Post-Katrina hand-wringing echoes earlier criticism - Yahoo! News

Post-Katrina hand-wringing echoes earlier criticism - Yahoo! News:

"The GAO report of 1993 found it was not clear who was responsible for what in dealing with Andrew.

'The response in South Florida suffered from miscommunication and confusion of roles and responsibilities at all levels of government -- which slowed the delivery of services vital to disaster victims.'

The report also called for a strong presidential lead in times of disaster, saying 'presidential leadership creates a powerful, meaningful perception that the federal government recognizes an event is catastrophic, is in control and is going to use every means necessary to meet the immediate mass care needs of disaster victims.'

The current Bush White House has been criticized for appearing slow to grasp the magnitude of Katrina's impact. A Pew Research Center poll found 67 percent of Americans believed Bush could have done more to speed up relief efforts, and just 28 percent believed he did all he could"