THE STAFFORD ACT AFFIRMS PRESIDENT'S RESPONSIBILITY IN A DISASTER

Because I've heard it cited relative to the Hurricane Katrina situation several times over the past few days, I've been looking at the Stafford Act, and have found several interesting provisions. I'll be examining it in more detail later.

Most notably, it appears that after a governor requests a declaration of state of emergency (which Louisiana Governor Blanco did on August 27, before Katrina struck), the president is authorized to do just about anything he deems necessary to save lives and property. Read the language -- "the president" appears in every other sentence. In fact, the Act seems to have been written to spell out just what the president could, and should, do in such a case.

Makes real clear just who has ultimate authority, and responsibility, for catastrophic disaster assistance. And it ain't the Secretary of Homeland Security, the FEMA director, or the mayor or governor. It's the president. And unless I've missed something, there's only one, and his name is George W. Bush.