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You've said it right!
TONS of money that could have been spent to ,at least, improve the levees in N.O. went to 'studies' and 'commissions'. That money bought a lot of second homes- some, if they were on the Gulf Coast, are ironically gone now.
There is NO leadership in N.O. NONE. Nagin was a good businessman when he ran the local cable company, but now he's just another talking head whose only plan was ' RUN, and the gobment will come save us.'
It's the welfare/plantation mentality. A mostly black city elected mostly black officials and they- instead of using the power they have to HELP their people, dissipated it in cronyism.
The N.O. city council went AWOL. ONE Councilman turned up in the days after Katrina, Jay Batt from Lakeview, to try to inform the people in his district.
Nagin officially had the power to get a fleet of busses into the Central city to rescue people, but realistically he had NO power to make people stay behind to drive them. He also knew that a large portion of those who could not evacuate would be the same violent lower class that has had the city in a death spiral for years.
No one sane would have wanted to go into those neighborhoods to save the old and helpless for fear of being attacked by the very criminals who went berserk shooting and looting.

The Superdome was doomed as a shelter for the same reason. It is criminal that it wasn't prepared to actually shelter people. There should have been contingents of medical personnel and police there; instead it was just a building with a few supplies and a couple of security guards. Enter a large percentage of criminal types and we saw the result. The genuinely helpless and innocent were abandoned shamefully and preyed upon by the vicious of their own community.

Blanco saw a monster storm heading for her state and did NOT call out all the National Guard and Federal help she had at her disposal. They had DAYS to prepare- days while they urged the citizenry to prepare- and did NOTHING.
There is a PROCESS to getting Federal help for disasters, and Blanco and Nagin did not use it.

It is interesting to note that Nagin, as Mayor, avoided President Bush during his campaign trips here. Now he doesn't mind meeting with him at all.
Blanco's HUSBAND met the President on one of his trips here after the storm. Where was SHE?
Locally, I hear there will be recall petitions for both Nagin and Blanco. I'll have no say in the one for Nagin, since I live in Jefferson parish- but I will get involved in Blanco's recall.
It is also ironic justice that Nagin has no constituency now, and may never have the people, and the mindset, that elected him back again. I hope, if New Orleans is rebuilt in some fasion, the corruption and cronyism that killed it long before Katrina came in to empty it dies with the old city.
I hope the Federal government does at least that.
REFUSE to give money to the same people who have STOLEN it for generations. I, personally, wouldn't put a penny into rebuilding any part of Louisiana until EVERY elected official who has bled the state for years is out of office and prosecuted.
Landrieu, Morial and Nagin and Blanco should ALL join Edwin Edwards in a federal penetentiary for the rest of their worthless lives.

One of the officials mentioned that the bus drivers were too scared to drive the buses. I can see why they wouldn't want to drive into the 9th ward to get people or why they would be scared to drive people.

It seems to me Blanko could have called in the national guard and stationed some on the buses.

The "bad guys" have assimilated into other regions. They will probably hook up with "bad guys" in those regions.

Col. Hunt said "bad guys" were shooting amongs themselves in wars during the height of the looting. His investigation makes me wonder if the guys in the Fur coats with guns in the boat that tried to loot a hospital were really from another city.

I have no doubt that people were waiting to take advantage of the situation in the same way this time.