Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

I won't necessarily own up to being completely liberal, although I lean that way on some social issues.

But to answer your question--yes, I don't think George Bush had much to do with the problems encountered in Katrina, particularly in the early days of the disaster. The rules of the game at the time were that the initial first response was the responsibility of the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. The feds could not unilaterally deploy their assets until the city and state requested that a federal state of emergency be declared and federal assistance be provided.

Various federal agencies knew what was happening and were waiting for the mayor and governor to request such assistance, but that didn't happen for a couple of days. The federal agencies were hamstrung, waiting for a request for assistance that was too long in coming. So the initial slow response was NOT George Bush's fault.

I'll add that Bush was far from faultless, however. If he made any mistake, it was his attempt to politicize the situation. Remember the speech made at night under the klieg lights in front of Saint Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter? The President made all kinds of promises that ultimately weren't delivered upon...and still haven't been delivered, even under a completely different administration and Congress. If he can be faulted, it's for politicizing a bad situation, but certainly not for what appeared to be a slow initial response.