The Politics of Swine Flu: Rick Perry and Janet Napolitano

It's bad form to play politics with matters of public safety. That said, given the way that the government's lackluster response to Hurricane Katrina signaled a tipping point in the Bush presidency, no savvy politician will ever again underestimate the impact that a tepid response to a potential health catastrophe could have upon his or her career. In fact, the most skilled of our public servants have a way of turning tumult to their own advantage. As Rahm Emanuel recently told The Wall Street Journal, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

This brings us to swine flu, and the interesting ways in which two current politicians--Texas Governor Rick Perry, and Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano--stand to rise or fall in stature.

Rick Perry has been in the news quite a bit in recent weeks for his public flirtation with the idea that Texas might really secede from the union over what it sees as the tyranny inherent in the president's stimulus bill. To hear Perry tell it, Texans are a go-it-alone bunch, who don't want the Feds telling them how to spend their hard earned cash. So, it was a tad strange to hear Perry going hat in hand to that same Federal Government this week asking for a whole lot of anti-viral medicine (nearly 40,000 doses) to help combat a potential outbreak of swine flu. Texas is, after all, right across the border from Mexico. Does this mean that if it was it's own nation, Texas wouldn't be able to adequately protect its citizenry from pandemics or hurricanes of the future?

In a strange way, swine flu must come as a relief to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, who spent the past week apologizing to one veterans group after the other over her department's report that warned of the possibility that right wing extremist groups might recruit soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan in a plot against the Obama Administration. With the arrival of the pig flu, however, Napolitano was able to step to the podium without mentioning the controversy. This was a welcome page-turn at a very important time for Napolitano. Should DHS continue to play a central role in the coming days and weeks, the calls for her resignation may die out.

Let us hope the flu is contained quickly, whatever the political consequences.


David at Paradigms Lost
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