Randy Newman was right

In his song "Rednecks," Randy Newman sums up David Vitter's position on public housing in New Orleans. Vitty-cent has risen in opposition to a housing bill proposed by his senate colleague, Mary Landrieu. Landrieu's bill would require a one-to-one replacement of public housing units. Tear down a unit, it has to be replaced by a new one. Vitty-cent, of course, doesn't want to build public housing that will be occupied by the Eebil Coloreds. His response to Landrieu's proposal that he can't believe we need the units. Then there's this comment:

Vitter has said the bill "wants to re-create the New Orleans housing projects exactly as they were."

This is a good example of the code-word racism that Vitty-cent has been famous for since he succeeded David Duke in the LA State Legislature. To the white-flighters of Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes, "exactly as they were" means all those black folks who were laying on the leg of hard-working white people. There's also the perception of crime--many white folks believe that razing the projects will somehow magically lower the incidence of violent crime in the city. That Vitty-cent would pander to the redneck vote in the state is no big surprise. When I saw the headline, however, my first thought wasn't that he was pandering, but how a defeat of this housing bill actually becomes a win for Landrieu. She's standing for re-election in a Louisiana that is much more red than when she ran her last tough campaign in 2002. If the Republican party gets behind State Treasurer John Kennedy (Landrieu's main opposition next year), one of the things they'll throw up is how "liberal" she is. Taking steps to bring more black folks back to New Orleans will most certainly be viewed by rednecks as a policy out of sync with Randy Newman's song. Thing is, Landrieu needs even more of those rednecks to vote for her this time around. Watching this housing bill go down in flames, stifled by Vitty-cent's delaying tactics is a huge win for her. A defeat gives her an issue on which to campaign in the city, and takes away something that Kennedy can hang on her. Some would argue that this is a pretty cynical attitude, particularly at a time when the odds are so stacked against public housing residents. Mary Landrieu is extremely afraid of being labelled a "liberal," and runs from that moniker regularly. For all the pride she takes in getting defense appropriations through the Senate in her fund raising literature, there's not much bragging about pulbic housing going on. The bottom line is that New Orleans' most vocal public housing advocate is Maxine Waters. Jefferson is too busy defending himself. Landrieu's motives are suspect because we're in an election cycle. And the Republicans are signing along with Randy Newman.