Time to give credit where it’s due. As Souther California suffers through one of it’s worst fire seasons on record, a friend sends along a six month old article from the Politico. In a piece titled “Perfect storm brews in California,” author John J. Pitney Jr. displays deep insight into the intersection between politics, geography, and nature:
California’s rainy season is ending, and it has been especially dry in the populous southern part of the state. Since last July, Los Angeles should have had about 15 inches of rain. Instead, it has had a little more than 3. Even in a normal year, Southern California’s climate spawns wildfires. Barely a drop of rain falls during the summer, so the region turns into a big brown pyre. In the autumn come the warm, dry Santa Ana winds that fan minor fires into major ones. This year, the fire season will be somewhere between merely bad and truly catastrophic. In the latter case, think of Katrina with flames in place of floodwaters.
Pitney goes on,
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The final months of the primary campaign, in fall and winter 2007-2008, may unfold amid frequent disasters and universal anxiety. In the event of wildfires, Democrats will link the charred landscape to global warming. Whatever form the state’s misfortune takes, they will blame the Bush administration for skimpy preparation and shoddy response.
And so it has come to pass. The other day on Capitol Hill, Senator Reid explained the wildfires in Southern California:
As you know, one reason that we have the fires burning in Southern California is global warming. One reason the Colorado Basin is going dry is because of global warming.
So Pitney called it, and he warned specifically that Republicans were likely to be hit hardest by the fires. I think his prescient prognostication deserves a second look at his suggestions for the candidates:
More than policy proposals, Californians will be looking for candidates who have shown leadership and compassion. Obviously, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has a built-in advantage because of his performance in the face of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But any candidate could make a favorable impression by doing something dramatic and concrete. Picture one of the contenders temporarily suspending campaign fundraising in order to gather money for a relief fund — and challenging the others to do likewise. Campaigns need to focus on the basics. And nothing could be more basic than fire, water and earth.
The candidates will ignore this at their own peril.
