New Orleans is storming back
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/US/02/03/super.bowl.preview/t1larg.brees.fans.gi.jpg caption="Saints quarterback Drew Brees celebrates with fans at the Superdome after New Orleans advanced to the Super Bowl." width=300 height=169]
James Carville | BIO
CNN Contributor
In September of 2005, no one could have anticipated what we saw in New Orleans last week. What happened on the football field and parade route after the Saints' Super Bowl victory is amazing and uplifting. But what's happening elsewhere in New Orleans also rises to that standard.
Consider the following:
The day before the Super Bowl, New Orleans participated in a historic mayoral election, as Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu won a stunning 66-percent of the vote, with unprecedented support among all races.
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Filed under: Hurricane Katrina • James Carville • New Orleans • Super Bowl |
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There is no one on this earth quite like the people of New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana. To see this victory for the Saints, to see Mitch Landrieu win as mayor, to watch ever so slowly this city of my ancestors (dating back to the 1700's) come alive again is nothing short of miraculous and awe-inspiring and tear-producing. To the haters and the naysayers, love created this miracle. Being part of this Superbowl win, this Lombardi Gras as we're calling it this year, this piece of amazing...there are no words for any of us in South Louisiana.
I've seen the spirit and courage of people in New Orleans, as they worked to find themselves and their children a safe place to live, sometimes needing to move several times, rebuilding daycares in those early days so they could leave their own children to care for other children in need, and rebuilding businesses and not-for-profits. They are truly my heroes They deserve all the happiness and encouragement these recent events have brought them. May the promise of these events be realized.
New Orleans is a symbol of the people, not of government leadership that failed in the after math of hurricane Katrina through the months and years, but a struggle and fight of the people to rebuild and reclaim the American spirit and that is something no party, blue or red, can take away.