In her Nation article, New Orleans: The City That Won't Be Ignored, Naomi Klein argues that Hurricane Gustav has helped John McCain's bid for the White House because Barack Obama has run away from New Orleans since the start of his campaign.
Klein writes "that In the combination of New Orleans and hurricanes, we have the most powerful argument possible for the necessity of "change." It's all there: gaping inequality, deep racism, crumbling public infrastructure, global warming, rampant corruption, the Blackwater-ization of the public sector. And none of it is in the past tense. In New Orleans whole neighborhoods have gone to seed, Charity Hospital remains shuttered, public housing has been deliberately destroyed--and the levee system is still far from repaired."
With John Edwards in hiding during this political season, we have lost one national voice for the poor. As we count down to November 4, will we hear our Democratic ticket speak to the hopes and aspirations of the poor in New Orleans or Pescadero or Chicago?
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