“Are you from OEM? Or FEMA?”
“No, we’re from Brooklyn.”
That was the exchange when, after nearly six hours, the volunteer group I spent Sunday with finally managed to deliver supplies— flashlights, blankets, winter jackets, baby supplies, and pet food—to Staten Islanders who’d been rocked by Hurricane Sandy.
On television, New York City is resiliently recovering from Sandy—Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg even fought hard against canceling the ING marathon, giving in only when its sponsors caved. The mayor has maximized his television time with frequent updates in carefully staged settings, with members of the Obama administration standing behind him and his hypnotic sign-language interpreter Lydia Callis beside him. It's a swell sales job, part of his business-friendly, socially-liberal, post-partisan persona, that (with the help of his vast media empire), has helped him maintain his national reputation even as New Yorkers have soured on him.
But his one unscripted moment was far more telling: an unannounced trip to the devastated Rockaways on Saturday that happened to be caught by a camera crew with local news stations NY1. A local woman, part of a furious crowd of people who felt abandoned by the city, was held back by the mayor’s security detail, as she yelled at him: “Where’s the help? Where’s the fucking help?
You really need to be prepared on your own.
The emperor has no clothes, and he never did.
ReplyDeleteI still think that Goldman Sachs should get rights to that picture and produce a million copies to post in their lobbies and plaster them in every corner of the world.
ReplyDelete"Goldman Sachs - Because We're Connected!"
Charles Wilson
helped him maintain his national reputation even as New Yorkers have soured on him.
ReplyDeleteYou are aware that outside of New York, your mayor is a Biden level joke, right?
It's funny how the media vilifies and portrays as crazy those people who stockpile food, water, ammo, etc. as being crazy. The ones who prepared to be self-sufficient are the ones that aren't starving, the ones looking at government to fix everything are. These days most people are not prepared for a rainy day. This is a clear example of why we all should be.
ReplyDeleteYou got that exactly right!
DeleteIs this photo-op mayor and crew so clueless that it didn't occur to even one of them that while they're running all over talking to the cameras they could be giving out supplies, too? Like at least bottled water? Something? If nothing else it may have at least given the appearance they even give a damn about these people even if they don't? It seems obvious they don't. We see them all walk away! Where in the hell are people's hearts anymore? Where?
ReplyDelete