Katrina was by no means a "direct hit" on New Orleans. The storm passed to the EAST, meaning that the prevailing (counterclockwise) hurricane winds in the N.O. area were coming from the north-northeast. The levees should have held, and they didn't.

Gustav passed to the west/southwest of New Orleans, meaning that the storm winds were coming from the south/southeast ~ from the water. This makes for a more dangerous storm surge into Lake Pontchartrains and Borne and the MRGO (Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, an especially dangerous manmade feature creted at the behest of shipping and petroleum interests).

The levees have obviously been improved since '05 ~ if they hadn't, Gustav would have been worse than Katrina. (Flooding in the city would have been the same thing all over again, and damage around Louisiana but outside the NO area was worse.) It was a close call, and those levees still need further improvement. Indeed, continuing work is scheduled through 2010. The Industrial Canal very nearly overtopped the west-side levee, i.e., the upper ninth ward, and my side. The east-side levees, which failed spectacularly afrter Katrina, were rebuilt 3-4 feet higher and were not in danger of overtopping during Gustav.

Everyone performed much better this time around than three years ago, public officials and private citizens alike. No person or party should either claim credit or place blame. Before Katrina, it was impossible to take the threat seriously enough because it was impossible to imagine what could really happen. (Impossible for most people, anyway.)

I never blamed the Bush administration for anything to do with the disaster EXCEPT for fouling up the recovery process by having gutted FEMA of professional staff and turning it into a patronage mill (case in point: Arabian-horse expert Michael Brown's appointment as head honcho). I think that's a very fair criticism.

A good friend who is a longtime registered nurse had taken part in a simulated hurricane drill less than a year before Katrina. She took the exercise seriously, but was appalled at how few of her coworkers, peers, and superiors shared her serious attitude. People simply couldn't believe that the worst could actually happen, and so took the training exercise as an opportunity to take time off from work, "smokin' and jokin'" their way through a day off from the regular routine. These were some of the many many folks who failed miserably when a crisis actually happened. The highly visible politicians and other "leaders" were not alone in falling short, nor were the bottom-dwelling scum who got themselves on national TV as looters. They did wrong, for sure, but so did countless folks on every socioeconomic level in between.

Katrina was THE defiunitive "reality check." Everyone learned a bitter lesson ~ or two or three ~ and everyone behaved more appropropritely this time around. No one party or personality did better than any other, and anyone who claims otherwide in an effort to make political hay is simply full of it.

PS to Jayto & many others who saw Katrina wreak havoc far inland: you are correct to observe that Gustav was smaller and never ventured as far north as Katrina at full force. However, Gustav moved north very slowly and meandered around Louisiana, causing greater damage than ever imagined to places like Baton Rouge and Alexandria before weakening and leaving the state.