Whiplash Nagin Strikes Again

Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, who did so much to destroy the city three years ago with his fumbling and stumbling prior to Katrina's landfall has certainly made great strides to get the city ready for Gustav - listening to the experts and getting the city evacuated ahead of the storm was a major accomplishment.

However, he had to go and screw it up by reverting to type. He's flipped and flopped on when people could be allowed back into New Orleans. Instead of making sure that the city is functioning, he's caved in to those folks who demanded they be allowed to return sooner than he had originally said:

As a stream of traffic queued up on the highways leading back to New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin decided Wednesday to let residents who fled Hurricane Gustav back after all — with a stern warning the city was still vulnerable.

Most neighborhoods did not have power, hospitals were running on generators and most businesses remained shuttered. Nagin initially said residents should wait until early Thursday to come back. But those who live here, knowing this storm was no Katrina, were begging to get back home and sleep in their own beds.

“In my humble opinion, I think we’re forcing the issue, but we’re just going to deal with it,” Nagin told WWL-TV. “I am really uncomfortable with this repopulation right now.”

I'm sorry, but if he was uncomfortable with the repopulation of New Orleans, why allow it? You should know better than anyone else whether city services are capable of responding to emergencies or whether power is available. Clearly, they are not when you report that hospitals are still running off generators and businesses were closed.

Instead of waiting until Thursday, you're sending the wrong signals. What this suggests is that Nagin is quite susceptible to bullying by various groups, rather than taking a serious look at the issues and making a determination based on the facts.

One of the reasons that I gave Nagin the Whiplash moniker was that he would flip and flop faster than you could declare the Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool fully occupied. He would make one statement about rebuilding and a day later reverse course. It's hampered the rebuilding in New Orleans, but residents, at least those who have returned, don't seem to mind Nagin so much since they reelected him after his disastrous Katrina response.