Clinton: 'Obligation' to aid New Orleans

[journalist3072]

Source: AP via Yahoo News

By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 13 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS - Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday rebuilding New Orleans is an "American obligation" the Bush administration has not met since Hurricane Katrina struck.

"If talk, bureaucracy and promises were enough, we would've rebuilt New Orleans three times over by now," the Democratic president candidate told graduates at Dillard University, the historically black school devastated by the storm in August 2005.

"What you do need is action, action supported by our federal government but driven right here in New Orleans and in the surrounding parishes by people who understand the reality on the ground, action that leads to real, measurable improvements, not six months from now, not a year from now, but right now," the New York senator said.

-snip-

Clinton cited a plan she outlined Friday in a meeting with community leaders that she said would speed the pace of recovery and assess progress in shoring up levees. A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, Amber Wilkerson, said the government is working to rebuild the city and that Clinton appears to be "hard at work politicizing these critical rebuilding efforts to appease her liberal base."

Mayor Ray Nagin, who attended the graduation, said Clinton raised points he has been making for months, including a need to streamline government.




Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070519/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_new_orleans;_ylt=AgJwG31n1OUwvTphJRcGiOOs0NUE

[Mojambo]

1. Doesn't obligation kinda sound like "we don't really want to do this, but we HAVE to?"

I'm not so sure that was a terribly good way to put it.

But I totally get her larger point.

[rodeodance]

3. no, I take it in the sense of responsibility----a moral obligation. Good for her.

[bamacrat]

2. It doesnt matter if we want to or not...

We are Americans, New Orleans is an American city, it should be rebuilt and order, justice and prosperity should be restored to EVERYONE. Instead we are more concerned with making other people on the other side of the world more like us. Sad thing is though it seems as though we are becoming like mid east not the other way around.

[Malva Zebrina]

4. well that is pretty safe, eh?

What about addressing the needs of the Iraqi population that are dying by the day,.

Sure, New Orleans needs to be addressed, but it seems it's condition is beyond repair and what is her solution, BTW? Anything? How about all those displaced persons? Anything?

How about the conditions of the Iraqi people, whose occupation and whose invasion she voted for? Anything, except a denial that her vote to give a stupid and stubborn neo con, Machiavellian stooge, the right to do so? Anything about Iraq, except to enforce that we should remain in Iraq with troops? Anything.

New Orleans is beyond repair. The damage has been done. What does she propose to do about all those people who lost their homes and were displaced and now live somewhere in Texas?

Feh, she is dispicable jumping upon these issues and hasn't a clue, and if she does have a clue, she sure as hell ain't telling us about it. She is just making headlines she hopes will be "sensational"

[journalist3072]

5. Are you saying that we should just give up on New Orleans?

It seems to me as if you are saying that b/c you believe New Orleans is beyond repair, we should just give up on that city.

What about the "right of return" that Rev. Al Sharpton has spoken so eloquently about? The residents of New Orleans who want to return there, have a right to return if they want to. And because they do, we have an obligation (just like Sen. Clinton said) to make sure that they are able to return. Which means getting New Orleans back up and running fully.

[madrchsod]

7. new orleans has to be rebuilt

it is the 6th largest port in the world. if the nation thinks the twin towers was a disaster just wait till new orleans slides into the sea.

[doctorj]

8. New Orleans FIRST

I am a New Orleanian. This government has ignored my city and shaken my faith in my own country. The city is NOT beyond repair. It just needs the WILL of the government to commit to coastal restoration and a real flood protection plan. But you are more interested in the safety of Iraqis. Shesh! I hate this country!

[youngdem]

10. Hey asshole, why don't you come down here and see for yourself before condemning my city?

New Orleans is alive and kicking. There are parts of town that need help still for sure, but the levees are about 70% repaired, we have just funded a plan at the state level to build additional protection outside the current system and a plan to divert sediment from the Mississippi into the marsh to rebuild the swamp to provide additional protection.

Utilities are on, developers are working feverishly all over town, businesses are rebuilding, schools are improving under the new leadership of the recovery school district, and on and on.

Your suggestion to abandon a great American city full of people who WANT the help in order to continue a colonial boondoggle is one of the more ignorant, ridiculous things I have ever read on this board.

And to answer your question about what Hillary is planning on doing for the displaced? Again, your ignorance on the subject is DEEP. Hillary helped pass the LRA Road Home Program, whereby all residents of the affected areas are eligible for a GRANT to provide cash up to $150,000 per household to make up the difference between insurance and actual loss. They are also rolling out rental assistance long term.

New Orleans is NOT beyond repair. Your heart may be. New Orleans simply needs help rebuilding infrastructure that was destroyed by federal neglect because the FEDERAL system of levees failed because the FEDS kept diverting money and refusing projects that would have prevented the tragedy. If the levees had been fixed for $3B along the way, then the $300 B tragedy that has unfolded since would not have happened.

I hope nothing bad ever happens to your home town, so you too would have to suffer through pigheaded fellow Americans suggesting that your city is destroyed and lost so fuck em. Such bullshit just adds to our suffering while we try to rebuild a city critical to American shipping and energy needs.

Do me a favor. If you think we should abandon New Orleans, then don't ever listen to Jazz again. Don't drink any coffee, because we import it all. Don't drive, fly, or use ANYTHING made from petroleum, because the LOOP platform is here and we import or produce a HUGE portion of American petrochemicals and refined products here. And don't eat any grain, because the Mississippi River is the conduit through which much of the US food supply is floated from field to factory. And swear off shrimp, crab, rice and sugar since we grow most of the domestic supply of these and people have to live here to farm or catch this stuff. And next time you go shopping for anything not made in the US, just volunteer to pay double, since you seem to think we should abandon America's third largest port.

Hey, throw Hillary under the bus if you want, but leave us out of it, OK?

[Catch22Dem]

11. Very strong reply to a weak argument. Thank you. (n/t)

[madrchsod]

6. unless the delta below new orleans is rebuilt now

in 20 years new orleans will be basically inhabitable. sadly nothing will be done and the great city of new orleans will return to the sea...

[badgervan]

9. Consider This:

If a large coastal city in Florida had been virtually destroyed, as New Orleans was, does anyone doubt that the Florida city wouldn't be well on it's way to complete recovery by now? As everything bushrovecheney, this travesty in Louisiana is political. Our government only looks out for non-democrats, and the sooner we remove this crooked and immoral administration, the better.