The Pres declared a State of Emergency on Sat and that is when Chertoff and Brown should have went to work.
Bush did not want to hear 5 DAYS LATER that they did not know that "there was a problem at the convention center".
Reality is a wonderful experience; try it some time.
One other point for you: When that once in a century storm hits and floods some of the beach and valley areas of San Diego (my hometown), you can bet that nobody will be shooting at the Coast Guard choppers and Fire Dept. boats that are trying to rescue them. And nobody will "beat back" the SD police when they move in to maintain order. Some of the people in New Orleans are completely insane and they greatly disrupted the early rescue and law enforcement efforts.