Power comes on for Bush speech- then goes back off, when he leaves

September 17, 2005

S

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 16:58:24 -0700 (PDT)

Power comes on for Bush speech- then goes back off, when he

leaves

A light goes on — then off — in New Orleans

The president's speech last night from Jackson Square had a beautiful

backdrop, with the St. Louis Cathedral — well-lit to match Bush's

shirt — on one side, and an Andrew Jackson statue on the other.

At first blush, the White House's attempts at stagecraft seemed to

acknowledge the political realities.

Sensitive to fueling further criticism, the White House said it

paid for the electricity and lights used for the speech, limiting the

local inconvenience. But Bush emerged onto the square without an

audience, speaking directly into the camera from a lectern placed so

the [Andrew] Jackson statue would be in the picture.

I was just glad to see New Orleans had the power back on. As it turns

out, according to NBC's Brian Williams, there's a funny story behind that…

I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse

district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been

without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were

excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles

was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News

that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by

looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty,

roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was

partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through.

And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President

departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total

darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the

folks here who witnessed it… jump to certain conclusions. (emphasis added)

We're dealing with a White House with no limits and no shame. Would

the Bush gang really be so callous as to power-up a community for

political stagecraft, only to take the power away from the community

as soon as the president is gone? Apparently so.

Even for them, this seems beyond the pale.

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