Higher and Better
After Katrina, President Bush promised that federal money would be invested to rebuild the levees in New Orleans and the surrounding areas "higher and better." This morning, the Washington Post reports that he didn't really mean it.
I grew up in Louisiana. I have family and friends in the New Orleans area. And there are a great many more people there, people I don't know and have never met, but nevertheless consider to be my people. So I take this personally. The President doesn't care if my family drowns.
Not that this is a surprise.
I found out this morning that my congressman, Tom Davis, was going to be at an event just a short walk from my office. So I went down to say hello, and to ask him what he was going to do to see that the levees were rebuilt.
He assured me that he's quite sure that the levees will be rebuilt; "it's just a question of to what level you build them" and that he's certain they will be rebuilt to withstand a Category 5 hurricane - "to where they should have been in the first place."
I guess this means that any day now I can expect to see Tom Davis stand up to the President. I can expect to see a news story that Congress is making sure the levees will be rebuilt and standing solidly in place in time for the beginning of this year's hurricane season.
Any day now.