Yeah, he sounded like a valium-addled robot. He does not come across as very competent...
He needs to be 'frog-marched' out of New Orleans. I remember last year during Ivan when New Orleans was threatened thinking to myself that they better pray he is never in charge when the big one hits. He is totally incompetent and probably corrupt. How come the LA. DEMS and politicos can bus people to the polls on election day and could not bus them to safety? Heads need to roll!!
I sure don't know the mayor from Adam. But I will give him the benefit of the doubt. It may be that the guy was simply exhausted. To prepare for a disaster of Katrina's scale is not a 8 hour a day task. You can bet he was working with other agencies both within and outside of the city to plan and coordinate responses around the clock.
Emergency management can only go so far. In the end people still have to take action to save themselves, their family and their homes. The city can not do it for them. All the city can do is issue evacuation orders, provide shelters, help special needs citizens and launch search and rescue in the aftermath.