Bush's unique talent for blaming others

There's a cartoon by Rob Roberts of the Pittsburgh Gazette, which shows the misery of what's happening in New Orleans under the title, "The Big Hard." In the next panel, a guy is writing a check for disaster victims while watching the misery on TV, under the title, "The Big Easy."

To my shame, I am as guilty as anyone of that.

But I didn't use my weekly radio address, not as a platform to help unify the country and declare that "the buck stops here," when it comes to the response to Katrina, but rather as an opportunity to push the blame to overwhelmed state and local officials.

Bush, who has been criticized, even by supporters, for the delayed response to the disaster, used his weekly radio address to put responsibility for the failure on lower levels of government. The magnitude of the crisis "has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities," he said. "The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans. And that is unacceptable."

Just what we need to hear from our president. How about the man most closely responsible -- as FEMA now reports to him? Surely he'll step up to lead the charge.

In a Washington briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said one reason federal assets were not used more quickly was "because our constitutional system really places the primary authority in each state with the governor."

Oh.

Fortunately Louisiana governor Bianco has tapped James Lee Witt, who ran FEMA under the Clinton administration, to advise her. Because the current director, lately of the International Arabian Horse Association, or some such thing, isn't up to the job.

Chertoff planned to fly overnight to the New Orleans area to take charge of deploying the expanded federal and military assets for several days, he said. He said he has "full confidence" in FEMA Director Michael D. Brown, the DHS undersecretary and federal officer in charge of the Katrina response.

Brown, a frequent target of New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin's wrath, said Saturday that "the mayor can order an evacuation and try to evacuate the city, but if the mayor does not have the resources to get the poor, elderly, the disabled, those who cannot, out, or if he does not even have police capacity to enforce the mandatory evacuation, to make people leave, then you end up with the kind of situation we have right now in New Orleans."

New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas acknowledged that the city was surprised by the number of refugees left behind, but he said FEMA should have been prepared to assist.

"Everybody shares the blame here," said Thomas. "But when you talk about the mightiest government in the world, that's a ludicrous and lame excuse. You're FEMA, and you're the big dog. And you weren't prepared either."

The world is watching this, and whether it's with horror or with glee, they are all wondering the same thing. This is the most powerful nation on earth? The world's policeman has bodies floating in the streets of New Orleans?

The words "homeland security" now have a terribly hollow ring in the anarchic south: 35% of Louisiana's National Guard is serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen. And recruiting is down because people fear being sent to Iraq. The priority given to law and order seems a troubling inverse reflection of what happened after the fall of Baghdad. Is it really more important to use deadly force against looters than to deliver humanitarian aid effectively?

How can we take on the threat of global terrorism if we can't protect our own citizens within our borders? Shifting blame won't shift that perception. And the Bush administration's attempt to do that only underscores their lack of responsibility and seriousness.

UPDATE: Added the missing link.