Given Katrina's surgical aim at mostly African-American and Democratic New Orleans, and the fact that Bush made no effort to either evacuate New Orleans or build it back, how likely is it that Katrina was a random act of nature? Obviously, Bush, Cheney and FEMA had something to do with Katrina's path and sheer destructiveness.
It worked because the city is half the population it was before the storm. This means fewer progressive people and more old-style southern reactionaries, the grist that feeds Shrub's mill in New Orleans who will be voting. This means the Republicans might even carry the state in the next presidential election.
It was no coincidence that the well to do were safely out of the city, and the black were left to starve and rot in the Superdome. This was the perfect GOP storm; ordered, built and directed by the GOP.
Further, it was no coincidence that the Federal Reserve was trying to stimulate construction. so used the selective destruction of "low value" minority areas through their controlled, deliberate flooding. Even German Minister (quoted in this reactionary blog) agrees:
By neglecting environmental protection, America’s president shuts his eyes to the economic and human damage that natural catastrophes like Katrina inflict on his country and the world’s economy. ...many Americans have long been unwilling to follow the president’s errant environmental policy. Indications are multiplying that Bush has more than Katrina’s headwind blowing in his face... . When reason finally pays a visit to climate-polluter headquarters, the international community has to be prepared to hand America a worked out proposal for the future of international climate protection. The German Government stands ready.