, is yet another attempt to salve the national conscience by excusing our woeful national failure to ever do the things needed to restore and rebuild New Orleans in a sensible, thoughtful way. New Orleans is not safer, stronger, or in particularly better economic shape, and to pretend that a football victory fixes some sort of "mood problem" is both reductive and insulting to the people working hard, even now, to put things back together.
The mistake, I think, is laying blame for this narrative on football fans; it's unfair to blame the audience, really, for not knowing what they have not been shown, or told. Even if we have, as Americans, a short attention span and a rlentless interest in the new next big thing, the failure to keep the recovery efforts in the national spotlight rests with the worst instincts of the media to keep bad news and inconvenient information out of sight as long as possible.
The lesson learned from Katrina, ironically, seems to be helping Haiti: news organizations, so far, are keeping up with a story rather than dropping it, asking how rescue translates into recovery, and how recovery is complicated by a history of corruption and ineffectual leadership. Gee... I wonder if those questions applied in some form to New Orleans... oh, never mind.
I'm happy to admit, even though I didn't watch, I wasn't entirely uninterested; I was rooting for New Orleans too, and it's partly because of the affection I have for the place. But "what does a Super Bowl win mean for New Orleans" is not a way to answer questions about Katrina recovery and all that we have failed to accomplish. When the party's over - although, come to think of it, now we've got Mardi Gras, too - okay, in a month or so, when the parties end and reality intrudes once more, New Orleans will still be a story about many unmet needs, many unfinished projects, and a lot of residual issues. But I'm guessing, on a national level, we'll be well onto the next exciting story from somehwere else. But at least we'll know New Orleans is resting comfortably, now that they've won the Super Bowl... right?
Fortunately, Drew Brees, Breesus, is going to single-handedly rebuild the city! ;)
It's a great morale boost for the city, that's for sure, and gives Landrieu a bit of a bounce, I think. I.e., this wave of good spirit kicking off Mardi Gras tees him up to put together a strong leadership team and some coherent strategies to rebuild the city (even if they're just, hey! important pp in DC are taking my calls!). Let's hope he uses this time wisely so he can really hit the ground running while pp are really inclined to give him the opportunity to do so.
Posted by: Leigh | February 08, 2010 at 11:59 AM