Leadership Lacking

I find it telling that the governor of Louisiana has almost faded from public view, as has the mayor of New Orleans. I sense that they are likely ineffective leaders without the capacity to lead in a crisis of this magnitude. Also, they are probably worn out emotionally by the devastation.

The best thing that can be done now is to put seasoned military commanders in charge of this huge effort. People with experience in life and death situations, not inept politicians and bureaucrats are needed to muster resources and give clear direction for their deployment.

Update on the lack of leadership from the governor of Louisiana: This from the Washington Post on 9/3.

"Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said."