I’ve been watching all the crime camera / Hawaii trip stuff with interest but not intrigue. My lack of enthusiasm partly springs from the fact that a lot of it has been tossed around the blogosphere now for many months and combined with what can be heard from am radio and plain old scuttlebutt, it’s nothing grandiose to read the same stuff in the newspaper.
But there is another element that adds to the lack of intrigue. It’s what I am realizing may be some sort of “sophomore” stage of New Orleans cultural immersion. That is, I have a “wake me when he’s indicted / arrested” approach to the whole thing. And this is combined with some, “there is nothing we can do until 2010,” syncopation.
I understand that recent developments make this incoming indictment seem like a foregone conclusion to some but there are tons of ways the Nagin Administration could wiggle out of it. Hey, there’s one right there.
I remember folks thinking the phantom Morial indictment was a foregone conclusion even saying approximately when it would come down. But it never did.
So don’t be surprised if this thing never happens at all and if it does, it might be after it is too late to do any immediate good.
Either way, we are on cruise control until 2010 regardless. All the screaming and hating and cussing won’t help. The Mayor is coasting and has said several times he may leave politics altogether. So with no political future to protect, the only thing Nagin can reasonably work toward is staying out of jail. And he’s probably putting 110 % into that.
But it’s like my contractor friend across the street says, “You put as much work and energy into doing the job right as you do trying to fix your mistakes after doing it wrong.” So imagine a world Sugar Ray had established a reputation for himself as a visionary who steered a culturally-rich-but-troubled city in a new direction and united different cultures under the same banner of civic improvement. A tall order I’ll admit, but with the effort and worry and anguish Nagin has endured trying to fix his mistakes (or actually, cover them up), he could have at least looked like he was approaching such a distinction and he could be considering a more lengthy career in politics and public service instead of trying to get out of it altogether. And yes Ray, there would be some money in that as well.
(Just realized that previous version had pathetic grammar. Somewhat fixed now.) – V
I am in the “wait and see” stage, myself. Too many of these cases have taken years to prosecute, to the point where one wonders what it was all about in the first place and can we please move on. Not exactly an environment that fosters serious reform in local government.
I am in the let’s not let this happen again mode.
I don’t care if the Mayor is indicted or not. I want a change to create a better government.
I’m girding myself to slog it out for this next year, without expectations that any city department – police, sanitation, code enforcement, etc. – will be reliably functional in any way. I’m tired of banging my head against the same wall and getting the same result: nada.
I’m with ya Civi. I have developed the Learned Helplessness.