Dominic Massa / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS – A new excerpt from former mayor Ray Nagin’s forthcoming memoir portrays President George W. Bush’s speech from Jackson Square two weeks after Hurricane Katrina as “Disney like magic” and the promises in Bush’s speech as “too good to be true.”
Nagin has ramped up publicity for the June 8 release of his book, “Katrina’s Secrets: Storms after the Storm,” which is being released via Amazon.com.
The press release accompanying the excerpt released Monday refers to Bush’s Sept. 15, 2005 speech from Jackson Square as “illusory,” or based in illusion.
Referring to the lighting setup brought in by the White House for the president’s prime-time address, Nagin writes, “By nightfall, St. Louis Cathedral looked better than Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World. All we needed was a spectacular fireworks display and Mickey Mouse would have been all smiles.”
In the excerpt, Nagin points out that his staff found it “odd” that Bush’s staff proposed he deliver the speech from Jackson Square after dark, considering that power had not been restored to much of the city.
“However, as we soon came to learn, when the U.S. Government puts its collective mind to something, magic happened, darkness or no darkness,” Nagin writes.
“First thing that morning the military and other technicians arrived and were everywhere in preparations for the televised speech…. When I tell you that the place was well lit; moths and other flying bugs burst into flames whenever they got within a few feet of the huge lights that were rigged up. The light and dark contrast was stunning," he writes.
“…The feds brought all kinds of fancy, expensive equipment as if they were lighting up New York’s Times Square. It was clear the intent was to portray to the world that the city was already back on its feet. The dark side, the mass deception part of this recovery was now taking things to a new level. It was now fully illustrated that the feds could do anything, including making a dead city look magically alive.”
Nagin goes on to illustrate his encounter with the President before his speech.
“I just happened to see the President several minutes before show time and he was extremely confident. He proudly proclaimed, “Mr. Mayor, you’re going to like my speech. ‘This is going to be good.’ I just nodded and said, ‘Sounds good Mr. President, I can’t wait to hear it.’"
"I then moved to a reserved seating section that was just off to the side from the Presidential podium. Some of my staff sat with me along with the Governor, her husband and key advisors. We took our seats and soon it was announced over a loud speaker, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States”. Amazingly, he sounded like the same voice who announces professional boxing matches by shouting in rhythm; 'Let’s get ready to rumble!'"
"…Once the President’s speech was over, within minutes it was semi-dark again as though someone flicked a switch that turned off the sun. The President immediately exited and the military technicians packed up their stuff. Within a few hours the place was in total darkness again. They even took the temporary lights and generators that were used to light up Jackson Square. We were not offered these valuable pieces of equipment so we could better see key areas of the city at night. The show was over and it was now time to get back to reality. The Disney like magic left almost as quickly as it arrived. Once all of this became clear, we headed back to the command center to further discuss what we had just heard and seen. The general consensus was the speech sounded too good to be true. We would just have to wait and see what would really happen.”
