How quickly we forget

The one year anniversary of Katrina came and went. America had our memorials and retrospectives and there were a few speeches and more empty promises from politicians. It gave the cable news outlets something to talk about for a couple of news cycles.

A few short weeks later, America is in the midst of the most heated mid-term election since 1994, with one party trying desperately to retain control of Congress and the other party smelling blood in the water. Central to the debate is the current administration's handling of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

As the recent Institute for Southern Studies survey shows, there is increasing opposition to the war, and Americans, and particularly Southerners, are questioning our goals and continued involvement. Or, to put it bluntly, they are fed up. The opposition party is making the election a referendum on the current administration's foreign policy and its handling of the war.

People are rightly concerned about the war and foreign policy. But it's puzzling that the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina have fallen off the political radar in this election. Because it's a year later and we have thankfully not had any major hurricanes this season, Katrina seems to be a long forgotten unpleasantness for most voters, and every candidate it would seem.

Katrina surfaces from time to time in the debate. A few pundits have brought it up, perhaps none more forcefully than former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe in this interview:

MCAULIFFE: I've been predicting we'd win the House and Senate since before the Foley scandal. I think the end of the Bush administration was Hurricane Katrina.

Others mention Katrina as one of many reasons voters are disenchanted with the current political leadership. Here's National Journal's Charlie Cook with a laundry list of complaints that includes Katrina:

While many attribute the Republican freefall to the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley and his e-mails to congressional pages, it really was no more than the straw that broke the camel's back. The seeds of Republicans' problems were planted long before publication of the congressman's e-mails to pages. The war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, other congressional scandals, federal budget spending and deficits, stem-cell research, Terri Schiavo and a multitude of other factors had been feeding the creation of an undertow for the GOP that goes back over a year. The "time for a change" dynamic that worked against Democrats in 1994 gradually came into place, fueled by all those factors mentioned above, and now it would probably take some huge event to alter its course.

Of course Katrina is on the minds of voters along the Gulf Coast. But as this Louisiana Weekly column notes, it's having the opposite effect for Democrats there:

Democrats counting on a strong base of black voters in Louisiana to bring victory in the Nov. 7 elections are facing frustrations from the Katrina fallout, coupled with dissatisfaction with their handling of the crisis that has reshaped the state demographics and its political landscape.

[..]

The levee breaks that followed Katrina flooded New Orleans and scattered thousands of residents from New Orleans, normally a Democratic stronghold. "Welcome to post-Katrina electoral politics," said Silas Lee, a New Orleans-based political analyst. "Displacement is going to be a factor. How important that will be remains a big question."

Vincent Sylvain, who has worked for months with the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation to register voters, said the displacement and the frustration may be factors.

"There was a time when we'd approach people about registering to vote, and they would just politely brush you off if they didn't want to do it. Now they ask why, and they are often hostile when they ask the question," Sylvain told BlackAmericaweb.com. A majority of black voters in New Orleans are less concerned about this election than they are about rebuilding their homes and getting their lives back to normal."

While a few pundits believe that Katrina is, or at least should be, an issue with voters, it does not appear to be an issue with the candidates. In the closely watched Tennessee Senate race, neither candidate has mentioned Katrina in their campaign speeches or debates.

In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, Congressman and now Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Harold Ford Jr. demanded that the Bush administration fix the federal response and get the needed resources into the region. Earlier this year, he asked the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to make sure there was an emergency plan in place for an earthquake along the New Madrid Fault in his 9th District, citing concerns about FEMA's performance during Katrina.

Last spring, Governor Bredesen, a Democrat who is up for reelection, spoke with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld about the state's National Guard equipment being left in Iraq, expressing concerns that it would affect his ability to mount an emergency response to a major earthquake or other disaster.

But since then, neither party's candidates for the U.S. Senate or the governor's office have mentioned Katrina as a campaign issue. What about in your state? Are candidates talking about the Katrina response? Should they be? Tell us what you think in comments.