[StBernard] EDITORIAL: A Fitting Farewell to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco

[Westley Annis]

Southern Business & Development Magazine: A Fitting Farewell to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Mike Randle, Editor
Spring 2007 edition

I am not a Democrat nor am I a Republican or a member of any political party. I find political parties are like any other party; where most of folks dress, talk, think and are alike. In contrast, I prefer to follow leaders of our society because they are the most capable, regardless of their party affiliation. I support those politicians who understand more than the obvious. I want and need the deeper stuff, you know what I mean?

In case you don't, here it goes.

I recently learned that life, in my case - family, business, politics and the spiritual aspects - are not so black and white. There's a lot of gray out there. 

Nope, some, if not many things cannot be categorized as right or wrong, this or that or Democrat or Republican. In fact, the wide division that this country has experienced over the last 14 years (I am counting Clinton's and Bush's years in office) is a perfect example of what's wrong with a black and whitely way of thinking. It's divisive.

If I recall, it was Ralph Nader who said something to the effect in late 2000 during the court spat over who would take residence in the White House - Gore or Bush - "I hope George W. Bush wins the court battle (election)." Nader's supporters were shocked by that statement. He continued by saying, "After Clinton, we are going to have to experience the other extreme (Bush) to discover the true direction that this country needs to go."

I don't know Nader personally, but if that's what he said, he was dead-on-right in my opinion. A friend of mine said the same thing to me a few months ago ... that we needed Bush in order to "find our center." 

That brings me to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. When she was elected as Governor of Louisiana almost four years ago, I saw something that was different from any previous governor of Louisiana that I knew. I saw kindness, honesty, caring and a tolerance and understanding of those who believed only in the black and whitely sense of the world that we seem to live in today. I saw someone who understood that economic development is not development in the broad sense, but a chance to bring those up by using a bottom-up economic development strategy. In other words, to try and create jobs in her state where they are needed the most. Then the hurricanes of 2005 hit.

Gov. Blanco and her economic development team, commanded by Commerce Secretary Michael Olivier, Deputy Secretary Fran Gladden, Assistant Secretary Don Pierson, Undersecretary Sharon Perez and many others, were just beginning to make incredibly positive changes in that state in the summer of 2005. Hurricane Katrina and then, three weeks later, Hurricane Rita, affected Louisiana with not only winds and swirling waters, but winds and waters of economic change never before seen in this country on a state level.

Say what you will about Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. But whatever you say about her, remember this. The hurricanes of 2005 not only overwhelmed her, her staff, all of the public safety divisions in Louisiana and every other state agency, but they also overwhelmed every federal agency all the way from FEMA to President Bush and his staff. No one knew how to handle the hurricanes that ripped much of the central Gulf Coast back then, simply because the e! ffects were so enormous. The authorities are just now figuring it out, almost two years later.

So, Blanco and Bush get the blame? Neither should be blamed and it's a sad case that many Americans play the blame game on the issue. You cannot control something that cannot be controlled. That's a black and whitely way of thinking. That's when the gray way of thought comes into full view and it's something I have just recently learned.

In other words, the response to the tragedy in Louisiana almost two years ago was not "this or that," or "right or wrong." It was somewhere in the middle. It was something from the "gray" area that is so real in our economy, our society, our religious beliefs, therefore present in every realm of this world.

Kathleen Blanco is a big-time trooper in my mind. It has nothing to do with her political party. It has to do with her mind, heart and soul. She wants to do what's right, but in a deliberate way. I wish more politicians would think long and hard before they act.

My father thinks Gov. Blanco is too nice of a person to be a political leader. I think he said that to me because he is responding to my theory that Mike Shula was too nice of a person to coach the University of Alabama's Crimson Tide (we've got former Louisiana State coach Nick Saban now). So who's right? Neither. It's a gray area. You cannot have too thick of a skin or too thin of a skin in order to do what's right. You have to have both.

Louisiana is our choice of "State of the Year" in the 2007 SB&D 100. Only Alabama (four times), Florida (twice), North Carolina (three times), Virginia (three times), Texas (twice) and Tennessee (once) has earned that lofty, year-long perch. In other words, we make a special effort, based on performance (in the case of Louisiana, performance under tremendous pressure), to make our annual decision on State of the Year.

You can read more about Louisiana's great economic development recovery from the hurricanes of 2005 in the SB&D 100 section found in this issue. The economic development performance of Louisiana in calendar year 2006 was nothing less than extraordinary, considering what that state went through in 2005. We are giving it up to
Kathleen Blanco and her economic development team, even though she decided not to seek reelection in November. Good for her, but sad to us.

If you have a real black and white opinion about Kathleen Blanco, that's a natural thing to have since what you know of her probably comes from the media. But if you know her personally, you would realize that Kathleen Blanco fully understands the black and white aspects of the world. More importantly, though, she understands the gray areas of life.

-Michael C. Randle, mike at sb-d.com

Click here to read this article and the 2007 State of the Year article from Southern Business & Development Magazine. <http://www.gov.state.la.us/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=3114> 

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The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's People
www.louisianahelp.org