Basically, FEMA sees itself in a supportive role. Something akin to an outside consultant assisting in a time of crisis. The LA officials saw FEMA/Feds as an "in an emergency break glass" solution. All they had to do was push the emergency button, run around screaming, and someone else would take care of them.
True. But one could have, and did get the sense from Brown and such that FEMA was coming to the rescue. At some point.
What's lost in the Freeper ANti-Nagin bashing is that he really did not criticize Bush that bad - unlike how the MSM portrayed. He asked both Bush and Blanco to clear up the chain of command, which from his position was a problem.
NYTimes is pro-Blanco, which is really about Dem control of Federal reconstruction funds. IN Blanco's apology today it was clear (to me) the point was enticing "cooperation" with the money. She had to play nice.
Brown is such an amateur he went first to the N Y Times...
"--A 50-year-old lawyer and Republican activist who joined FEMA as general counsel in 2001, Mr. Brown said he had been hobbled by limitations on the power of the agency to command needed resources.
With only 2,600 employees nationwide, he said, FEMA must rely on state workers, the National Guard, private contractors and other federal agencies to supply manpower and equipment."