More Than The Levees Failed.

By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush vowed, "We are fully prepared." Mike Brown barked orders. Weather experts warned of a killer storm. The behind-the-scenes drama, captured on videotape as Hurricane Katrina roared ashore, confirmed Americans' suspicions of government leaders: They can run a good meeting, but little else.

It is hard to review the transcripts and footage obtained by The Associated Press without reaching three conclusions.

_Federal, state and local officials knew what was about to occur.

_They knew what to do about it.

_They failed to deliver.

For most Americans, this is not a revelation. The public blamed all levels of government long before Bush and other leaders owned up to their responsibilities after the sluggish post-Katrina response. But the videotape and transcripts offer a graphic display of a fatally inept bureaucracy at work — a system where everybody talks a good game and nobody produces.

"The city of New Orleans failed. The state of Louisiana failed. The federal government failed. It is astonishing to me that five months after the obvious failure of all three layers of government that there has been no serious systemic change," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican.

It's no wonder Katrina has become a tipping point event that crystalized the public's long-simmering concerns about the competence and accountability of government.

For most Americans, it's not a matter of bigger government or smaller government. They want better government; less bureaucracy, less partisanship and more accountability. They don't expect their leaders to be perfect; only perfectly frank.

"They want us to get things done," said Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat. "Is that so much to ask?"

Exactly. I send money in each week (OK, every two weeks) to the Federal, State and local governments. All I ask in return is that they DO the things they're tasked to do--and the things we ask them to do.

I'm tired of political harping, and partisan bullshit. I want results. If the current government (and yes, I'm talking about the President, the Congress-both houses, and BOTH sides of the aisle; and especially My Bitch Mitch) was in private business, the board would have fired them all summarily. With public sentiment overwhelmingly against, for instance, the 75 year lease of the Indiana Toll Road; our governor and the bi-partisan Indiana Senate has decided that it's STILL a good idea.....the measure is going through. This despite the constituents being overwhelmingly AGAINST the plan. So who do the politicians represent?

Obviously not us. Time to throw them ALL out....and try again. No wonder most of us don't participate in the process.

Government is failing ALL of us.

Not just those in Louisiana....and not just last fall.