"This is not a time for finger-pointing or playing politics," - White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Sept 1 2005.

"Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said." Washington Post, Sept 4 2005.

"A Sept. 4 article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina incorrectly said that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) had not declared a state of emergency. She declared an emergency on Aug. 26." Washington Post, Sept 4 2005.

Contrary to the statements of the White House spokesman, the White House is playing the blame game. They are trying to deflect the blame onto anyone but themselves. In the spirit of that, I want to examine where the blame should go.

Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans since 2002. Republican until literally days before the 2002 election, Nagin switched his affiliation to the Democratic Party to gain a better chance at winning in heavily Democrat New Orleans. New Orleans was a city of roughly 480,000 people and the poorest metropolitan area in the entire country with a poverty rate close to 30%. Additionally it is known as historically one of the most corrupt cities in the United States, and one of Nagin's first acts as mayor was to go after the city Taxicab Bureau and the Utilities Department (ironically, the same department that manages the pumping stations that kept New Orleans dry).

On August 27, Mayor Nagin ordered a voluntary evacuation. When Katrina increased to a cat 4 hurricane the following day he changed that to a mandatory evacuation. Unfortunately, the city's ability to actually deal with such an order was poor. Fortunately, the governor had already declared a state of emergency.

Kathleen Blanco, Governor of New Orleans since 2004. Had worked heavily on tourism as Lt Governor, and the major issue of the day was trying to keep the Saints in New Orleans, and their requests to renovate the Superdome at state expense. Declared a state of emergency asking for any aid on August 26, three days before Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, 15 miles east of New Orleans.

No help came.

While much can be made of the fact that New Orleans was remiss in it's disaster planning, and many would like to lay the blame for that at the feet of Mayor Nagin, he has been mayor for a bit over two years, and maybe he could have been better prepared. Others are trying to lay the blame at the feet of Governor Blanco who has been in office less than two years.

If anyone has seen how state government works, they would see a number of things. First, every state and municipality has dozens of issues fighting for dollars and attention. Second, federal aid sent to states has decreased in the last five years, while at the same time federal demands OF states, has increased dramatically, especially when it comes to Medi... [ Read More (0.4k in body) ]