by JAMES TARANTO
Friday, September 16, 2005 2:38 P.M. EDT

A Moment for Persuasion?
All this week we've been musing on the problem of race in America--specifically, the phenomenon of black public opinion that is far from the political mainstream. But could it be that Hurricane Katrina provides an opportunity to change this? The evidence in the affirmative is all anecdotal, but it's intriguing nonetheless.

Blogress Lorie Byrd notes that when ABC News interviewed evacuees at the Houston Astrodome about President Bush's speech last night, they were surprisingly positive. NewsBusters.org has a transcript, along with video of one interview, conducted by correspondent Dean Reynolds:

Reynolds: I'd like to get the reaction of Connie London, who spent several horrible hours at the Superdome. You heard the president say repeatedly that you are not alone, that the country stands beside you. Do you believe him?

London: Yeah, I believe him, because here in Texas, they have truly been good to us. I mean--

Reynolds: Did you get a sense of hope that you could return to your home one day in New Orleans?

London: Yes, I did. I did.

Reynolds: Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?

London: No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in. They should have been on their jobs.

Reynolds: And they weren't?

London: No, no, no, no. Lord, they wasn't. I mean, they had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people.

Katherine Kersten, a columnist for the left-wing Minneapolis Star Tribune, reports on the experience of Jim Lodoen, a local lawyer who went to Houston to visit his sick mom and ended up spending a week volunteering at the Astrodome, and who has a similar story to tell:

Lodoen circulated among residents' cots, striking up conversations. "Everyone has lost their possessions, their jobs, many friends and perhaps some family. No one knows what tomorrow holds."

But to his surprise, he saw no resentment. People were eager to talk, he says--not about grievance, but about hope and gratitude.

He met a family that had slept in stadium seats for four nights. "I said, 'That must have been terrible.' 'Oh, no,' the woman said. Instead of focusing on what they lacked, they were deeply thankful for what they had: food, lights, a roof, each other." . . .

Back at his mother's hospital room, Lodoen saw television reporters interviewing victims who appeared angry and indignant. "I thought, 'Where are they coming up with these people? I'm not seeing them.' " He was also shocked at the shrill finger-pointing on the news. "All around us, politicians are focused on the blame game. Yet the victims themselves are blaming no one. I didn't hear one complaint. In fact, I was overwhelmed by the love, faith, determination and compassion that everyone shared."

Running somewhat counter to this is another public opinion poll, this one of evacuees in Houston, conducted by the Washington Post. (Results are here, in PDF.) The sample is overwhelmingly black (93%), and 92% come from the city of New Orleans. Many of the results are similar to those from polls of blacks nationwide: 70% disapprove of President Bush's handling of Katrina, while only 15% approve. Doing somewhat better but still poorly are Gov. Kathleen Blanco (58% disapprove, 27% approve) and Mayor Ray Nagin (53% disapprove, 33% approve).

Asked whether the government would have rescued people more quickly "if more of them had been wealthier and white rather than poorer and black," 68% said yes and 23% no. And only 28% said their experience made them feel that "the government cares about people like you," vs. 61% who feel it doesn't care.

This poll was conducted several days before the president's speech, and the reaction to that speech reported by ABC suggests that the disaster relief effort may offer an opportunity to change some minds.

If He Won Over All the Others, He's Doing Pretty Well
"One Family in New Orleans Views Bush Speech With Skepticism"--headline, Knight Ridder Newspapers, Sept. 16

They Find Racism Everywhere
"French Quarter Races to Reopen"--headline, Reuters, Sept. 16

And We Thought Sen. Carper Was From Delaware
John Kerry* weighed in with a press release after President Bush's speech last night:

Below is a statement from Senator John Kerry on President Bush's address tonight on the devastation of Hurricane Katrina:

"Leadership isn't a speech or a toll-free number. Leadership is getting the job done. No American doubts that New Orleans will rise again, they doubt the competence and commitment of this Administration. Weeks after Katrina, Americans want an end to politics-as-usual that leaves them dangerously and unforgivably unprepared. Americans want to know that their government will be there when it counts with leadership that keeps them safe, not speeches in the aftermath to explain away the inexcusable."

To John Kerry, it seems, leadership is issuing whiny press releases. Just think, if only he'd been elected president, he could respond to Katrina with whiny White House press releases!

Another recent loser, Al Gore, weighed in last week, notes Bob Tyrrell:

He urged that "the leaders of our country be held accountable" for the flooding of New Orleans. Unfortunately he was addressing the Sierra Club, which was not the best place to bring up the flooding of New Orleans.

The very day he spoke a congressional task force reported that the levees that failed in New Orleans would have been raised higher and strengthened in 1996 by the Army Corps of Engineers were it not for a lawsuit filed by environmentalist [sic] led by who else but the Sierra Club. Among those "leaders of our country" to "be held accountable" for the flooding of New Orleans, would Al include the Sierra Club?

Why can't these guys handle losing in a dignified way, like retiring into academic obscurity or doing ads for erection drugs?

* The haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way promised 229 days ago to release his military records.

The Good News Is the Bad News Is Wrong
After the New Orleans deluge, an article from last October's National Geographic made the rounds. It described, in the past tense, a hypothetical storm that hit the Crescent City:

As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however--the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.

The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level--more than eight feet below in places--so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

A few weeks ago, this seemed eerily prescient. Isn't it good to know things turned out not to be that bad?

Earth, Wind and Fire
From a New Orleans Times-Picayune story on insurance coverage of hurricane damage:

Flood damage is covered by federal flood insurance, which is a type of coverage held by a fraction of homeowners. Flood insurance, however, only covers damages up to $250,000.

As a result, many homeowners would prefer to see their claims handled through homeowners insurance. And some policyholders are arguing that wind from the storm caused the levee breach that flooded the city, and that any water damage should be covered under a traditional storm policy.

"In this event, the big (question) will be: What's wind and what's water?" said Bob Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America.

Bob, we can help. Wind is what causes the trees to shake; water is the stuff ducks swim in.

Katrina Gets a Scholarship
"Study: More Hurricanes in Strongest Classes"--headline, Associated Press, Sept. 15

Education Pays Off
" 'Honestly, the French Quarter is cleaner than it's ever been in 22 years,' said resident Mike Howell, who has a doctorate in political science and tells fortunes for a living in Jackson Square, the bustling core of the city."--Los Angeles Times, Sept. 16

Homelessness Rediscovery Watch

"If George W. Bush becomes president, the armies of the homeless, hundreds of thousands strong, will once again be used to illustrate the opposition's arguments about welfare, the economy, and taxation."--Mark Helprin, Oct. 31, 2000

"The Other Side of Charity's Coin: [Katrina] Crisis Prompts Aid for Evacuees, but [Washington] Area's Homeless Feel Left Behind"--headline and subheadline, Washington Post, Sept. 16

U.S. Out of New Orleans!
Forgotten but not gone, mad mama Cindy Sheehan is still ranting away over at the Fluffington Toast in hope of defying Andy Warhol and scoring a 16th minute of fame. In her latest post, she declares, "George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self [sic] from power."

Mrs. Sheehan, originally a sympathetic figure, is now merely a pathetic one, and we're inclined to ignore her totally, except that we keep remembering all those Angry Left types who, a few short weeks ago, were declaring that she had "absolute moral authority" and was going to transform American politics. If thinking about that doesn't give you a good, deep, soul-cleansing laugh, nothing will.

Homer Nods
Benjamin Harrison was president during the Johnstown, Pa., flood of 1889, not Grover Cleveland, as we said in an item yesterday (since corrected). This is one of those cases in which our getting it wrong helps prove our point, which was that no one remembers this stuff.

There Oughta Be a Law
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

As police released more details about the shooting of a Qwest Communications worker in north Minneapolis, they also spoke about its repercussions within the community.

An unwritten rule against harming people whose work brings them into different parts of the city was broken when the telephone repairman was shot as he did his job, Assistant Minneapolis Chief Tim Dolan said Thursday.

"If that line starts to be crossed, the quality of life here is going to be seriously affected," he said.

Shooting a telephone repairman in Minnesota breaks "an unwritten rule"? In some states it would actually be against the law.

Quick, Somebody Scare Him!
"As Saddam's Day in Iraq Court Nears, Hiccups Emerge"--headline, Reuters, Sept. 16

Bummer, School on Saturday
"For the first time, every school and college receiving federal money must teach about the Constitution on Sept. 17, the day the document was adopted in 1787."--Associated Press, Sept. 16

Wise Guy
Here's a letter to the editor of the New York Times from Joan G. Miller and Philip Miller of New York:

The best hope for the Democrats is that Judge Roberts grows and evolves on the court and begins to modify some of his more narrow positions. . . .

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on where you stand, Judge Roberts has demonstrated the one necessary condition that in theory would discourage him from changing his position. He has shown that he has a complete knowledge of more cases than anyone is humanly expected to have, and most likely has thought through each of these cases.

Maybe the Millers can send the Mafia after Roberts, since he knows too much.

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Tom Linehan, Ed Lasky, Brigid O'Reilly, Doug McPeek, Daniel Nordby, Michael Segal, M. Gilbertson, Michael Napier, Nick Olson, Darin Bartram, Ron Ackert, Kevin Roberts, David Shapero, Geoff Hazel, Vincent Flynn, Shawn McBurney, Andy Hefty, Charlie Gaylord, John Wohlstetter, John Hobden, Robert Owen and Dan O'Shea. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• Mary Ann Glendon: What's wrong with the U.S. Supreme Court citing foreign law.
• Daniel Henninger: Iraq's president talks of Saddam's trial and better days ahead.
• Manuel Miranda: Liberal interest groups complain about Judge Roberts, but to no avail.
• The Journal Editorial Report: Tune in this weekend for a discussion of the Supreme Court and the Katrina recovery.

And on the Taste page:

• Review & Outlook: What they're really saying in Louisiana.
• Tony & Tacky: No smiles please, we're British; a new coffee-table book on sex dolls.
• Kim Strassel: Christopher Hitchens "debates" a demagogue.
• Roger Bate: How did a lifesaving industry become a Hollywood scapegoat?
• Philip Jenkins: Christians move to South Carolina with plans to secede.