Politics: Get ready for the 'Obama saves New Orleans' media narrative

By DAN CALABRESE - As Issac hits New Orleans, Obama will declare his own heroism, and the media will dutifully repeat it

Is there any doubt this is coming?

Consistent with Rob's piece yesterday about some lefties' goulish fantasies of a big hurricane narrative, you have to know Obama sees Issac's arrival in New Orleans a golden opportunity to flip the Katrina narrative on its head. Politico already greased the skids the other day with its "ghost of Katrina" piece, and as I write this there is Mayor Mitch Landrieu getting his Rudy Giuliani on, and showing all the world he's at the controls and in command. Ray Nagin is nowhere to be seen.

The fact is that no one who's not on the ground really knows what's happening in New Orleans, and even those who are there only see what's immediately around them. Just as it's impossible to say if the Bush-incompetence-hellvua-job-Brownie storyline was really fair or accurate, no one will really know if the inevitable Obama-saves-New Orleans narrative will reflect reality.

All we know for sure is that we're going to hear it. They'll start by showing us how the people in charge are so much more competent than their Bush predecessors. They'll give us a steady drip of anecdotes of jobs well done. And of course, it will also be wrapped around the message that Democrats deploy government right because, unlike Republicans, they don't hate government.

It's all just too perfect. You know the media won't be able to resist it. And since the Category 1 Issac is unlikely to wreak anywhere near the havoc of the Category 3 Katrina - and obviously there must have been lessons learned in the past seven years - it's a pretty decent bet that the story is saleable. And oh by the way, it all happens just in time for the Dems' convention.

Economy? What economy? Re-elect Barack the Hurricane Slayer!