So why isn't the president pressing for an independent, unbiased investigation of governmental failures before and after Katrina, and of the nation's preparedness for another disaster, whether sourced in nature or man?

Back on September 7th, Rep. John Conyers wrote to the Congressional Research Service (one of the few parts of the government that can legitimately be called non-partisan) and asked them to review the record to see whether Gov. Blanco of Louisiana took the necessary steps in a timely fashion to secure federal assistance in the face of hurricane Katrina. The report came back yesterday. Yes, she did. Read it yourself.

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"The President has done the obvious, only after it was clear he couldn’t get away with the inexcusable." John Kerry

If body language means anything, Bush's admission on television today was one of waffling and "I'm only saying this because Turdblossom told me to so we can stop the hemmoraging poll numbers."

September 10, 2005--As the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks approaches, just 26% of Americans say their nation has changed for the better since those attacks. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 54% now believe those attacks changed America for the worse.

Why is it that things went so much better in FL last year, and in Mississippi and Alabama this year? Perhaps it's because in all those cases, local authorities did not panic - unlike Blanco. She failed to make a formal request for federal troops for days (CNN has reporting on this - have a look here, for instance - you'll get an idea as to just how badly prepared Blanco was.

"This report closes the book on the Bush Administration's attempts to evade accountability," [...] "The Bush Administration was caught napping at a critical time."

"Clearly all levels of government underperformed in this debacle...I suspect the Left will begin canonizing Blanco in hopes of laying more blame on Bush"

Question everything... especially your assumptions...

[Bush] was himself conspicuously absent from the executive job he was elected to perform until the public's outrage reached the boiling point.

Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that: "The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne." For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

Republicans have two terms used to dismiss those unimpressed with the performance of FEMA. The first is, "Monday morning quarterbacking". This, however, is not an appropriate application. You and I are most likely not qualified to play professional football. We are, however, qualified by administration standards to head up the Federal Emergency Management Agency. ... The second term they use to dismiss criticism of the federal response to Katrina is, "The Blame Game". If you think that leaders shouldn't be judged by their response to immediate threats to the lives of their constituent... don’t vote. Ever. If you call that, “The Blame Game,” don’t play it. Just sit back, shut up, and tune in to Dr. Phil. For those of you in need of written affirmation of the obvious: The primary purpose of government is protection. When he was told the country was under attack, after having tried to convince us that nuclear weapons could land on our doorsteps in just 15 minutes, George W. Bush sat blankly at a photo op for 7 minutes, waiting for somebody to tell him what to do. He posed for some dramatic photos, invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attack, and this country re-elected him. And then, when he was told that a major U.S. city was 80% under water, he went about his vacation as if nothing happened. Let it never be said that voters don't get the government they deserve.

Why is it that things went so much better in FL last year, and in Mississippi and Alabama this year?

Are you saying that the feds should have commandeered all of those busses, and somehow airlifted drivers in?