2008/11/2 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>
> One thing I admire most about American democracy is that it provides
> equal opportunity for all. Merit is recognised and rewarded without any
> reference to class, caste, creed or colour. The law is enforced the same
> way for all - Who would have imagined even one year back that a black
> man Barrack Obama would have been a presidential candidate and a
> favourite to win the elections..............
>
Mario responds:
>
Marshall,
>
Excellent and accurate observations, though for quite sometime now, it was
simply a matter of time and the emergence of the right black person.
>
As you may or may not know, while blacks are about 14% of the population,
several major US cities are led by black mayors and city councilmen and women,
all elected positions, several major politicians have been and are black, the
last two National Security Advisors to the President and the last two
Secretaries of State were and are black - which are two of the most powerful
positions in the USA, especially in a time of war and possible ongoing
conflicts with Iran and Russia, while also securing and stabilizing the
liberations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
>
While, in my opinion, Barack Obama is not the right person for a whole host of
reasons, the electorate will speak in a couple of days, and then, if he wins,
his record will have to speak for itself.
>
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 12:43:40 +0000
From: "Gabe Menezes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
To a large extent what you state is true, though it is said, for one man who
might become President there were scores of Blacks left to drown in the Gulf of
Mexico.
>
Mario responds:
>
Once again, I am needlessly forced to correct what "is said" about the calamity
caused by Hurricane Katrina. For anyone to suggest that "the country" is to
blame for what happened in New Orleans is a gross misrepresentation bordering
on a vicious calumny.
>
The Mayor of New Orleans was black, many of the city councilmen and women were
black, and the Governor of the state of Louisiana at the time was a Latina.
These were the local leaders who primarily responsible for making sure that the
levees were safe and for evacuating New Orleans as a precaution. Scores of
school buses stood unused because the Mayor decided not to insist on an
evacuation of the areas that were eventually flooded. Whatever happened as a
result of that hurricane was directly due to their poor management and
judgment. In fact, the Governor decided not to run for re-election because of
how badly she had mismanaged the situation.
>
The neighboring states of Mississippi and Alabama were just as hard hit by
Katrina, but because of the local leadership, they did not suffer anywhere near
the human tragedy that Louisiana and New Orleans did.
>
This year Hurricane Gustave had minimum effect because the new Governor of
Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, made sure that the local authorities did their jobs
and evacuated everyone who was in harms way, which they had not done before and
during Katrina.
>
