Big (recovery) Chief like plenty of fire water

In a moment of actual brilliance the Mayor offers up the only plausible explanation for Ed Blakely's 1) saying he may think about leaving in December or January 2) indignantly denying a report quoting him directly on that statement.

Nagin tried to dismiss Blakely's interview with The Times-Picayune by saying, "I think a reporter sat him down after he had a couple bottles of wine, he got a little too relaxed and started talking about how homesick he was."

Brilliant explanation, yes. But I may have jumped the gun with the "plausible" bit.

The newspaper story did note that Blakely was sipping wine at the time, but he had only just begun his first plastic cup following an hours-long meeting with federal, state and local recovery officials. Bottles of wine were wheeled into the conference room moments earlier while Blakely was delivering a speech about the recovery being at a critical time.

Blakely did not say he was homesick, but rather said his absence had been hard on his wife and kids, who are grown. He said his wife would have a great deal of input in whether he comes back to New Orleans.

In fact, Blakely is rumored to be considering another job in Dubai (not his home).

Besides, the "wine" comment isn't even the best Nagin-on-Blakely quote in this article. I prefer to take my pick of either of these two:

"Dr. Blakely has been somewhat of an interesting person who has come to us," the mayor said.

But Nagin went on to give Blakely a strong review for his two years on the job, saying, "He has done, in my opinion, a lot of great work. I don't think this recovery would be where it is today without his great work."

Few of us can deny that we'd be precisely where we are today without Dr. Blakely's work.