O nome é Nagin, Ray Nagin

O mayor de New Orleans* teve a ousadia de, aos microfones da WWL-AM, exigir aos governantes norte-americanos que «get off their asses» e fizessem alguma coisa. Foi uma entrevista poderosa e emotiva, que chegou aos ouvidos da CNN e, por fim, à Casa Branca. Diz-se que foi esta entrevista que fez o senhor Bush «get off his ass» e tomar as medidas que tomou este sábado, quase uma semana depois do furacão...

Carregue lá no nariz do senhor e ouça um excerto da entrevista de Nagin (a transcrição segue abaixo):



«I need reinforcements. I need troops man. I need five hundred buses man. They’re talking about, you know, one of the briefings we had you know they were talking about getting uh, uh you know public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out of here. I’m like you gotta be kidding me! This is a national disaster. Get every doggone greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans. That’s, they're thinking small man, and this is a major major major deal.

(...) God is looking down on all this and if they’re not doing everything in their power to save people, they are going to pay the price, because every day that we delay people are dying. And they’re dying by the hundreds I’m willing to bet you. There are, we're getting reports and calls that are breaking my heart from people saying, "I’ve been in my attic I can’t take it anymore. The water is up to my, up to my neck. I don’t think I can hold out.” And that’s happening as we speak.

(...) we authorized 8 billions dollars to go to Iraq lickity quick. After 9-11 we gave the president unprecedented powers lickity quick to take care of New York and other places. Now you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique - when you mention New Orleans everywhere around the world everybody’s eyes light up - you mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying everyday that we can’t figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man. You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly. And I don’t know whose problem it is. I don t know whether it’s the governor’s problem. I don’t know whether it’s the president’s problem. But somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out. Right now.»

Vale a pena ouvir a entrevista toda, aqui. A transcrição integral da entrevista está aqui. Se preferir, o resumo está aqui.

[* o site oficial da Nova Orleães, tal como a cidade, está em baixo...]