Look Mayor Nagin, YOU are were the mayor of New Orleans and as such, you are the first line of defense and risk management for the people of New Orleans. So, while those on the left are being so quick to hand out blame to the President and Federal agencies, let's not forget that America is a country whose politics and resources marshall from the ground up.

And you sir, have just admitted your absolute incompetence to the entire world, passing the blame for your city's disaster recovery and response plans to the governor, Federal agencies, and indeed, the President himself.

You should have been marshalling greyhound buses for the poor a week before when everyone knew the storm was coming. You should have been organzing food and shelter relief efforts months before. You should have been educating your citizens on how to keep calm in such a crisis and how much of a bad idea it is to go into your attic to keep safe from a rising flood.

You should have done these things and so much more so that you didn't end up standing in a flood tide, looking like an outrageous fool, blaming the rest of the world for your incompetence as a leader.

UPDATE: And, from Antimedia...

....then let's get the facts straight. President Bush had to beg the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana to evacuate the city? And they're blaming the feds for the poor response? The New Orleans disaster plan included using buses to evacuate the poor, but the Mayor never initiated the plan? And they want to blame the feds and the President for the failures?

And where is the media reporting on this? Non-existent as usual. Folks, we are getting the results we've been voting for — politicians who'd rather CYA than get the job done. And people are dying. Does voting seem serious enough now?

UPDATE: Check out this comment posted to Tony Pierce's blog today:

My name is Steve, I live (or at least used to) in New Orleans, Louisiana. My house is currently under 20 feet of water. I got out before the storm with my car, dog, and the clothes on my back. All else is lost. I am a refugee and yes, I AM WHITE. While you jackasses sit around and discuss the racial implications of a storm and flood, down here in Louisiana, we are all suffering together, black, white, asian, etc. This is a natural disaster that we in Louisiana have been warned about for years. The city, state and federal government all share some blame in this, but particularly the city for not having a plan for getting the poorer elements of the city a way out BEFORE the storm hit and the levees broke. Our city govt. has a history (particulalrly recently) of extreme corruption and inneffectiveness(?). Getting people out before a storm by buses, trains, planes, however, was the job and responsibility of the New Orleans city government, not the feds, not Bush, but the city and it failed and left its own people (and by "own people" I mean it in any and every way you can read into it) behind. Where I am here in Baton Rouge, we are trying to help, the finger pointing and race baiting can wait.

You're exactly right about the responsibility here, Steve. All my prayers are with you. Please send Steve an e-mail to let him know he's in your thoughts with the rest of the victims.