‘Tis the 21st century political paradigm: Once every conceivable excuse and explanation for the failures of government have been rejected or discredited: Find someone to blame.
It’s the Republicans’ fault. The Democrats. The special interests. The Media.
In New Orleans, the Mayor and Police Chief have exhausted all conventional means of apportioning blame for our intractable problems of crime, corruption and incompetence, and for their inability – according to recent polling data - to convince even a quarter of the electorate that they are doing a satisfactory job.
Purged of conventional adversaries, they have latched onto a brilliant – if somewhat unorthodox – strategy: Blame it on the Supernatural.
In other cities, this dog might not hunt. But here in the land of vampire cliques, voodoo queens and haunted plantations, it makes perfect sense to cast their lot with the unknown: The enemy, they tell us, is the Shadow Government.
It is now an acceptable term in local parlance; it hardly elicits a raised eyebrow: The Shadow Government is subjugating the agendas of our Mayor and Police Chief, quashing all positive news from City Hall and tirelessly working to diminish the two men’s political stature – as if blaming spooks, specters and spirits in the night for their lapses in governance and service were not enough to, umm… diminish.
And here’s the weird thing: They have repeated it so often – the Shadow Government controls this city, not them – that it has lost its shock value and we all just nod our heads as if it’s a given – as if they didn’t just say something completely whacked out - and I guess we’re so accustomed to weirdness on a grand scale around here that nobody steps back anymore, evaluates the situation at hand and responds: Say what?
And this crazy-making is contagious business. I, too, have crossed over the line, going so far as to call WBOK radio one recent morning while Nagin and Riley were on the air.
Prior to my call, Riley had just commented: “There are too many positive things that have happened in this city that go unreported intentionally. Somebody has to be pushing the buttons so that the positive things don't come out, (so) that they're not on the forefront.”
Who, exactly, I inquired, are the button-pushers?
With the steely demeanor of a seasoned veteran of law-enforcement, Riley told me: “You don’t know. That's why it's the shadow government. Because you're not supposed to know. That's just my opinion.”
In other cities, these guys would be wrapped up in rubber jackets and carted off to the Crazy House. In other places.
But this is New Orleans - to borrow a phrase from Winston Churchill: A riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma – and only the Shadow knows what’s really going on.
So, if anybody’s got a number or email for the Shadow Government, please let me know. ‘Cause there’s a pothole on my street I’m dying to get fixed. And it just doesn’t seem like the more conventional – and infinitely less interesting government - is up to the job.
