Turning on Governor Blanco

By Steven Sanders

It is amazing to see how the Main Stream Media is beginning to turn on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. You remember Ms. Blanco, one of the many victims of the botched Federal response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, right? Wasn’t she just another victim of FEMA? Well, that’s about all I can remember from the reporting at the time.

Something has changed though. Maybe it’s now okay to do some deeper reporting into the event. Julia Reed of Newsweek gives some interesting insight into the governor's leadership ability. I specifically like how she recounts the story of a CNN producer who overheard Gov. Blanco say, "She hadn’t known it was the governor’s responsibility to call out the National Guard." Now isn’t that a level of leadership and proficiency that every State should look for in a governor? Hardly.

But why wait until now to begin looking so deeply at her performance?

I like to think of it as the 100% rule. There was 100% of the blame to go around for the hurricane preparation and aftermath. This 100% had to be distributed out between the primary players: Blanco, Nagan and Bush. The MSM was quite aware that more blame falling to Blanco and Nagan would translate into less blame falling to President Bush. Hence, this type of reporting was unthinkable at the time. Only now now is information like this considered "reportable" because the Bush administration has already been assigned nearly all the blame for what happened.

As if to acknowledge the situation, DNC Chairman Howard Dean posted a statement on Wednesday concerning the decision by Gov. Blanco not to seek re-election.

"I join many in thanking Governor Kathleen Blanco for her leadership and commitment to the people of Louisiana. Governor Blanco's decision to focus on rebuilding Louisiana and not on politics is commendable. The rebuilding of the Gulf Coast remains a priority for all Democrats both locally and nationally."

I think we can look at this as a simple "hat-tip" by Mr. Dean to the good governor of Louisiana and to what her performance (or lack there of) has ment to the Democratic Party.

Whatever his reason, only in the world of democratic politics and media bias does Gov. Blanco’s administration represent “leadership and commitment to the people of Louisiana.”

Ms. Blanco, may your retirement be as kind to you as the MSM and DNC have been.