"Can you imagine the shreeking if the federal government had stepped in and taken control."
That was the whole point ... Gov Blanco is Demon-crat who acted politically from day one, not WANTING to work with the Bush administration the way other Governors did. to this day, they never gave up 'control' nor instituted martial law, nor federalized the NG, as other governors would have done.
I have no doubt it was a set up to 'get Bush'. I've heard it would be an impeachable offense if President Bush had gone in without the permission of Blanco. And as quickly as hillary clinton jumped on President Bush I believe her fingerprints are all over this!!!!
It seems to have been set up as a catch 22 from the very beginning. If things went bad it was Bush's fault, if Bush took control, they would attack him as being a heavy-handed dictator.