The Education of Mary Landrieu

Here's another story I'm a bit late on. It's been interesting (and stirring) to see Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu come alive in relation to this disaster. In screenwriting parlance, her character arc has been remarkable. On Thursday, she was filling her part as the deferential senator, disappointing Anderson Cooper, among others.

Thank President Clinton and former President Bush for their strong statements of support and comfort today. I thank all the leaders that are coming to Louisiana, and Mississippi, and Alabama to our help and rescue.

We are grateful for the military assets that are being brought to bear. I want to thank Senator Frist and Senator Reid for their extraordinary efforts.

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I know what the people are suffering. The governor knows. The president knows. The military officials know. And they're trying to do the very best they can to stabilize the situation.

Senator Vitter, our congressional delegation, all of us understand what is happening. We are doing our very, very best to get the situation under control.

But I want to thank the president. He will be here tomorrow, we think. And the military is sending assets as we speak.

Cooper lashed out at her (read the entire exchange), but Landrieu seemed unflappable.

A visit from the Prez, though, seemed enough to take care of that attitude. Here's an actual press release from her Senate office:

But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast--black and white, rich and poor, young and old--deserve far better from their national government.

(Over at War and Piece, Laura Rozen passes on an account from a Dutch reader that reveals TV viewers in Germany and the Netherlands never had any question of the prefab nature of the photo op:

ZDF News reported that the president's visit was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of 'news people' had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time.)

But Landrieu wasn't finished yet. She still had to get much angrier on ABC's This Week:

And if one person criticizes them or says one more thing--including the president of the United States--he will hear from me. One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally.

Will we get any further evolution? If you hear about it before I do, let me know.