Nero Fiddles While NOLA Floods

The New York Times Reports on Hurricane Katrina response, indicating that dire news of the levee breach reached the White House the night before the president issued his statement that New Orleans had "dodged the bullet." The president was vacationing at the ranch in Crawford as the disaster loomed.

"The president is still at his ranch, the vice president is still fly-fishing in Wyoming, the president's chief of staff is in Maine," Mr. Davis said. "In retrospect, don't you think it would have been better to pull together? They should have had better leadership. It is disengagement."

- Representative Thomas M. Davis III, Republican of Virginia, chairman of the special House committee investigating the hurricane response.

Photo of Madame Liberty Melting, taken after a Post - Katrina fire
in a Mardi Gras warehouse for parade floats.
from NOLA.com, photo by NOLA.com user Paul Glover.
This seem to me the quinessential image of the Bush Presidency.
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In my experience hurricanes move rather slowly. Perhaps not slowly enough, when you're trying to evacuate entire regions, but slowly enough to fly back to Washington.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called the federal response "unacceptable".

Once again the administration fails to act to defend the defenseless. It seems that dereliction of duty is a habit with this president, all the way back to his guard service.

I can't say it any better than the all Republican panel investigating the Katina response: "Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare." - as quoted in the NY Times.

I would add that the "abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare" is the hallmark of this presidency.