To understand this post, you must first understand one thing. I have been a strident Bush supporter.
I voted for him, twice. I think he’s been an excellent wartime Commander-In-Chief. I agree with most of his actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq. I may have some issues with many of his domestic ideas, especially those based on his religious beliefs, but I’ve been reasonably content with the idea that he didn’t seem to be pushing them too hard. They appeared to be unimportant to him. I didn’t realize that EVERYTHING that wasn’t involved with the war was unimportant to him.
As has been noted elsewhere, the Army Corps of Engineers laid out plans to strengthen New Orleans’ defenses so they could survive something like Katrina. It has also been noted that Bush vetoed the expense because the money was needed for the war effort. This was a catastrophic decision.
I could forgive it, perhaps, if he stood up and took responsibility. If he explained why he made the decision.
That’s not happening.
I’m watching CNN now, and I just saw someone from the administration talking about the failure to properly respond to this disaster. They’re laying the blame on the various agencies and saying it took the President’s personal involvement to get the ball rolling. They’re trying to paint him as the hero.
I feel ill.
Posted on 09/08/2005 at 12:19 PM 
The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the levees and floodwalls in and around New Orleans. They were designed to protect against a weak category 3 hurricane. There were no plans to upgrade that protection to category 4 or 5. Originally the plan was to have category 5 protection; however, environmentalists sued the district and stopped it. It would have taken 25 years (if it worked) to get the upgrades in to make the levees and walls protect against a category 5. (Source: Riverside magazine by the Army Corps of Engineers).
There was funding cuts to upgrades they were trying to do, but those upgrades would have been irrelevant. 15 foot walls don’t contain 22 foot surges which is what they were facing. As a matter of fact, the portions of the wall that failed were the portions that have received the greatest effort with what the Corps did do. Those were recently upgraded walls. From the NYTimes:
Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said that was particularly surprising because the break was “along a section that was just upgraded.“
Louisiana and New Orleans were aware of the situation which is why their disaster plans call for complete evacuation using, among other things, the buses in the Mayor Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool.