What to do with New Orleans?

Ezra Klein writes, in response to the de-blackifying (an awkward word) of New Orleans:

Let's be real clear here: New Orleans is a death trap. With the acceleration of global warming, hurricanes are intensifying. Katrina, remember, was only a category three when it hit the city, and even then it only delivered a glancing blow. Its successors won't be so kind. So maybe it's a good thing that the new New Orleans will be more affluent, more mobile, and less populated, because all those attributes will make Mother Nature's next assault less devastating.

After ranting about how maybe people shouldn't live in Vegas if they can't water themselves, it would be hypocritical of me to say that Ezra's wrong, wouldn't it?

Hypocrisy it is, then!

If there's one lesson that the Bush Administration shows us, it's that motives matter*. If Bush had, in his little photo-op speeches, said to the American people that New Orleans could never be rebuilt the way it was, that America would be better off rebuilding the necessary port infrastructure but resettling the bulk of the population elsewhere (with adequate funding etc.) and helping the people formerly of New Orleans make new lives for themselves, then I'd actually be wholeheartedly in favour of it.

But guess what? If the Bush Administration did that, they wouldn't be the Bush Administration.

Would this US Government ever seriously consider a rational, long-term policy to adapt to the climate change they don't believe is happening? Would they ever seriously consider aid that would disproportionately go to poor blacks? Would they do anything at all to help the underclass they wouldn't cross the street to spit on?

Motives matter. The former residents of New Orleans may be better off where they are. They may even make better lives for themselves than they could have otherwise. That doesn't change that facts that Ezra is - not ignoring, but I think trying to see the bright side of: The poor population of New Orleans is the victim here. They are still being victimized, and the Bush administration is still to blame.

*In fact, the Bush administration has been extremely educational on many, many more than one occasion.