MORNING MESSAGE
When
President Obama visits New Orleans today to commemorate the 10th anniversary of
Hurricane Katrina, he will find the city whiter, wealthier, and more unequal
than it was before the storm. Eight years ago, then senator and presidential
candidate Barack Obama visited New Orleans, two years after Hurricane Katrina
devastated the city, and promised to prioritize rebuilding the city’s health
care infrastructure and overhaul its school system. President Obama will
celebrate some degree of success in fulfilling those promises, but the problems
that piled tragedy upon tragedy in New Orleans — before, during and after the
storm — have persisted and worsened in the 10 years since the
hurricane.
Obama In New Orleans
Obama
says New Orleans is ‘moving forward’ after hurricane. Associated Press:
“President Barack Obama says New Orleans is “moving forward” a decade after
Hurricane Katrina dealt it a devastating blow, and has become an example of what
can happen when people rally around each other to build a better future out of
the despair of tragedy. Obama was marking the storm’s 10th anniversary by
meeting Thursday with residents who continue to rebuild their lives and
communities. He was also delivering remarks at a newly opened community center
in the Lower 9th Ward, a largely African-American neighborhood that was one of
the hardest hit by the storm. It is still struggling to recover.”
Celebrating
New Orleans, Obama urges climate action. USA Today: “Calling the 2005
hurricane ‘one of the seminal catastrophes of our lifetime,’ Obama told New
Orleans television station WWL that the anniversary should focus national
attention on the extreme weather events happening with increasing frequency as
global temperatures rise. ‘We all remember the searing images of the dome, and
people trying to rescue others off rooftops. not only was it a terrible natural
disaster, but it was a fundamental failure on the part of government to respond
rapidly,’ Obama said. … ‘We can build great levees. We can restore wetlands. But
ultimately, what we also have to do is make sure that we don’t continue to see
ocean levels rise, oceans getting warmer, storms getting stronger,’ Obama told
WWL anchor Sally-Ann Roberts.”
Biden: In Or Out?
‘Time
is Running Out’ for Joe Biden 2016 Candidacy, State Party Chairs Say. ABC
News: “What will Joe do? It’s the question on Democrats’ minds as Democratic
National Committee members gather in Minneapolis for their summer meeting. Vice
President Biden won’t be speaking at the gathering, although the announced
candidates — including Hillary Clinton — are all slated to address members… When
ABC News reached out to state party chairs across the country, most who plan to
attend the meeting, 12 mostly agreed that while there is room for a Biden
candidacy, he is running out of time.”
Biden
unsure if he has the ’emotional fuel’ for 2016 run. CNN: “Vice President Joe
Biden revealed to members of the Democratic National Committee Wednesday that he
is assessing whether he has “the emotional fuel” to run for the White House.
‘We’re dealing at home with … whether or not there is the emotional fuel at this
time to run,’ Biden told DNC members on a conference call that was billed as an
opportunity to hear from the vice president on the Iran nuclear deal. … Although
he did not mention his son, Beau Biden, by name during the call, the vice
president has spoken openly throughout the summer about his grief following
Beau’s passing from brain cancer in May.”
Possible
Biden run puts Obama fundraising network on high alert. Washington Post:
“The possibility that Vice President Biden may jump into the 2016 presidential
campaign is convulsing the network of wealthy Democrats that financed President
Obama’s two White House bids, galvanizing fundraisers who are underwhelmed by
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s performance. A wide swath of party financiers is
convinced that Biden will make a late entry into the race, and a sizable number
are contemplating backing him, including some who have signed on with Clinton,
according to more than a dozen top Democratic fundraisers nationwide.”
Breakfast Sides
“Stop
blaming me for Katrina,” Former FEMA chief Michael Brown writes: “Had the
mayor and governor fulfilled their responsibilities as elected leaders of their
city and state, most if not all of the people crying for help in front of
national television cameras would not have been there. They would have been in
other locales, safe and secure. But the blame was not placed on those
responsible. The blame was placed on me—the one person who had no authority to
do anything at that point except get out the checkbook and start paying the
Department of Defense to evacuate people from that hellhole to a place of
safety. And that is exactly what I did. Soon the blame started coming at me from
another direction—higher up.”
Conservatives
target bust of Planned Parenthood founder. CBS News: “Conservatives are
demanding that a Smithsonian Institution art and history museum remove its bust
of the founder of Planned Parenthood in their latest offensive against the
organization. But the National Portrait Gallery says it won’t remove its bust of
Margaret Sanger, an early leader of the birth control movement. It has been
displayed since 2010… The conservative push to remove Sanger’s bust comes after
anti-abortion activists have released eight videos showing secretly recorded
conversations in which Planned Parenthood officials discuss how the organization
sometimes provides fetal tissue to medical researchers. The videos have prompted
investigations by several congressional committees and efforts by Republicans in
Congress and several states to block government payments to the
group.”
Progressive
Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to
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