It’s good to see Marc Ambinder caught Harry Shearer calling out Barack Obama for getting basic facts wrong about what Katrina did and didn’t do to New Orleans (and it’s not like Shearer hasn’t tried to tell the WH the score):

“Hitting” New Orleans v. hitting Mississippi isn’t a distinction without a difference.

Ambinder hedges a bit with

The truth seems to be that the hurricane devastated the region — and the levees breached prematurely.

Did I miss something?  Did the levees not breach prematurely [see comments]?  An abundance of caution, I suppose.

And Ambinder could’ve widened his scope.  Who else, nationally, gets it right?  I mean, that Ambinder seems to get it surprises me.  It’s hugely disappointing Obama gets it wrong, but it totally screws us that almost everyone else (politicians, tv heads, Americans) gets it wrong, too.

About the Author

Derek Bridges

Derek Bridges lives in New Orleans, trading in words and pictures. A carpetbagger of long standing, he grew up in the top right corner of IL and later went to college in the middle cornfield part. He has also lived in MS and FL, for educational purposes only, and was diasporized for a time in TX.

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