Response Time

Pondering the situation in New Orleans (and throughout the coastal areas affected by Katrina).

If memory serves me right, the US Navy was criticized for being "slow" in the response to the Tsunami, but once there it was an “overwhelming force”

With Gulf War One, it took months to position the men and material for what was a war of something like 100 hours.

Federal government and US Military are not the “lighting force” that some seem to think they are. They are slow and ponderous, though powerful when they bring their full weight to bear.

Our government is slow to act, and has been designed to be exactly that … slow. It is genetically disposed to be tied up with a decision making process that does not act quickly.

Quick action/reaction lays at the state and local level.
Posse Comitatus Act, 1878 prohibits Active Service Personell from acting without being asked
Governor did not request Federal Troops until Wed.

If Bush had airlifted troops into Louisiana without being asked, there would have been hell to pay.

Not only from the states right’s side, but there would have been a convoy of ACLU lawyers hot on the trail, not to mention the whole “black helicopter” crowd going crazy.

Do you really want to let the folks in Washington to make ALL the decisions?

For now, lets take a breather, see what force is brought to bear to
1) stem the violence
2) provide aid and assistance to those in need, black/white, poor and not-poor
3) begin salvage of the town/infrastructure

There will be plenty of time to blame, and blame will come. It will come down on the heads of many politicians, likely more at the State and Local level.

Caution on Federal Blame and calls for spending on flood control.
Funds will end up in Wyoming, Utah, and elsewhere.

Some related reading:
Ben Franklin Had the Right Idea for New Orleans - New York Times
"Why is New Orleans in so much worse shape today than New York City was after the attacks on Sept. 11?

The short answer is that New York was attacked by fire, not water. But then why are urbanites so much better prepared to cope with fire than with flooding? Mostly because they learned to fight fire without any help from the Army Corps of Engineers or the Federal Emergency Management Agency."

And Bob Reich on Pork (don't think that there won't be a huge amount of pork in the "Rebuilding" of New Orleans!)

If there is anything a politician likes more than hearings, where they can point fingers (elsewhere) it's ... P-O-R-K

An Economy Raised on Pork - New York Times

"The increasing insecurity of ordinary workers also imperils our national defense by handcuffing the Pentagon. It can't shift the defense budget to fighting terrorism because of local fears that well-paying jobs will be lost. Contrast this with the comparative ease by which the Pentagon downshifted from fighting World War II to the cold war, more than 50 years ago. Its recent base-closing recommendations ignited a political firestorm, causing even the apolitical Base Closure and Realignment Commission to retreat. The commission's chairman justified its decision to save the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, for example, by noting that the base "is the second-largest employer in western New York."