Here's how I see this. I think both of you are right, yet neither of you can attribute fault to 'your' side.
Here are some differences between Hurricane relief in Florida and Louisiana on every level.
Bush- With Katrina, he declared a state of emergency a couple of days before the storm. That's as much as he can do at that time. All this really does is facilitate getting supplies and relief and funds for the aforementioned to the states/areas affected. This enables FEMA to work unfettered with less restrictions, to put it simply.
My problem with Bush is that he was totally uninterested or uninformed 2 days after the levees broke and thousands were on the overpass with no food, water or shelter in the 90 degree sun. He was making WW2/Iraq comparison speeches and another about medicare while a shocked nation watched the unthinkable.
This means nothing unless the state pushes for it. Now, there are different stories about how 25% of supplies were provided, etc. The fact remains that GOV Blanco of LA is and was totally incompetent. We did not see her before the storm and all she did was cry after the storm. Just HORRID emergency management.
Contrast this to Jeb Bush, who we see all week BEFORE any storm on TV, laying it all out. Calm, reassuring.
That said, FEMA did NOTHING for 4 days after the levees broke in NO. Their director, 'Brownie', said he didn't know there were people at the convention center 3 days after every fvcking news station had been showing it non-stop.
Contrast that with Wilma. As we speak they have 25,000 trucks full of supplies in Miami and Jacksonville ready to be dispatched immediately after Wilma leaves. They have been there since friday, so 3 days BEFORE the storm. In addition, FEMA has over 1000 doctors here in SW Florida, ready to go.
It is totally incorrect to say that FEMA did ANYTHING right during Katrina and they share the blame for a lot of deaths.
That brings us to Mayor Nagin. An incompetent, unqualified asshole of a mayor who didn't realize that disasters can happen, even in his corrupt banana republic where he got himself rich. He cared not about any evacuation plan, even though one had been established about a year ago that addressed this exact sort of event. This idiot disappears for 4 days after the storm hit then pops up out of nowhere to go on some tirade bashing everybody but himself.
Contrast this with Wilma. Last thursday, 4 days before the storm, National Guard C-130 cargo planes from North Carolina were here in Fort Myers and Naples to evacuate 'special needs/elderly' people. Why? Because somebody actually thought about it. I don't know how that works or who called for them, BUT IT GOT DONE. Same as last year with Charley.
And I don't wanna hear any BS about it being the Presidents brother. That has nothing to do with it.
Re: Katrina- ALL of these people, agencies, etc are to blame. Total and utter incompetence from top to bottom.