Forget what you see in the "media". They're a bunch of morons only showing the failures and hype to sell advertising. They don't understand the logistics, and neither do we. And they certainly wouldn't want to show the hundred's of thousands of people who are being well cared for. The lady who hasn't eaten for a day is a lot more interesting.
Of course this is human tragedy of the worst kind. But people are doing their best and the last thing they need is a bunch of amateurs sticking our noses in and mucking up the works. Yeah, lets drop a 2 ton pallete of food on those people on that roof...that will help...duh!
As for what Bush and Congress can do? The best thing they can do is declare an emergency so the money is there and then stay out of the way. The last thing we need is some congressman saying we should send 100,000 packages of toothpicks because he's got a toothpick factory in his district that needs jobs.
President Bush declared a state of emergency on Sunday, before the hurricane even hit!
From the FEMA website:
"President Bush has authorized 100-percent reimbursement to Louisiana for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance. The government normally pays 75 percent of these costs."
http://tinyurl.com/czdno
Funding for the relief is already in place.
As for mobilization, I know for a fact that people were sent down there as far back as Friday (8/26) to prepare.
People who were stranded in the flooded areas of New Orleans were taking their chances. I don't buy the excuse that some were too poor, or didn't have a car. The low lands of New Orleans isn't that big. They could have walked to higher ground and shelter. There are numerous agencies and help available for the invalids who couldn't walk. They had two days notice!
I'm not saying we should blame the people for their own lack of foresight, but I don't think we should blame the government either. The warnings before the storm were apocalyptic, yet people chose to stay in New Orleans despite the obvious hazard of being below sea level.
Maybe if New Orleans spent more money on Levies year after year instead of wild Mardi Gras Parties they wouldn't be in this situation, but no, you'll blame the Bush administration. That's convenient.
BTW, the relief is flying in to New Orelans airport and trucked to the sites, which is open only to relief efforts, and being trucked in. That is more efficieant than dropping pallettes at the Super Dome.