Katrina: The Political Storm

Hurricane Katrina has come and gone, and much of the Gulf Coast of the United States has gone along with it. Hundreds of thousands are homeless, tens of billions of dollars of property damage have occurred, and the nation is just coming to grips with the magnitude of challenges the region will face in rebuilding.
Of course, not everyone was stunned into quiet disbelief. Race-baiters and hucksters of all kinds, from opportunity-seeking politicos to looney Hollywood lefties, have attacked the relief effort as rascist and representative of the indifference of middle-class America to the plight of the poor. Celine Dion, the noted philanthropist, wailed to Larry King that looters should be allowed to touch the things they could never touch under normal circumstances. Somehow, I don't think she'd let them touch her or her Grammys, or invite evacuees to stay with her on her palatial estate. The Quebec native is typical of elites who speak reverently of the poorer segments of American society but never actually associate with poor people.
Jesse Jackson and Cynthia McKinney opined about the resemblance of storm shelters to the holds of slave ships and concentration camps. Fortunately, while the "activists" ran their mouths ad nauseum, relief workers from all parts of American society worked tirelessly to help their displaced fellow citizens begin the long process of rebuilding their lives. In the first 10 days following the massive storm, more money was donated to charities than the first 10 days after the 9/11 attacks and the Tsunami combined! So much for the hustlers' cry of a rascist America.
That isn't to say we couldn't have done a better job in the early days of the disaster. Local and state officials in Louisiana bungled the pre-storm evacuation and were clearly shell-shocked by the storm's destruction. Federal officials worried too much about appearing overbearing in their dealings with local officials and lost precious time intervening with support and supplies. Even the attack on New York and the Pentagon in 2001 hasn't altered America's reluctance to trust the national government to assist without taking over.
As painful as it was, Katrina's wrath can help the United States be better prepared for the next disaster. If the nation can avoid internecine political fights, move beyond racial politics, and remember that national disasters and terrorist attacks are our real enemies, not each other, then America will have learned a priceless lesson purchased at a terrible cost.