I don't believe that Bush should have "slammed" the local officials but he should have properly articulated the proper role of FEMA and the federal government during and emergency. Katrina isn't going to be the last time something like this is going to happen so the American public needs to understand how things work.
Bush has been elected President twice so he should be able to articulate his position in a way that doesn't seem like mudslinging or passing the buck. It's not easy to do, but anyone savvy enough to win two national elections with good advisers and top notch speech writers should be able to craft such a message.
I'm sorry that you feel that the President didn't communicate effectively enough for every nitwit in American to understand how things work.
I'm sorry that you feel that the President should have stood up and said "not my fault. I warned them but they wouldn't listen to me."
I'm sorry that you feel that somehow a carefully crafted message should have been made that would have pinned all the blame somewhere other than the White House.
The media, who covered Katrina, understand how things work. They knew perfectly well that the foul-up was in NO and with the governor. They did not care. They only cared about playing "gotcha" reporting and drawing blood.
Now, do you think the President should have gotten into a p^ssing match the with mainstream media? Do you think he is going to win in that circumstance... considering the pictures that were coming out of NO at the time. Considering that the media was too busy showing the ugly in order to win the ratings race.
Every time there is a crisis, does the President have to tell us how our own country works? To whom? Those who don't care or won't listen to what he has to say because they oppose him on issues greater than what occured in NO.