GOV. BLANCO: “Nobody told me that I had to request that.”

UPDATE: Mickey Kaus continues to blame federalism. “When things screw up, these days, we hold the president and the federal government responsible. It follows that the president and the federal government should have the power to stop things from screwing up.” He makes a fairly strong case — except that bureaucratic confusion and cross-purposes occur quite strongly even in unitary states with strong leaders at the top.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I’ve mentioned this in passing before, but The Daily Howler has a lengthy post (scroll down) about FEMA’s history of taking days to respond: “Perhaps most surprisingly, in the first three days after Andrew, there was little outside help coming into South Florida, no federal cavalry riding over the hill. Local governments and charities were scrambling to do what they could.”

MORE: Jeff Goldstein has a much lengthier look at the issue.

MORE STILL: So does Michael Young.