BLAME CORRECTLY APPORTIONED

Byron York on the American public's refusal to blame Bush for the post-Katrina situation:

People put all those factors together and came up with a balanced scorecard. They could see that Bush didn’t appear to take the hurricane seriously in the beginning — why did he stay in Crawford for two days after Katrina struck? — and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was slow off the mark.

But they could also see what was happening in New Orleans, and in Baton Rouge. So they apportioned the blame accordingly.

Now come the investigations. Whoever conducts them, they will, after months of studying, interviewing witnesses and recreating events, most likely come to the same conclusion that the public has reached in just a few days.

Yes, everybody should have done a better job. But the effort to find a single scapegoat — preferably one whose name is George W. Bush — just won’t succeed.

The left will, of course, continue blaming Bush.