The tug of war as to who is in charge of the relief effort has now broken open. MSNBC is reporting that the "highest levels" of the governor's office have told them about the dispute over federalizing it.
Governor Blanco's refusal to give over control would look very questionable to me, except for one, incredibly clever move on her part: hiring James Lee Witt. Witt, the former head of FEMA and a disaster management professional, was widely respected during his tenure there.
Witt equals instant credibility. His hiring, coupled with the Governor's refusal to federalize, declares her lack of confidence that giving control to Chertoff and Brown will improve matters. (A lack of confidence that I suspect is widely shared.) If the MSM understands this, the contest becomes the battle of the disaster managers, and Witt trumps Brown any day. If Bush was smart, he'd fire Brown and reappoint Witt. If he was politic, he'd arrange a joint statement with Blanco that Witt would run everything.