The comparisons to 18th century France are striking. We literally have a deluge and a president whose attitude seems to suggest the famous "After me, the deluge" quote of Louis XV in terms of budget policy, international relations, you name it. Further, his mother, donning her powdered Marie Antoinette wig, manages to embarrass herself with the line "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this --this is working very well for them." Mid sentence, where the hyphen occurs, there's a brief chortle if you've heard the audio. I'm willing to excuse this and not make the big deal out of it that other bloggers have. It seemed more nervous than anything, but as someone else put it, the sad thing is that she probably doesn't even know that the statement is offensive. On top of all this, I can recall the after the 2000 election people referred to the president as the dauphin president, mocking his relation to the ill-fated Louis XVI, and now that couldn't be more apropos. It's times like these that make me wish we lived under a parliamentary system so that we could call a vote of no confidence. Is there anyone who feels safe with this man in office. I think that it's true that local authorities didn't do enough, but their failures don't even begin to stack up to the numerous blunders of a FEMA made ineffective by budget cuts, and its fearless leader, the horse breeder.
I'll miss New Orleans, but I can't wait for it to come back. Sure, I was only there a few days with some friends while on our tour of the South, but it left an indelible impression on my friends and me. The muffaletta, the beignets, the cafe au lait, the charming streetcars, the lively street performers, po'boys, hurricanes (the drink), and gumbo. I can't wait to go back and take all these in again down the line. These are all the things I talked about with my uncle (who is the the most New Orleanian of all non-New Orleanians in the world) over Labor Day.
I normally don't like to get political in the blog, but this has basically been my last week--sitting in front of the tv watching in horror and pumping my fists as the media fought back for the poor. I believe we need a government led by people who still think that government can be an agent of good in the world and not a necessary evil. A real Roosevelt with dreams and Trumanesque accountability. God, I sound like my grandma. What we don't need are photo-ops and buck-passing. It's hard to write about this because everything has been said, and yet it still demands to be aired personally. Is there any faith left in the federal government?
Well there you have it. My soapbox collapsed right from under me. I'm in the last week of summer and kind of reeling. My thesis is spinning out of control. I can't focus, I've just added Saul Bellow to the list of possible topics, I'm pushing Moby Dick out of the way once more so I can fit in the new Roth book, I'm planning to read For Whom the Bell Tolls, too, and all this on top of packing and moving in and Camp Harvard. Stop this ride, I want off.
Oh, wait, SCOTUS. I forgot how I was so excited about Supreme Court hearings, and now Rehnquist is gone. I applaud Bush's decision to move Roberts into the Chief Justice chair because you know he was just itching to put in Nino Scalia or Clarence Thomas. I really think we dodged a bullet on this one, but no one really knows what this guy will do. Still, he can't be as conservative as Rehnquist, a man who disenfranchised black voters in Arizona in 1962 and Florida in 2000. (The Arizona case is rock solid, no matter what you think of Bush v. Gore.) Plus, he did a few hours of pro bono work for gay rights, so he can't be that horrible.
Which brings to mind dear old Sandra Day. I think we're getting a woman with this one, and probably a red herring ringer in the Clarence Thomas sense. We'll see. Bush is awfully weak right now.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm currently reading The Plot Against America by Philip Roth about the fictional presidency of fascist sympathizer Charles Lindbergh, a man who barnstorms the country in a flight suit, oversimplifying international affairs. hmmm. I'm told it's not quite so allegorical as it first seems, but we'll see. In one review of it, the critic talks about Roth's ability to turn up or turn down the volume dial of his dialogue. What insight! In this book and American Pastoral, you can hear the characters screaming or mumbling, and feel the hot breath on your face.
Thursday we'll probably go to a Sox game to go see the Good Guys rip Kansas City a new one. What fun!