I’m in NY at my computer, so I hesitate to rail against much of anyone on the ground in New Orleans. But outside the convention center–which sounds like a horrid place to be–the New Orleans police chief, Eddie Compass, has been no profile in leadership. The “Where’s a Rudy?” thing is getting cliche, but local leaders there really don’t seem to be operating well at all in a crisis. There must be some and I hope their work gets pointed out sometime when there’s time for that, but when you see the mayor and the police chief and the governor, you have got to wonder if we’re not looking at a big part of the problem. Rain was the problem. But not being able to handle it might be something of a homegrown government problem (if the first wave/local responders fail).