Turn Left at the Hershey Highway

If you haven’t heard mayor Ray Nagin’s comments yesterday, get out from under your rock. In an MLK day speech, Mr. Nagin proclaimed that New Orleans would be a “chocolate city” as it rebuilds. He also added that “God is mad at America” and that God wants New Orleans to be a majority African-American city. Pat Robertson was unavailable for comment.

After the disasters known as Katrina and FEMA, my optimist instincts hoped that Mayor Nagin would be the second coming of Mayor Giuliani. After 9/11, Rudy rose up, as if fate were chanting his name inside the Notre Dame football stadium. Giuliani’s resume was strong enough after he turned around the city’s crime statistics. But his bold resolve in the wake of disaster showed America that a single individual can triumph and rise to the ranks of hero. In contrast, Ray Nagin’s resolve soon turned to sensationalism and now is making headlines as if he were Jesse Jackson or Jerry Falwell.

Attempting to correct his comments, Nagin gave us a science lesson, “You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about.” Thanks for clarifying your wishes for diversity. I suppose calling New Orleans a ‘chocolate city’ is better than calling it a ‘tossed salad’ city.

Back in December, Nagin also stated his intention to “stop New Orleans from being overrun by Mexican workers.” Thank you for sealing your fate, sir. Once again, we see a leader who has failed to shine in the limelight.

Perhaps Giuliani is a rarity. Not everyone can stare fear, opportunity and change in the face and come out clean. Legacy by definition is eternal. Flashes in the pan are long forgotten, like those dusty baseball cards on my closet shelf. If I learned anything when working at the hotel, it’s that anybody can do a good job for two weeks. I reserve my appraisals of others’ work once they’ve been on the job for a month. I should have done the same with Nagin. It looks like he will be a mere footnote in the odyssey that will be known as Katrina.

We shouldn’t evaluate a president’s legacy until he’s been out of office for twenty years. So maybe we should give a mayor five years before we write their legacy rating in ink? Maybe not. Waiting until they say or do something stupid is time enough.