E Pluribus Unum

John Edwards is set to announce his run for the presidency ... and word is that he'll do it from the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.

The stagecraft of his announcement meshes with his message of One America -- and contrasts with the shameful record of the present administration in rebuilding a major American city hit by disaster: New Orleans.

Edwards' announcement will remind us all again that government can be a place where people come together and where no one gets left behind. Ours is a government of the people, by the people and for all the people -- an instrument of good.

Republicans like to promote "The Ownership Society." But that's just another way of saying you're on your own. "Every man for himself...and devil take the hindmost." That's not what made us a great nation.

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Michael Tisserand reminds Democrats what is at stake in Louisiana:

For New Orleans, the most dangerous outcome of the midterms would be if voters receive the message that Katrina was a terrible thing, a Republican blunder, but it's now over. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The mental health infrastructure in New Orleans remains shattered, depression is a local epidemic and the suicide rate has officially tripled. Incredibly, some residents of public housing are still unable to enter their own homes, while the Department of Housing and Urban Development moves to demolish more than 5,000 public housing units. Unchecked insurance costs are preventing others from selling, buying or repairing property. Federal dollars are flowing to corporate bailouts and disaster profiteers, not to affected citizens, revealed an August analysis by CorpWatch, a San Francisco-based organization that previously investigated profiteering in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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More than anything, Democrats must set themselves apart by keeping their promises to Katrina survivors. At an August press conference in New Orleans, party leaders pledged that the first 100 hours of the new Congress would include bills to assist New Orleans by streamlining insurance, creating more affordable housing options and restoring the coast.

But Pelosi's recently released "New Direction for America" didn't include one mention of post-Katrina needs. Such omissions offer cold comfort to New Orleanians who wonder if some leaders have stopped thinking of their home as an American city at all.

Is John Edwards the candidate who can turn this around? I don't know, but I give him high marks for focusing our attention on one of the crucial issues of our time.