Former state legislator puts blame directly on Nagin and Blanco

[Dravyk]

Originally Posted by JR

i fail to see why people don't understand that these are state issues (preparedness, evacuation plans and their execution etc). the federal government is not responsible for thier failures. furthermore, the federal government can only assist states upon request...

Ok, first I want to say, generally speaking, you are correct.

And, that you are all also correct in that plenty blame goes to the states involved, and that they have not until recently got their share of it, and they certainly should and will.

That said ... however, here's the rub. (Unfortunately, I only have one item handy as example at the moment.) When the governor of one state wanted to send their guard to Louisiana, and the LA governor also accepted their help, the bullshit request got postponed in WASHINGTON for four days and they are not allowed to move without the federal OK.

So there are many things are so-called "state" issues, but in some way still need, require, whatever some kind of federal stamp on it, or which need to go to the feds for "alledged" coordination. In the end many of the state issues are actually not merely state issues and the feds are involved in many of those as well.