Meet The Press Update

Well, I watched it.

The earlier transcript was accurate (thanks to the folks at atrios, where I got it) but completely inadequate to convey the absolute anguish on the face of Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard. If you have a chance to see this interview, take it. Not to see a grown man break down on national television, but to see real reaction, real emotion. Something more than the steely faces of the various commentators and politicians, trying to look gravely concerned but without any real connection to the problems.

I was struck strongly by the contrast between President Broussard and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, to whom Tim Russert cut when Broussard could no longer speak. Gov. Barbour spoke like a disconnected politician, even smiling as he discussed the damage to his state. He looked the consumate politician, trying to appear jovial and folksy for his constituents and frankly not particularly concerned with the death and destruction except as mere statistics, rattled off like one might list the ERA and win/loss percentage of an ace pitcher on a favored baseball team.

Watch this show. If you can get to it, the interview with President Broussard begins roughly halfway through the hour-long show.

By the way, in the first half of the show is an interview with Secretary of Homeland Defense Chertoff which really contains very little information, but I can't fault him for that. He was asked a number of questions and his answers generally were along the lines of no matter what has happened thus far, we've got far too much to be doing right now and in the near future to be worrying about what did or didn't happen to this point. I don't fully buy his explanation for President Bush's "No one expected..." comment (which was that Bush was referring to how on Monday evening it looked as though New Orleans had dodged a bullet, and that the levees broke after people thought it was all clear). But I certainly agree that Mr. Chertoff and his people have far more important things to be dealing with right now than determining who (if anyone) should be fired, what went right and what went wrong, and crafting responses to the press.

[Update: Janet just watched Broussard and Barbour, and she pointed out what I missed on the difference between the two men: Broussard looks like a man who hasn't slept since Monday night. Barbour looks like a man who just got back from a vacation in Aruba, tanned, relaxed and ready to campaign.]

Liam.