Saturday, September 12, 2009
Couhig's coming back for more? Inconceivable!
Via the
DP, natch,
WDSU reports:
New Orleans businessman Rob Couhig confirmed Friday night that he will soon decide whether to run for the city's top office.
Oh. Triple. Freakin'. Goody.
I mean, where to start? Rob Couhig is the wonderful businessman who
helped re-elect Nagin over Landrieu in 2006. The rationale of his "Couhig Conservative" swing vote bloc was that four years of Nagin is better than eight years of Landrieu. And they were soooo right, weren't they? Hasn't Nagin's second term just zipped right on along? I guess time flies when you're caught in an explosion of rapid progress. Four short years after Nagin was re-elected-- look how far we've come! The cranes in the sky, the vibrant economy, the recovered neighborhoods, the safe streets, the clean, transparent government, the racial harmony.... Praise song for Nagin and his political abettors like Rob Couhig! We couldn't have done it without them. (Don't you just shudder to think what would have happened to the city if-- gasp!-- Mitch Landrieu had been elected Mayor?
P-eww. His idea about doing a national search for a new police chief--
cuckoo! cuckoo! His "get things done" approach-- what a bizarre mentality! His troublesome associations to the dreaded *dun Dun DUNN*...
Politics of the Past-- why, that might've resulted in a
scandal! )
Needless to say, thanks to Couhig's unerring guidance, we sure as hell dodged a bullet re-electing Nagin over Landrieu in 2006. But, since we can't re-elect Ray Ray for four more years, a new mayoral decision is at hand for New Orleans.
And Rob Couhig announced that he's running! Yay! Bootstraps in every pot!
Oh, wait. He didn't quite
announce that he's running. Couhig announced to the media that "he will soon decide whether to run for Mayor". So that's an announcement that he's... still deciding. Apparently Couhig needs more time to make up his mind: he needs to think it over and talk to people and go over all the pros and cons. Hmm. I just worry that after he lambasted Mitch Landrieu in 2006 as the
"Prince of Vacillation", some folks might interpret Couhig's current dithering in much the same way. That might look bad.
Nevertheless, he announced that he'd announce something soon. Regarding his mayoral decision-making, here's exactly what Couhig told WDSU:
I think the city's psyche is fragile, and we need to make sure that when we go after it, we can deliver a win.
So, Couhig acknowledges that the city has been through a lot over the past four years, and he wants to make sure that if he runs again, he can "deliver a win". He doesn't want to get the city's hopes up by running, only to shatter the city's fragile psyche if he can't win and become mayor.
Pardon me one sec, while I enter into an uncontrolled laughing fit, throw myself to the floor in hysterical convulsions, shit out my spleen, then jump out my window and plunge to my death in a euphoric state of laughter-endorphin overload.
...
There, I feel better now.
To recap: Couhig... doesn't want to... damage... the city's "psyche" by... running again and
not winning? Is
that the supposed conundrum he's trying to resolve before he announces? Wow. It seems
inconceivable, but that's the most charitable interpretation of Couhig's bizarre statement that I can muster.
I would welcome Rob Couhig to join the 2010 mayoral race. More choices and more voices are a good thing. And I think the joyous hope of bold, Couhig Conservatism in the Mayor's office is such an inspiring prospect, that it outweighs the potential psychic damage which might be inflicted if the city temporarily leaves its senses and elects someone else. I think it's worth the risk, but then I'm a risktaker. I don't blame Couhig for making a considered decision on the matter. He doesn't want to hurt us again by running and losing. One thing's for sure: no other candidate is more responsible for where we are today than Rob Couhig, so I sure hope he runs on his record. And if he needs assistance, he can count on me to be there every step of the way to remind him.
As for Couhig's electoral chances, I don't blame him for taking some time to assess the current political landscape. I presume that Couhig's "base" will be the 50,000 newcomers who he hoped would settle in New Orleans
after the storm. As
The American magazine
stated:
Couhig says the city will not be revived by returnees but rather by newcomers who sense the coming opportunity.
Bonne chance, Monsieur Couhig.
Labels: Couhig Conservatives, Elections and Campaigns
14 Comments:
Couhig is also Kevin Houser's lawyer.
Kevin Houser will be in jail before Couhig is elected mayor, but that's not much of a prediction.
Also your list of assorted glories from the second Nagin Administration somehow omits all that delicious "exploding pie".
Also also an anonymous Yellow Blog commenter has been guessing at which of the announced candidates might be seeking that all-important "50,000 newcomer" vote. It would really suck to see all the work done by these candidates toward that end get pissed away by a Couhig entry.
wasnt ginny b. also throwing her weight to the anybody but mitch b.s. at the end of the primary.
im sick of couhig's year long talk radio reinvention of himself on the a.m. airwaves .
i almost hope the douche runs just so he can piss away more of his and his cronies money.
ditto for georges.
i hope arnie stays on the council.
the idea of clarkson and lewis running that show makes me want to stick a rusty shiv in my uretha for relief.
He's a glutton for punishment as well as a malaka. I hope he doesn't start following me on the Tweeter Tube...
Great post Oyster, and I sure wish at this post-Labor day date that I had a candidate to support. Last time around I supported Virginia Boulet, and like Couhig, after the primary she supported Nagin and then worked briefly for his administration. New blood would be great, but no way Couhig will be mayor. It will be fun seeing him debate if he runs. I remember the ads 4 years ago, and Couhig in one ad was portrayed by a person wearing a suit of armor who had trouble walking if memory serves.
Pants writes: "Also your list of assorted glories from the second Nagin Administration somehow omits all that delicious "exploding pie"."
I couldn't work it in gracefully, so I referred to it, obliquely, in this sentence: "I guess time flies when you're caught in an explosion of rapid progress."
That one was for you, Pants. To say "pie" would be too esoteric, unless I explained it, which is cumbersome.
As for the 50k/Perry thing, I guess I'll enter into the discussion on the Yella Blog. (I'm not the Anon you cited, btw, but I'm pretty darn sure who is.)
Homan writes: "Couhig in one ad was portrayed by a person wearing a suit of armor who had trouble walking if memory serves."
If my memory serves, I think that was Couhig's ad, and the man in armor was supposed to be Landrieu (I think).
I do remember in the same ad that the "cuckoo" bird came out when Nagin was mentioned, which, you may notice, I also referred to in my post in a sly way.
was it the rusty shiv in the uretha?
cmon man give me some love
Being a Conservative means never having to say you're sorry
Ok, I didn't vote for Nagin or Couhig (Forman/Landrieu) and I'm no conservative (Independent), BUT.....
...the days for blaming the last election on Couhig and Boulet getting behind Nagin have to end.
Folks I hate to break this to you but 80% of the black electorate - 95% of whom voted for the very liberal Barack Obama and probably themselves 95% Democratic - voted for Ray Nagin. It's hard to imagine many black voters were any more pleased with Nagin than white voters, agreed?
And the same electorate voted 80% against Nagin the first time he ran. WHY the switch? Well I'm sure there are several posts by YRHT on the issue, right? Right???
And even though I voted for Landrieu, let me say that IF Fielkow runs and wins then, yes, we will be better off with Fielkow in 4 years after for a 4-8 year run rather than Landrieu for 8 total. And I will be voting for Fielkow if he runs and here's betting that the same 80% of the black electorate that voted FOR Nagin will vote against Fielkow, and more. Now please discuss *that*, the REAL reason Ray Nagin got in office the 2nd time around.
My memory of the commercial is the same as Oyster's.
I agree with anonymous about Couhig and Boulet. I'll go a step further and say that their endorsements of Nagin were entirely understandable. Sure Nagin didn't seem up to an overwhelming task, but, given the incompetence or indifference in Baton Rouge and D.C., who would have been up to the task? So, if you're Couhig or Boulet in April 2006, you have a choice between Landrieu, who doesn't seem interested in your ideas, and an incompetent who seems genuinely interested in your ideas and offers you a position in his administration. With a change of administration coming in B.R., federal money finally starting to flow in, and the expressing an interest in my brilliant ideas, why shouldn't I believe (if I'm Couhig or Boulet) things will be much better in a second term? Why shouldn't we expect a return of the pre-Katrina Nagin -- the best mayor the city ever had?
To some degree, but only some degree, the above is just playing devils' advocate. I can't find the words to describe my reaction the pre-election debate. The discussion always started with the assumption that Nagin was honest and that he was trying. Once you started with those assumptions, the debate became one of where the primary responsibility for the slow recovery lay (lied?)-- City Hall, B.R or D.C.? It made it very easy for Nagin's supporters to portray him as being unfairly blamed for problems that no mayor could have solved.
I could go on in great detail, but that's a blog post I've been planning for some time. I will point out that it wasn't just local journalists who failed to question his effort or character. Some months ago, I looked over what local bloggers wrote prior to the election. For the most part, it merely ratcheted "incompetent" up to "moron." Adrastos was the only blogger that I could find questioning his pre-Katrina record of accomplishment, and nobody questioned his integrity or effort. I just checked, and I can't find any sign that anybody even questioned vacationing in Jamaica so soon after Katrina. So, again, if somebody, even somebody who obviously hasn't been up to the task so far, convinces me that he'll listen to my advice, why shouldn't I think his performance will improve? I can only think of one blogger who made the case that that he obviously didn't give a shit and certainly appeared to be just as corrupt as his predecessor.
Rereading the above, I might have given the impression that local journalists questioned Nagin's competence or ability more strongly than they did. Clancy DuBos questioned it pretty forcefully, but I wanted to scream every time he went on TV. He always said something along the lines of, "You can't question his effort or honesty. Nobody says he's not trying; he just isn't up to the job." I looked, and i looked, and I looked, and I couldn't see any sign that the mayor was working any harder post-Katrina. He was even one of the very small minority of white collar professionals who didn't either lose weight or get a little flabby after Katrina, even his workout routing didn't seem to suffer. What effort did Clancy see that I couldn't find? The informed gang and the paper's op-ed writers were very careful to mention the difficulty of the situation when they even hinted at questions about his competence.
What I would question Couhig about is this:
“The first thing you and I as citizens want to know is: ‘What’s the deal?’ ” Couhig said. “My goal at the end of the 100 days is that we have made substantive progress in the quality of life in New Orleans (and) that there is better understanding for what the future portends in the city of New Orleans.”
Describing himself now as a dutiful member of Nagin’s team, Couhig said he wants to help the mayor foster transparency at all levels of city government.
He set himself up as "minister of accountability" or "transparency czar," but never said diddly squat when it became obvious that the Nagin administration was the most secretive in the city's history. If you saw him on WDSU recently, it was "Nagin promised to support our universities" or some tactical criticism. Nothing about the openness needed to prevent unnecessary distrust and bitterness about rebuilding decisions -- there will already plenty of that. It's unavoidable.
Prior to that, he never said anything about secrecy on his radio show. Lots of "Nagin likes Blakely more than he likes me; why can't he see that Blakely's an idiot?" whining, some criticism of specific decisions, but nothing Mayor Transparency's refusal to answer questions. The demand for written FOIA requests stall tactic started while Couhig was still on the air. Couhig had the forum to put Nagin on the defensive about his failure to live up to promise of transparency, but he chose not to use it that way. At that the time, I thought it was obvious that the best way to make it acceptable for professional journalists (as opposed to just bloggers) was to question his integrity. Couhig had a great forum for to help limit the damage of re-electing Nagin, and make up for his mistake in endorsing Nagin, but he used it to address his own personal and often petty concerns.
Saying the endorsement was understandable, given the pre-election debate, isn't the same as saying it was a good decision.
Whatever his faults, past mistakes and shortcomings, I will say this for Couhig. If he runs, he will have the most cogent message, be the best speaker and be the most qualified candidate in the race.
- Folks I hate to break this to you but 80% of the black electorate - 95% of whom voted for the very liberal Barack Obama and probably themselves 95% Democratic - voted for Ray Nagin. It's hard to imagine many black voters were any more pleased with Nagin than white voters, agreed?
don't be so sure about that.
