The politics of incompetence?

In the September 26 New Yorker, Nicholas Lemann provides historical perspective that might explain some of our governmental dithering during Hurricane Katrina. (Sorry, the article isn't online.) In a nutshell: Lemann reviews our history of political dithering about when to send troops, especially to the South. Race, he says, is always involved—even this time, when the event is a hurricane, not an “insurrection.” It’s a novel explanation. I don’t know. I just think we have a crippled government, with great chunks of the bureaucracy now run by people whose mission it is to keep their agencies from pursuing their missions.