Just want to respond to a few points here.
First off, what failed response to Katrina? Did you notice how busy Bush was when Gustav and Ike were on their way? Or how busy he was in the aftermath of each? Oh yeah, he's been busy running the country.
90% of the responsibility for preparing for and responding to a hurricane lie with the Governors of the states affected, and the local authorities, NOT the federal gov't. FEMA's job is to coordinate with local agencies, and provide support. That's basically it. Before and after Katrina hit, FEMA was on the ground, ready to assist. There certainly were major failures that turned Katrina into the disaster that it was, and FEMA certainly isn't blameless, but the overwhelming responsibility for Katrina lie with the Governor and the Mayor.
Where were the mandatory evacuation orders? Why weren't the highways opened up to contra-flow in the day or two before Katrina got there? Why was there NO effort whatsoever to assist the indigent and ill in evacuating Katrina?? Buses stood empty and unused, while people were herded like sheep into the Superdome. It wasn't the federal gov't that did that, it was that idiot Nagin.
And then of course, there are the levees. NOLA got money to repair and strengthen their levees. Instead, they built a casino. Talk about skewed priorities.
But hey, lets just blame the federal gov't. That is easiest, especially because you just plain old don't like Bush. The irony of liberals never ceases to amaze me. You are the first to call on Big Gov't when you want some problem fixed, and you are the first to shrill your head off about it being the gov'ts fault when something goes wrong.
As far as Obama goes, I don't talk about his inexperience because its the party unity thing to do. I talk about his inexperience because he IS dangerously inexperienced. Iran is a "tiny" country"??? Iran is not a serious thread??? Sure, so someone bent his ear and told him to eat his words about how much of a non-threat Iran is. The damage is done.
And I honestly cannot believe you are trying to pretend that Obama "surrounds himself with the right people". The Right Reverent Wright immediately comes to mind. Then of course there is Ayers and Rezco. But lets not go there, everyone knows about those guys. Lets talk about Obama's stated intention to meet with Achmadinejad without any pre-conditions. When he was rightly called out for being so naive, your Bright Boy noted that Kennedy himself met with Kruschev without preconditions.
Is there ANYONE on Obama's staff who knows ANYTHING about foreign policy?? Who knows ANYTHING about foreign policy going back more than 2 weeks ago??? That meeting with Kruschev that Obama pointed out to defend his own statements was a DISASTER. Kennedy was warned by the State Dept not to do it, he did it anyways, and spent four long days being Kruschev's whipping boy. Even Kennedy himself admitted afterwards that it had been a mistake. Kruschev on the other hand came away from the meeting convinced that Kennedy was naive and easily pushed around. Soon after, construction began on the Berlin Wall, and later we had the Cuban Missile Crisis. Contrary to popular believe, Kruschev got EXACTLY what he wanted out of the cuban missile crisis. He got us to agree to remove missiles from Turkey. We blinked, not Russia.
Apparently though, Obama doesn't have ONE single person on his staff who knew enough history to tell him NOT to cite the disastrous meeting between Kennedy and Kruschev. Not only is Obama ignorant of foreign policy he does NOT in fact surround himself with the best either.
