I'm still trying to figure out how a State problem is the Federal government's fault?
The federal government has jurisdiction over our navigable rivers and inland waterways. And the Army Corps of Engineers is tasked with building/operating/maintaining a vast system of locks, dams and levees to control the flow of water as best they can.
There is no way of knowing for certain, of course, whether the proposed levee improvements would have withstood the catastrophic forces of Katrina. But you would have to assume that upgrades and improvements would have fared better than postponement of those projects.
Bottom line: the Bush Administration IS responsible for placing a lower priority on maintainence of this domestic infrastructure. There's not much that can be done now except to sit back and watch the administration apologists squirm, spin, dodge, dance and weave their way out of accepting responsibility for not addressing these infrastructure issues.