I have lived in several parts of this country, but when people ask where I am from, I usually answer New Orleans – where I lived from age 3 to 13. While these were formative years for me, New Orleans is a place which can quickly become a part of your soul no matter how old you are.

The Republican focus on rewarding the wealthy has taken many detrimental tolls on this country. By reducing the taxes on the wealthy and funneling massive funds into the industrial military complex, there is less money for the safety net for the poor, to maintain the infrastructure, and to protect the environment. In fact, tearing down environmental restrictions – such as allowing the destruction of the wetlands protecting New Orleans – has been an added reward to the industrial complex.. I have always known we would one day pay a significant price for these selfish shortsighted policies which started gathering strength under Reagan and are now in almost total control. I am devastated that the cost was my hometown.

I would mourn more for the loss of beautiful historical places in New Orleans if it were not for the far more devastating toll on the poor who are primarily black in this case. When Senator Barack Obama was asked on ABC’s “This Week” if the lack of an evacuation plan for these people was racist, he responded that he would not refer to it that way, but that there was a much deeper, long-term neglect. Further he said –

“Whoever was in charge of planning was so detracted from the realities of inner-city life in New Orleans…that they couldn’t conceive of the notion that they couldn’t load up their SUV’s, put $100 worth of gas in there…and drive off to a hotel and check in with a credit card. There seemed to be a sense that this other America was somehow not on people’s radar screen. And that, I think, does have to do with historic indifference on the part of government to the plight of those who are disproportionately African American.” He added “passive indifference is as bad as active malice.”

Whether or not it is time to play the blame game on what happened after the storm, I don’t know. Some argue we need to focus now on how to help those who have suffered and deal with the blame later. While this may be true, I also think the focus on what Bush did wrong is forcing him to do more right. Were his poll numbers not dropping, would he care? What I do know is that it is clearer now than it has ever been before that we need to change course drastically and stop rewarding the wealthy and start focusing more on protecting the poor, the infrastructure, and the environment. The question is does the country get it yet?