Seeing Anderson Cooper lose it with Sen. Mary Landrieu yesterday helped crystallize some things for me. Cooper, who was obviously distraught and even close to tears, was in full blame mode, focusing all his emotion at Landrieu.
Did she try to cut him off, to out-shout him? Did she pull a peevish Bob Novak and storm off camera? No, she simply remained in gratitude, waited quietly for her turn to speak, affirmed his feelings, and reminded him that this is her home, her loss. That’s why she wants to fix it.
Amazingly, Landrieu is taking heat for this, and the worst part is she is taking it from our team. As Landrieu said, there is plenty of blame to go around and plenty of time later to assign it. Right now, we need to focus on solutions.
None of this is different from our own lives. We all know people who are perpetual victims, taking no personal responsibility, attributing every situation to what someone else made them do. And we know others, like Landrieu, who own their behavior and stay focused on doing the next right thing.
Trying to find somebody whose fault this can all be led some people yesterday to criticize Condoleezza Rice for shoe shopping in New York while people suffered in Louisiana and Mississippi. Well guess what, kids? I jogged while those people suffered. I surfed the internet while they suffered. I ate a nice lunch and quaffed a glass of wine while they were dying. Didn’t you? And don’t tell me there was more Rice could have done personally. There was way more I could have done personally.
Bush was wrong to divert our current and future resources to his idiotic war on terror. He was wrong to deny global warming and allow wetlands to be drained. But I have a lot of neighbors who believe in global warming and drive Lincoln Navigators anyway. I know a lot of people who bought a house in a development built in former wetlands. So exactly how are we morally superior?
My PR colleague, Buck, yesterday said this is the time for Democrats to show some leadership. I believe that’s what Mary Landrieu was doing. But like good Democrats, we stand in a circle, guns blasting. Enough already. Who we are doesn’t depend on who they are. We can do the right thing, whether Bush wants us to or not.
Full transcript of the interview HERE.
On the other hand, when 3,000 people died on Sept. 11, 2001, the government stopped. There was a sense of reverence about the loss.
Yes, being attacked was a new experience (although we could argue it shouldn’t have been – the WTC was bombed previously, in 1992) – but you wouldn’t have caught then-Sec. of State Colin Powell going to a play and buying shoes the next day – or President Bush playing golf, as he did today before he flew to the disaster site for a series of photo ops.
There are could be hundreds, maybe thousands, of dead Americans in New Orleans, Gulf Point, and elsewhere. (And don’t even get me started on the cats and dogs.) Yes, we go on with our lives but we have to expect our leaders to exhibit some respect.
Mary Landrieu got screwed over royally by Bush & Rove. She gave them some key votes in her first term – but that didn’t stop them from going after her with all guns blazing when she ran for re-election. She knows better than to cozy up with them so I guess she was being senatorial.
It’s disappointing for me when Sen. Feinstein plays footsie with the Gops – but I figure it’s just politics.