The Politics of Sandy

I'm a card-carrying cynic.  So sue me.

Politicians are in no-win situations whenever tragedy strikes.  Presidents, governors, mayors, dogcatchers, all show up at the sites of tragedies.  They get out of their rides, walk around, commiserate with the victims, promise aid, and provide moral support.  This is good; this is their job.

But accompanying them are entourages of PR people whose function it is to facilitate photographers and reporters and make sure the image of a caring, compassionate and strong leader gets out to the electorate.  This is bad; critics will claim the pols are just using the tragedy to make themselves look good.

"Hey, he was there when we needed him," is the cry from a grateful community.  Yeah?  Well, so is a loan shark, a lawyer, or a drug dealer.  Politicians will pat you on your back with one hand, while they pick your pocket with the other.

Every once in a while, politicians stumble over each other in their effort to accept credit or assign blame when something goes wrong.  Case in point--Atlantic City, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

A few days before the hurricane hit the New Jersey coast, Governor Chris Christie, who makes Ralphie May look positively anorexic, signed an executive order for the evacuation of Atlantic City.  He sent several huge tour buses to the beach to take residents out of harm's way.

Drivers of the buses reported back to the governor that folks told them they didn't have to evacuate, that AC's mayor, Lorenzo Langford, told them he had set up a shelter for them.  The governor went ballistic.  He took to local TV, which sent the feed to the networks, insinuated that the mayor was an idiot with the IQ of Honey Boo Boo, and laid the blame for potential hurricane-caused fatalities and/or casualties at the mayor's feet.

The mayor, in full CYA mode, replied that he didn't tell people they didn't have to evacuate, only that if they chose not to they could hunker down in the shelter.

Now, cynic that I am, I'm willing to give the mayor the benefit of the doubt.  I can believe that he told folks what he said he told them, and they misunderstood.  I seriously doubt he flat out countermanded the governor's executive order or that he meant to give residents an excuse not to leave town.

But here's the thing.  The governor is a Republican; the mayor is a Democrat.  I know local politicians are fiercely territorial, but I can't believe the mayor would take a "this is my town, you stay out" defensive posture when there are lives at stake.  To do so would just be setting himself up for the fall if there was massive loss of life.

When the president showed up to tour the devastated area, the governor accompanied him.  No sign of the mayor, and no explanation of why he wasn't along.  I know one thing:  the political scene in New Jersey just got a lot more interesting and, yes, a lot more fun to watch.

Here is the reaction to this kerfuffle from one AC resident, printed exactly as it appeared on the "Press of Atlantic City" Web site:

"well Christie, did u know its still people in AC that is not leaving, did u know that they are denying help, even now, so stop acting like a big 'SAVIOR' knowing you really doing nothing, AC is not just downtown and far uptown AC, is all the streets from beginning to end, instead of grown men lying, and defending they need to be showing full coverage and figuring out what to do, nobody wants a ball measuring contest."

Here's a textbook example of one of education's fads that I rail about, the idea that "student expression should not be stifled by emphasis on such irrelevancies as proper punctuation, sentence structure and word usage.  What's important is that they are free to express their opinions and feelings."

Perhaps the good folks in AC will take this opportunity to start all over with their public school system.