I carry no water for Gov. Blanco or

Mayor Nagin, both of whom will, I am certain, come out worse than anybody

when the crisis moment passes and we examine the record of who did what.

That said, I was startled to see a quote from a “senior administration

official” in a Times story today, explaining why

President Bush did not invoke the Insurrection Act and seized control of the

Louisiana National Guard:

“Can you imagine how it would have been perceived if a president of the

of one party had pre-emptively taken from the female governor of another

party the command and control of her forces, unless the security situation

made it completely clear that she was unable to effectively execute her

command authority and that lawlessness was the inevitable result?”

Excuse me, but what? Is it really the case that a Republican president was

so worried about the conniption fit the left would have if he told Gov.

Edith Bunker to stifle it, and sent in troops to save the lives of poor

black people who were being set upon by anarchists? Sure, the usual suspects

would have howled, but they would have howled anyway. The Normal-American

community, however, would have seen a commander in chief who was not going

to let political considerations stop him from overruling an inept governor

and moving in to save lives and prevent an American city from turning into

Mogadishu? And the Normal-American community would have cheered this

extraordinary example of firm executive leadership, and told the

Meathead-Americans to take a hike. But that didn’t happen, did it?