I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments(read: unprepared), and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency protective measures, direct Federal Assistance, Individual and Household Program (IHP) assistance, Special Needs Program assistance ("because all the Greyhounds are out of town and the Mayor won't lower himself to get on a schoolbus"), and debris removal. (i.e., "clean up when we're done")
.. but...
Aides to Ms. Blanco said she was prepared to accept the deployment of active-duty military officials in her state. But she and other state officials balked at giving up control of the Guard as Justice Department officials said would have been required by the Insurrection Act if those combat troops were to be sent in before order was restored.
Some events are of a magnitude that the affected state is reasonably unprepared. It's a beauty of our system of state and federal cooperation, in principle.
Blanco's requests of 8/27 and 8/28 were for federal money, and that too is not unreasonable. But what she exhibited was denial. Denial that the storm was of biblical proportion (Bush and the NWS told her to order mandatory evac); denial of loss of civil order (rejection of Federal offer to restore order, after the storm and when order was clearly lost); denial that her forces did not have the force required to restore order; denial that they didn't follow their own plans.
The state could have pulled off an evacuation w/o federal help, had they done so before the storm hit. But even it all had gone off the best you can imagine, if LA had executed their plan and "been prepared," the state of LA would deserve federal assistance for recovery.