PrintJune 8, 2009
Once Again, No Evacuation Plan for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
Living proof of Brendan Behan's quip that in the age of American idolized celebrity,"There is no such thing as bad publicity except for your own obituary", the voluble Ray Nagin and his wife remain holed-up in quarantine at the Jinjiang Hotel in Shanghai. It seems a French student seated a few rows from the Mayor and his wife, Seletha, was diagnosed with the A-H1N1 (swine flu) virus upon landing in the Chinese metropolis.
Nagin came to national prominence in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, calling out President Bush and FEMA for their tardy response to the natural disaster. Many would argue that it was the Nagin administration's failure to implement an adequate evacuation policy prior to the storm that magnified the scope of the disaster. In particular, Nagin's failure to take advantage of 100's of idle city school buses to assist in the evacuation of those unable to get out of the path of the storm earned him the sobriquet "School Bus Nagin" from Rush Limbaugh.
Shanghai's Department of Disease Control and Prevention remains strictly determined to prevent the spread of the disease in their gleaming city, home to nearly 20 million people. Fox News reports that Nagin's Chinese hosts are screening his phone calls and are unwilling to even pass phone messages along to him. Officials insist this is merely an effort "to keep him safe." We can all be grateful that at least for now, it is keeping Nagin quiet as well.
Of course that won't last. Soon the loose cannon from "The Chocolate City" will be back making noise and headlines. It seems ironic that Nagin has been waylaid by what was originally called the Mexican flu. The New Orleans Mayor's infamous faux-pas during the re-building of the city nearly got him quarantined politically. At a town hall meeting in Louisiana Nagin railed:
"I can see in your eyes, you want to know, 'How do I take advantage of this incredible opportunity? How do I make sure New Orleans is not overrun with Mexican workers,'"[20] referring to the influx of Mexican laborers coming to New Orleans to help rebuild the city.
Rest assured, before long we will be treated to more pearls from the Swine-flu-sequestered Nagin.
Ralph Alter blogs at Right on Target .
