Federal, State and Local Screwups

Needless to say, we here at New Patriot Enterprises are not engaged in some trite "blame game" over Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. We are concerned, as every American should be, with what the hell went wrong. We are concerned with who (or what) screwed this up so badly, contributing to needless suffering and loss of lives. We demand better of our government.

The federal response was unacceptable. The President himself has said so, and we've devoted several posts to this fact.

The public agrees. A newly released Pew poll (PDF) says 67% believe that President Bush “could have done more” to help the relief effort and 52% overall disapprove of him. But it doesn't stop there. About half (51%) give sub-par ratings to state and local governments in Louisiana and Mississippi.

There's plently of blame to go around, down to the state and local levels. Anyone who believes only the federal government is responsible, or only the state and local governments are to blame, is ridiculously partisan and foolish. Guess what folks - both Democrats and Republicans screw up. Nobody should shy away from that fact of life, or pretend otherwise.

At the state level, a terrible revelation: Louisiana's Office of Homeland Security kept the Red Cross out of New Orleans. I'm sure some security concerns were legitimate, but it sounds like they simply didn't want to encourage people to stay in NOLA. Reprehensible. How many suffered, starved, and died while the Red Cross was waiting in the outskirts? The guy apparently responsible is Col. Jay Mayeaux. If so - fire him after Michael Brown.


CNN Video: State, local response in question

At the local level, the most obvious questions: Why weren't all those school busses rounded up to evacuate people without cars? Why weren't food, water, and medical supplies waiting in the shelters? This was a catastrophic national emergency, to be sure, but also a local emergency. Was the New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan followed?

So many questions. What are the lessons? It may be too early, but a fellow named Allan Topol has 5 LESSONS FROM KATRINA that offers the most common-sense assessment I've seen. Everyone should go read this!

Our new federalism is a tangled mess. The federal government has tried for several years to shift more responsibility to state and local governments. The lines of responsibility are poorly drawn and unclear. In a situation like Katrina, there should be effective coordination between state and local governments. There wasn't! This is a major problem that has to be addressed to avoid another massive failure of government.

He goes on to cite the gross inefficiency and cumbersome response of the Department of Homeland Security, and finally this gem:

We simply have to reassess our national priorities. I'm not suggesting that terrorism isn't a major problem, but efforts focused on terrorism cannot dwarf all of the other necessities of our government.