September 11 2001 brought Rudi Giuliani's fading career back from the brink. Today, he is still the guy to beat in the 2008 Republican primaries. Does anyone, even for a moment, imagine that Ray Nagin of New Orleans and Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana have similarly catapulted themselves to the forefront of American politics?
Nor should they have. When hurricane Ivan seemed to be threatening New Orleans a year ago the evacuation was a fiasco. City and school buses sat idle while residents of the inner city - mostly African Americans - were left behind.
What exactly did Blanco and Nagin learn from this?