[StBernard] New Orleans Mayoral Election

[Westley Annis]

Purely out of curiousity...
Realistically, why is there so much anger toward Nagin? What could/should he

have done differently after Katrina made landfall? Yes, I know there are 
plenty of things that the city, parish, state and federal governments could 
have done beforehand, but what do you all think could/should have been done 
that wasn't?
Realistically, what do you all think Landrieu could do that Nagin can't? 
What hurricane/disaster experience/training did Landrieu have? Do you all 
really think that Landrieu would have been able to take over *all* of this 
post-Katrina stuff and would be able to make stuff happen faster/better?
I am not trying to start a war here or anything. I am asking simply because 
we moved here in October 2004, so we are neophytes when it comes to 
Louisiana politics.
We lived in NYC on September 11, 2001 and saw first-hand how/what a leader 
should be/do in Rudy Giuliani...but he only had 16 acres in Manhattan to 
take care of, as opposed to 80% of what was the 35th largest city in the 
country. I sincerely admire Giuliani for his strength and leadership, but 
I'm not really sure if even he could have done a better job here. I am 
absolutely certain from having him as our mayor for eight years that if he 
had had such a crappy response from the feds as Nagin did, he would most 
certainly have lost his temper/political-niceties as Nagin did at times. In 
the September 11th attacks on NYC, Rudy was THE go-to guy and he didn't have

to answer to anyone (later, of course, Pataki was involved, as well as FEMA,

etc.). Nagin was low man on the totem pole and it seems like everyone 
'above' him didn't know what in the heck to do (and I am in *no way* saying 
Nagin did everything right). Essentially, Rudy had a local problem while 
Nagin had a city, state and federal problem.
As far as we are concerned, we prefer a politician who will lose his temper 
when faced with overwhelming bureaucratic incompetence as opposed to one who

would continue to play the political-niceties game to keep the peace (or to 
keep voters) while our city drowns.
As I said, I am *not* trying to start a war about who is right and who is 
wrong. I am just curious about how everyone else thinks.
Thanks in advance for your thoughtful (and hopefully, thought-provoking) 
answers.
-Donna & Razz
from Oak Ridge Park in Violet...