The Politics of Katrina

In the Washington Post today, political scientist Paul Light raises an excellent point about the response to Hurricane Katrina: If this is what happened with several days warning, what kind of shape would we be in if there were a serious WMD attack on a major city? He writes:

There will be plenty of stories of heroism in coming months as thousands of volunteers descend on the disaster zone. But the hubris is already showing. Thousands of residents ignored the evacuation warnings; many relief agencies waited until the hurricane had passed to start sending supplies and volunteers to jumping-off points in surrounding states; and the president was heading to California as the hurricane moved in. Although the Department of Homeland Security and its Federal Emergency Management Agency are moving at near-light speed to coordinate an unprecedented relief effort built around DHS's National Response Plan, the nation must get even faster in the future.