Katrina Redux

"Well, it turned out that the critics were largely right. Not only has the president done much less than he promised on the financing and logistics of Gulf Coast recovery, he has dropped the ball entirely on using the storm and its aftermath as an opportunity to fight poverty. Worker recovery accounts and urban homesteading never got off the ground, and the new enterprise zone is mostly an opportunity for Southern companies owned by GOP campaign contributors to make some money in New Orleans. The mood in Washington continues to be one of not-so-benign neglect of the problems of the poor."

Fred Barnes looks back on Bush's missteps:

"What might the president have done differently? At least three things, starting with his decision two days after the levees broke--and New Orleans began to flood--to fly over the city in Air Force One without landing. Bush now knows he should have landed . . .

"The second avoidable mistake involved the reluctance of Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to declare a mandatory evacuation of the city. Federal emergency officials urged Nagin to evacuate the city before Katrina hit. Bush personally called the mayor on the morning of the hurricane to press him to require all residents to leave. However, the president did not go public with a plea for an immediate and full evacuation.

"He should have. Bush and his aides realize he was far too deferential to Nagin and the governor. He should have lobbied them publicly, not just privately . . .

"Thirdly, the president held back from dispatching federal troops to New Orleans until Blanco asked for them. By that time, disorder had broken out in New Orleans and stories about murders and rapes at the Superdome--stories that turned out to be false--filled the news."

Brian Williams reflects to the L.A. Times on covering the storm a year ago:

" 'I saw fear, I saw death, I saw depravity, I saw firearms being brandished, I saw looting -- and this in one of the great cities in the United States,' the 47-year-old anchor said in a recent interview. 'It's always going to be a part of me. I don't think I've ever been so angry about a subject that intersected with my work.' "

I made my rather strong feelings about the JonBenet fiasco known yesterday; here are some other voices, starting with Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine:

"Anyone who has spent more than six months reporting, editing, or watching the news could have guessed that John Mark Karr was just a sicko who was looking for attention. But, no, the news shmucks couldn't help themselves. They had to dredge up the Jon Benet story because -- why? -- they had such fond memories of writing every damned hour about a dead little girl?

"I got a call last week from one of the cable networks asking whether I'd been following what the blogs were saying about Jon Benet. I said proudly that I had no frigging idea what they were saying, if anything, and that I didn't care. The cable news person said, 'good for you,' and went looking elsewhere. There's always somebody ready to talk about Jon Benet. It's at moments like these that I feel ashamed for my 'profession.' They call this news? They call this journalism? It's not the voyeurism that's most offensive. It's the stupidity."

HuffPoster Bob Geiger is equally appalled: