This is the letter I've sent to the Los Angeles Times today:
"Where does the buck stop today?
In Truman's day, responsibility for good or ill, began and ended at the President's desk. Whether you agreed with him or not, Truman's sense of obligation and commitment to his role as the country's leader is not often argued.
Today we have a man sitting at the same presidential desk, who cannot seem to do anything but point his finger at everyone BUT himself for every mistake (and there have been many) his administration has made. The most recent example, at the top of a very long list of passing the buck, is the criminal neglect and complete breakdown of competent and speedy assistance to Katrina's thousands of victims. While Mr. Bush smirked his way through a guitar lesson with a country singer or served birthday cake to a colleague, thousands of his constituents were suffering one of the worst natural disasters this country has ever seen. Nearly four years after 9/11, we are less prepared now than we were then to respond to a national emergency. As a result, people who could have been saved this week, instead died of dehydration, starvation and lack of prompt medical attention.
Today this administration is pointing its finger at state and city governments and, most shocking of all, at the victims of the storm themselves, deflecting blame and refusing even now to accept one minute speck of responsibility for what has happened. Bush's response is typical, though. It is obvious that he has never had to accept responsibility for any of his actions and he isn't about to begin now.
Where does the buck stop today? Apparently in the corpses still floating in the waters of New Orleans."
My sense of rage knows no bounds...