If you’re trying to show the value of and need for a small government, what better way to do it than bog it down in red tape, heel-dragging, target-less finger-pointing, and ignoring the pre-existing plans.
By cutting funding, acting slowly, and otherwise sabotaging success – whether in the public education system or the New Orleans recovery – the belief that “big” government “doesn’t work” is proved.
Unfortunately, the reason we have a federal government is to handle situations larger than any single state and important to all states; highways, commerce, disaster response, citizen education, and a handful more.
Best we can hope for is that dead at the bottom of Lake George is the conniving, budget-cutting, nihilism that caused it.
The blame for this disaster can not be laid entirely at the feet of the Bush Administration. Contary to some reports, funding for levee repair was not cut by the administration. Rather, the Army Corp of Engineers was given less of an increase than it requested. Check out the discussion at the Volokh Conspiracy for a discussion of funding and such.