[Wiseghy]

I think the point is that the Gov. and Mayor sought early on to avoid political fallout from an overreaction to the storm. The Gov. in particular positioned to blame the feds, while avoiding any decisions that might later be questioned when things turned out OK.

This shameful cowardice is why NO turned out so terrible and a stain upon the nation, compared to NYC & 9/11.

[Lokibob]

A couple of reasons why this was a cluster f, and NYC wasn't:

NYC covered a 10 square block area, Katrina was 90,000 square miles. Guaranteed that if NYC had to be evacuated, it would have been just as terrible.

NYC was a single event, New Orleans was a double disaster, the hurricane, and the levee failure.

NYC had Rudy Guliani, N.O. had Nagin.

NYCFD and PD vs. N.O. PD. (Did anybody hear anything about the N.O. FD?)

NYC--Daylight N.O. Nighttime.
NYC--Fairly affluent N.O.---Poverty