I will be the first to admit that the government's response to Hurricane Katrina was delayed.

And there is no question that there is plenty of room for improvement.

But for crying out loud, the one time our government should come together in unity over an issue, what do they do?

Turn it into one of the most divisive, contentious issues of the modern era.

It's a disaster, people. Come on. Let's all get on the same page.

As I said, the government's efforts after the hurricane were far from perfect.

But here are some of the phrases I am hearing being bandied about:

"National disgrace."

"Abysmal failure."

"Abject ineptitude."

"Shameful."

"Scandalous."

"Negligent."

"Derelict."

"Futile."

And those were just the pundits and politicians talking.

Then, as a matter of course and right on cue, the Hollywood types - actors, actresses, rap artists - showed up and started blathering on about how W doesn't care about black people or poor people.

You know, sometimes it gets a little ridiculous.

I mean, honestly, tens of thousands of National Guard, Coast Guard and military personnel are "on the ground" as they love to say on all the news networks.

(Why do they say that? Could the troops hover?)

Tens of thousands of tons of food, water, medicine and supplies have been sent to the Gulf Coast.

It is the single most massive relief effort in the history of our country.

Aside from all that, W pledged Thursday to provide $2,000 per victim as well as a full range of health care, job training and other benefits to the tune of $52 billion.

W said he knew lots of victims lacked ID or even a change of clothes. He said the government would cut through red tape to expedite the help they need.

W also said the government would relax requirements so evacuees relocated far from home could receive state-administered federal benefits, such as Medicaid, welfare, child care, mental health and substance abuse treatment, food stamps, housing, foster care, nutrition for poor, pregnant women, school lunch and unemployment checks.

States housing evacuees will be reimbursed.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the storm. They no longer have homes.

Think about that. It's like the population of a couple Fort Waynes, all in dire need of immediate government aid.

How many caseworkers is that going to take? Yet, the government is responding. People are being helped.

Cost to the government right now is around $2 billion per day and the price tag could eventually reach $200 billion. Compare that to the Florida hurricanes from last year which cost the government $15 billion.

Does this sound like a government that doesn't' care about black people or poor people?

I'm not sure I'm ready to call this an "abysmal failure."

Congressional leaders Sen. Bill Frist and Rep. Dennis Hastert announced they would pull together a congressional committee to investigate the government's readiness and response.

The Democrats boycotted it.

"I do not believe that the committee proposed by Speaker Hastert and Senator Frist is in the best interest of the American people," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she won't appoint any Democrats to the joint committee. She said Republicans set it up on their own with a false claim that it is bipartisan, but it's actually designed to be a "whitewash."

If she won't appoint any Democrats, how can she be critical of a lack of bi-partisanship?

Sorry, Nancy, but somebody has to be in the majority. That's the way our government works.

But I don't need hearings, really, to tell me what went wrong.

There were just too many people left in the city. And I'm not sure, under any circumstances, how that could have been avoided.

Sure, you can throw barbs at the mayor of New Orleans for not using all the city buses and school buses to evacuate everybody from every neighborhood.

Sure, you can throw barbs at the governor of Louisiana for not taking advantage of the disaster declaration (declared two days before the storm.)

She could have had National Guard troops in place before the storm, because after the storm they couldn't get in.

Emergency service personnel could have been strategically located throughout Louisiana in advance.

Yes, it's easy to look back and say officials should have known better, but the bottom line is, I don't think anybody thought it was going to be as bad as it was.

Even though all the dire warnings were in place. Even though New Orleans is a coastal city built below sea level. Even though everybody knew the levies could only withstand a category 3 hurricane. Even though a category 4 or 5 hurricane was bearing down on them.

Amid all this, tens of thousands of people chose to stay.

Even if the mayor had sent a bus to every home in New Orleans before the storm, thousands of people still would have chosen to stay.

A perfect example is the story of the nursing home owner who declined the offer of a bus to evacuate the residents a day before the storm. The nursing home was swamped. Dozens died.

Of course, it would have been better if everybody left town, but they didn't - and wouldn't have under any circumstances.

Even today, amid toxic floodwaters, floating corpses, no electricity and no running water, residents refuse to leave.

And after the storm blew through, I think government was caught off guard again.

Again, it's easy to say in hindsight that officials should have known how bad it was going to be. But I don't believe anyone, including me, could have foreseen the level of destruction.

It's simply unimaginable.

This is not just about New Orleans. The damage encompasses hundreds of miles of coastline and a total of 90,000 square miles. That's 2.5 Indianas.

I think any failures or shortcomings in response were caused by the incredible strength and scope of the storm and the size and bureaucracy of government, not - absolutely not - by insensitivity to blacks or poor people. [[In-content Ad]]