I get flooded with e-mails from people, and you get a sense of the desperation, ... People have been traumatized by the last 15 years of downsizing and the last few years of recession. Everyone's afraid they'll be next.

I think people do have to remember our goal is economic development, and to me, that says a lot. These people make things happen. They don't sit back and wait.

And you see those stories repeatedly, everywhere across this city. That the sense of desperation among these people is growing and while the operations at the Superdome, seem by the end of the week finally to be getting into gear, there are just so many other people across the city of New Orleans and all of these other parishes who just have no help whatsoever.

People see Merkel as an alternative out of their desperation. She may not be, but that's how they see her now.

I think it comes down to desperation. I really don't understand some of the efforts we're getting from some of the guys when we're supposed to be trying to make a push to get into the playoffs. It's astonishing.

That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I'm free to act as desperately as I wish.