Lest we forget: Dan Bartlett made Bush a DVD, to show him how bad things were in NOLA

So that we never forget...

Portion of article from the September 19, 2005 Newsweek issue.

Article: "How Bush Blew It"

The president did not growl this time. He had already decided to return to Washington and hold a meeting of his top advisers on the following day, Wednesday. This would give them a day to get back from their vacations and their staffs to work up some ideas about what to do in the aftermath of the storm. President Bush knew the storm and its consequences had been bad; but he didn't quite realize how bad.

The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.

How this could be—how the president of the United States could have even less "situational awareness," as they say in the military, than the average American about the worst natural disaster in a century—is one of the more perplexing and troubling chapters in a story that, despite moments of heroism and acts of great generosity, ranks as a national disgrace.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287434/site/newsweek/

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1258

Which is worse, looking like you were caught off guard and taking a little political heat

or

admitting fault from the Army Corps of Engineers, and taking financial and moral responsibility for all the death and destruction caused by the storm?