MOLDY CITY: Who Lost New Orleans

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Who Lost New Orleans

Recent events have made me think of a Feiffer cartoon that my older brother had in his room when I was a kid. I could only find the first two panels online (available here) but did find a good description:

Most of the chiefs are brought together in one memorable cartoon entitled, "Who Lost Viet Nam?" "Not I," answers Ike, "I just sent money." "Not I," says Jack, "I just sent advisors." "Not I," says Lyndon, "I just followed Jack." "Not I," says Dick, "I just honored Jack and Lyndon's commitments." "Not I," says Jerry, "What was the question?" And in the concluding panel, clutching a paper marked SECRET, appears Henry Kissinger, pointing an accusing finger at the reader, as he opines, "YOU lost VietNam, because you didn't trust your leaders."

Since I can barely draw stick figures, I won't attempt a New Orleans version. It's easy enough to imagine a "Who Lost New Orleans?" cartoon drawn five years from now, two years into a Thomas administration. Instead of Nagin and preceding mayors, the first few panels would be Nagin, Blanco, Bush, and Michael Brown saying things like, "Man, I didn't sign on for this," but what would Oliver Thomas say in the second to last caption? "Don't blame me, the city I inherited was already lost?" So why doesn't he do more as council president, now?

And who would point the accusing finger at the end? Robert Mendoza, saying, "You lost New Orleans, because you didn't clean your catch basins?" I don't think so.Warren Riley saying, "You lost New Orleans, because you didn't talk to the police," would come close. But if I drew such a cartoon, the concluding panel would show Rob Couhig clutching a paper with "SECRET" stamped over the words "Transparency" and "Accountability," pointing an accusing finger at the reader as he says, "You lost New Orleans, because you were stuck in pre-Katrina thinking."

// posted by bayoustjohndavid @ 4:50 PM