While I will agree, to a point with your post, the entire purpose of this thread is to show that, even two days before the storm hit, the mayor had sufficient transportation at his disposal to start evacing people that had no transport - and - his constant whining that the feds aren't acting is just a way of deflecting the blame from himself.
Could the after-event repsonse been better - probably - it almost always CAN be. Will the response teams learn from this - certainly. But, in the middle of trying to save lives and get people resettled, the politicing and blame game should WAIT (something the president has called for!!) until AFTER it's over. or, should we spend valuable time and resources on congressional investigations to determine "What Bush Knew and When He Knew It??"
I do think that congressional hearings will be required and accountabilities examined and policies restructured to insure a more appropriate response in the future. I think at the minimum, mandatory evacuations should be mandatory. Get the NG in there early and force them on the buses. LOL--imagine the griping from the people who didn't want to leave. OY.