I remember watching the events unfold in New Orleans. From the vantage point of my living room TV, it was like watching a documentary on some third world country. I couldn't understand WHY it was that with all of the resources of the United States, we couldn't get babies, children the old and the dying out of a flood. Sure, incompetence was a real problem but it wasn't just some people dropping the ball. The idea that this was the result of political maneuvering is despicable. There can be no greater reason IMO for everyone to vote for the Democratic Party this year. The fundamental premise of government is to serve and protect its people. The Bush admin and the GOP operatives have clearly shown that it failed in this regard. They need to go, all of them.

You wrote:

"Wait. So it's all Bush's fault, and...

Blanco's refusal to federalize the Guard was apolitical and principled? And had not a single bad consequence? And even if it did, it's Bush's fault because of Iraq?

Well, that's just brilliant."

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Why does the governor of Louisiana, or any governor at all, need to FEDERALIZE the Guard in order for the citizens to receive aid? Let's also not forget that this storm, while powerful, was not unpredictable, nor was its impact, specifically the failing of the levees an unknown consequence. The president should have done the following:

1) Respond quickly with aid on the ground as per the requests of state and local officials. As was demonstrated, the knew far better than "Brownie" what was happening in New Orleans. The city needed food, water, and boots on the ground to augment the police force. This city should not have been left to handle the situation by themselves.

2) Demanded that FEMA use all means available to IMMEDIATELY remove citizens from the Dome, Convention center, hospitals and those trapped in homes.

Aeschylus: Why was that impoosible when we all watched indivuals with no professional or military training, just kind hearts, doing just that?

Still on the insults? It's time to move on.

BTW- There are many, many politicians with more Washington experience than both Obama AND Clinton. That doesn't mean a hill of beans to the voters in case you didn't notice election results. That's also why so many governors have become presidents.

The central weakness to the arguments you make is that you are not dealing with facts. Kind of like Michael Brown and the Bush Admin.

1) As others have pointed out ealier, New Orleans suffered a UNIQUE and secondary catastrophe NOT shared by the residents of Mississipi. It flooded due to FAILED LEVEES and waters did not recede for many days afterwards.

2)New orleans had a city population of approx. 450,000 people. About 1/2 or so evacuated as per the governor and mayor's request. The rest stayed for several reasons. Some were too sick or hospitalized. Remember those horriofic stories? In case you've forgotten , people died due to lack of medical care.

Others were too poor. What does that mean? they were too poor to go anywhere except the Superdome which was dreadfully inadequate to its purpose.

This latter reason predicted that huge numbers of people would be in dire need of safe housing, food, water and medical services. Furthermore, There was no reason for the state or city official to go it alone since a) federal authorities clearly knew of the risk of flooding and b) the sheer number of people at risk demaned a massive and highly-coordinated response. Obviously, that didn't happen, the bottom line is : the Bush administration failed miserable in presonding to the crisis in New orleans.

One question: Why do you think it was OK for the feds to fail to povide military personnel to support police and rescue efforts for 5 days?

Hillary Clinton faced quite a bit of animosity from the media during her primary run. I'll grant Traister that. However, animosity is not sexism. The Clinton administration was notoriously paranoid about the media and treated them with suspicion. Old grudges die hard. That's what you see in action from Matthews et. al. I don't believe for a moment that other women candidates would have been roasted so meanly on T.V. each night. There was something highly personal about the attacks on Hillary, from both men and women.

The key is to make the gas tax a running joke- which it is. The fact is that big oil benefits, not everyday working men and women. That shouldn't be too hard to communicate to voters if they're conscious.

Why not a famous writer and a good mother? I don't buy that it's impossible. There are many women who have careers and manage to be there for their children. I tend to believe that Rebecca Walker is basically accurate in her account and that her mother, in rejecting traditional roles, conveniently forgot that she had a daughter to raise and raise well.

I also find it sad that Alice Walker was a poor mother to her own daughter. I've read and reread so many of her books over and over again. The Third Life of Grange Copeland is perhaps my favorite. It's too bad that she couldn't find room in her world to be nearly as strong a parent as she was speaker and advocate for issues of social justice.