Certainly the message was directed at African-Americans both inside and outside New Orleans. It's a political message that he intends to be the mayor of a majority black city. But the statement that God intended New Orleans to be majority black certainly could be interpreted as inflammatory by non-black voters. |
Emotions are running very high right now. People are tense about their personal lives, they're intense about the political situation so the word chocolate can mean what you want it to mean. People can read their own interpretation into that and they can read something really racially inflammatory or they can read something conciliatory. |
From a political standpoint, any aggressive initiative against crime helps the mayor. If he doesn't do anything, I think that would be more likely to invite opposition. |
He has to expand the electorate, and that's a big hurdle. Blacks displaced by Katrina, these people are going to be horribly difficult to reach. |
I suspect people not planning to come back will not even care. It seems to me the electorate is going to be more upscale and more white than it was, but what the numbers are going to be, who knows? |
In order to get large numbers of blacks back into New Orleans would require huge amounts of money. |
It really depends on whether or not they perceive this is a place that they want to bring their families ... find a steady job and a place to live. |
It was a cesspool of corruption. |
Racial polarization is very high over this commission plan and so any statement on the part of the mayor, any ordinance passed by the council is going to be interpreted, 'is this for me or is this against me' and it's going to be interpreted in a racial way by many people. |
She found herself in a desperate situation, ... She's going to rise or fall on the timeline of her decisions. |
She found herself in a desperate situation. She's going to rise or fall on the timeline of her decisions. |
Some reforms are going to occur simply because the financial pressure is there. It'll be easier to get federal money with these reforms. |
The council's role now is trying to mobilize their constituents to exert public pressure to rebuild the entire city. It's a bully pulpit role. |
The decisions are going to be made elsewhere. |
The entire electorate is traumatized to some extent. They are very worried about what's going to happen to them. They are looking for a candidate who is a savior, a champion. |