Among the media's exposes of the shortcomings of officials during the New Orleans catastrophe, the scariest one is from Newsweek. "How Bush Blew It" pulls no punches in how the president really does surround himself with yes-men and "equates disagreement with disloyalty," thus cutting himself off from reality. The result: President Bush had less "situational awareness" than the average television-watcher of how bad things were getting in the Katrina-stricken region.
The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night [Sept. 1]. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor [Dan] Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.
There's enough blame to go around. City and state officials were far less than well prepared and informed. But, Newsweek reports, the "failure of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina worked like a power blackout. Problems cascaded and compounded; each mistake made the next mistake worse."
Ultimately, it's about "how Bush's leadership style and the bureaucratic culture combined to produce a disaster within a disaster."