Responsibility

President Bush has taken responsibility for Hurricane Katrina response failures "[T]o the extant that the federal government did not do its job right." Under the circumstances of the disaster, I believe that he and FEMA should be responsible for issues with the federal response. But I also agree with Brendan Loy when I say that this should not be used as an excuse for Governor Kathleen Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin to get a pass on responsibility at the state and local level in so much as Louisiana is concerned. The same can be said for Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi although his state has been extremely effective in dealing with the disaster.