The Katrina effect

Hattie Garlick writes: Since the hurricane and floodwaters drove them from their homes in 2005, leaving them reliant on goodwill and government handouts, powerlessness has become a grim theme in the lives of the Hurricane Katrina evacuees. But unbeknownst to many of them, the 1/4 million who have settled in the state of Texas could currently be yielding a pivotal influence in today's primary and caucus.

It is anyone's guess how many within this displaced community have registered to vote in Texas, or for that matter how many will be showing up today, but as this Washington Post article notes, their numbers are such that they could account for as much as 10 per cent of the Democratic electorate.

And as an overwhelmingly African-American community, they could provide a significant boost for Obama in a state in which the latest poll suggests Clinton, having campaigned there for George McCovern in 1972, has a narrow three point lead.

So far their political mobilisation has been played down, but there are a number of reasons why they might chose to exert their influence in the vote. The first is anger. There is an overwhelming sense across the community that the Bush Administration failed them both during and after what appears to have been the largest domestic migration in American history. The need for 'change' that has become a staple of Obama's rhetoric is a tangible reality here, as people continue to struggle to reassert control over their lives some three years after the event.

The second is frustration. New Orleans' plight has slipped off the political radar since the candidate who paid it most attention, John Edwards, dropped out of the race. The February 9 Democratic primary in Louisiana passed quietly by, barely acknowledged by either candidate or the media.

The third is of course pride. "I remember when James Brown made that song 'I'm black and I'm proud'", Godiva Anderson, a 49 year old settler in Houston told the Post. "I remember seeing young black men and boys stick out their chest - proud - saying 'Someone acknowledged me.' With Obama, it's like that again."