CNN reported this from George Bush's speech last night:

He conceded "the system, at every level of government, was not well coordinated and was overwhelmed in the first few days."

"It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority," he said

There are plenty of threads discussing who did what when and who should have done something else instead. Generally, though, both the pro-Bush people and the anti-Bush people share a common cause: the importance of the ability(and/or responsibility) of states to work independently of the federal level.

Talk of 'greater federal authority' sounds to me like it would alter the balance of power between state and federal level in a way that neither group would be keen on. In fact, since as a rule Republicans are in favour of smaller governments, I would expect them to be less keen than Democrats.

Do you agree it is 'now clear' that this should happen? [Remember that any additional powers granted will apply to both Republican and Democrat governments in the future!]