Arne Duncan Is Glad Katrina Devastated New Orleans

Really, that's what he said:

ABC News' Mary Bruce Reports: Education Secretary Arne Duncan said today that Hurricane Katrina was “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans” because it gave the city a chance to rebuild and improve its failing public schools.

In an interview to air this weekend on “Washington Watch with Roland Martin” Duncan said “that education system was a disaster. And it took Hurricane Katrina to wake up the community to say that we have to do better. And the progress that it made in four years since the hurricane, is unbelievable.”

That's an amazing, quote, isn't it?

The hurricane that devastated the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and killed 1,835, with another 705 still missing and presumed dead - either washed into the Gulf of Mexico or swept into Lake Pontchartrain or alligator-infested swamps - was the "best thing" that ever happened to the New Orleans education system.

When ABC News called the Dept. of Education to ask if Duncan meant what he said about Katrina being the "best thing" ever for the New Orleans school system, Duncan said in a statement that he stood by his remark.

Apparently Duncan thinks 1,835 dead with another 705 missing and hundreds of thousands of other made homeless and ruined was the necessary price to pay for bringing charter schools and education reform to New Orleans.

Wow.

Can you imagine the emotional disconnect a person has to have to say stupid, insensitive shit like that?

Can you imagine the hollow interior this person must have?

The scarier thing is, I'm sure Duncan believes it. And it gives some interesting insight into the strategy Duncan is employing in urban areas - destroy the education systems so he can bring about reform, and if this strategy devastates lives and causes great physical and emotional pain, so be it.

This is the necessary price that must be paid for education reform.

Amazing.

I wonder if someone said that the best thing that could happen for public education these days is for a devastating Category 4 hurricane to blow through Arne Duncan's house, kill his wife, leave one or two of his children missing and leave him homeless and financially ruined, if Arne would see the absolute stupidity and insensitivity of his statement about how beneficial Katrina was for New Orleans?