No gain from just blame

FOR THE PRESIDENT and his merry bandits, the message of Hurricane Katrina can be easily summed up: Bedtime, fellas. We’re tired and we don’t want to hear another word out of you.

But for the Democrats, Hurricane Katrina should serve as a morning wake-up call. It offers the Democratic Party a once-in-a-generation opportunity to connect powerfully with the American public and cast off its image as the party that’s long on criticism but short on alternatives.

Sept. 11 shattered our collective sense of invulnerability. Hurricane Katrina has provided us with further evidence that we’re not immortal. An American city lies in ruins, with thousands feared dead. But this time, we can’t blame Osama bin Laden. If we were unprepared for this particular disaster, we can blame only ourselves.

Or we could blame the Republicans, which is more fun. And so far, the prospect of blaming the GOP is the only thing that’s stirred key Democrats out of their pre-Katrina somnolence.

To be sure, the Republicans are fair game. They promised us safety, security, compassion and prosperity. Instead, they gave us an endless, pointless war, a homeland security bureaucracy that can’t tie its shoelaces, a wholesale abandonment of the vulnerable and the poor, empty public coffers and spiraling costs. And no matter what President Bush says, it’s just too late to “make it right.” The dead are dead.

But the Democratic Party has to stop coasting on the public outrage over the federal response to Katrina. Demands for accountability are appropriate but should be followed -- and soon -- by an affirmative agenda for change.

It shouldn’t be too hard.

Here’s message No. 1 for the Democrats: Having a government comes in handy sometimes. In 2001, the first FEMA director in the Bush administration, Joe Allbaugh, told Congress that much disaster relief should be undertaken by “faith-based organizations” rather than the government. In keeping with this theme, Bush has now declared Sept. 16 a “Day of Prayer” for the hurricane victims.

Prayer’s fine, but more helicopters, boats, troops and a functioning system for providing food, water and medicine to hurricane victims also would have been nice. Sure, governments are imperfect, but the Democratic Party needs to remind people that we’re not better off without government services.

And about those poor people: Democrats should ask whether we want to live in a society in which guests at the New Orleans Ritz Carlton were efficiently evacuated while the city’s poor were left to fend for themselves as the floodwaters rose. Do we want to live in a society in which so many people must make do with so little?

The Democrats have historically championed the have-nots. It’s time to reclaim that legacy and launch a major initiative to address the problem of poverty.

Then there’s the environment. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict that in the coming decades, the intensity of hurricanes will steadily increase as a result of global warming. Democratic leaders should tell Americans that if we don’t like the prospect of ever-more ferocious hurricanes, or the cost of gassing up, we need to get serious about global warming. We need to develop more fuel-efficient cars, reduce auto emissions and devise alternative energy sources instead of letting oil companies treat our national parks like ATM machines.

Yes, all this may be expensive. It’s time for Democrats to insist on reversing the Bush tax cuts for the rich and to acknowledge that with an expensive war and an expensive domestic relief effort, we may need to contemplate higher taxes for a time. The party needs to renew John F. Kennedy’s call to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Finally, Democrats shouldn’t forget about foreign policy. The Bush administration’s foreign policy has left us with an exhausted, overextended army, a war with no end in sight and a global reputation that’s in tatters. Yet we’re no safer. If anything, we may have increased our own vulnerability by making Iraq a magnet for extremists and terrorists, and by diverting resources from the home front.

Democrats should not retreat into isolationism but should insist on a foreign policy that is grounded in reality-based thinking. This means expending resources to match the problems we face and acknowledging that military power, though essential, cannot solve every problem. It means coming up with a responsible plan for withdrawal from Iraq. It means recognizing that in this interconnected world no one can go it alone. It means taking seriously the needs of the 6 billion people who don’t have U.S. citizenship. It means re-learning the ancient art of diplomacy.

Wake up, Democratic Party! Americans are desperate to hear a new message: It’s time for us to start taking care of each other and taking care of our world.