thurdl's take on...

...Irony and DC Politics

What, you thought that these would all be my take on simple nouns? There's only so many nouns that I have takes on (though certainly they're not exhausted to this point).

DC Mayor Anthony Williams held a press conference yesterday. It happened around noon. This is not all that unusual. During the press conference, he praised the level of cooperation that he perceived between the District and Federal governments. It's a hard line to walk, being the federal city. Elements of life that would be purely municipal in any other city in the United States suddenly become federal matters, simply because pesky things like the White House, and the Capitol Building, and the Supreme Court, and the Smithsonian Institute, and many cabinet departments just happen to be located within the city.

Therefore, it's quite important that the federal and district governments work together, and Tony Williams (oh he, the bringer of Nationals) was discussing the importance of such at just about noon yesterday. Yup. 12:00 yesteday. Talking away, quite nicely.

Several of you, I'm sure, realize the importance of the time and the day.

See, at the same time, in the same city, the city that is supposed to work with the federal government, the federal government was ordering evacuations, as a plane had entered restricted airspace. And so, of course, the mayor's press conference was interrupted by someone passing along the news that there was a potential security event going on in his city.

...except...

...except no it wasn't.

The mayor just went right on talking about how important it is for the federal and district governments to work together, just as the federal government was not working with the district government. DC chief of policy Ramsey didn't know about the plane until it was alread diverted. Williams didn't know until it was nearly grounded. Had anything happened, it seems that the two leaders of the District would have not known until it already HAD happened.

Yet the federal government and Tom Ridge are both saying that the evac went perfectly to script. Guess Williams and Ramsey aren't listed in the dramatis personae in that particular script.

posted by thurdl @ 5:03:00 PM