The problems with this response, at least as I see them were not a FEMA problem, rather a city and state problem. Heck, the mayor didn't even follow his own city's disaster plan. Why were all the buses that were avialable not used to evacuate the residents who had no transportation? That was in the plan. Why were the designated city shelters in N.O. not stocked with adequate food and water? Again, that's a city issue. Why was the Red Cross not permitted to enter LA by the governor immediately after the hurricane? That's a state issue.
The FEMA response seemed to be by the book. FEMA isn't and never has been a first response organization. Rather, they come along in later stages after the local and state resources have been exhausted. The initial response is the job of local and state agencies, so I would not expect a significant FEMA force on hand in the first couple of days. It obviously takes them longer to mobilize and move.
So again, had the state and local agencies been better prepared, I don't think there would be any criticism of FEMA. FEMA did what they always did. It's just the lack of prepardness at the local level that made things look much worse than normal. Had the evacuations been carried out according to the plan, had shelters been stocked according to plan, had the governor mobilized the national guard and allowed the Red Cross in sooner, there would have been far fewer problems to begin with.
Rather than FEMA doing what it normally does (supporting the state and locals), it seems the state and locals in this case were woefully unprepared and looking to FEMA to not only carry out their part of the mission, but their's as well. This is where the problem lies.
JMO.
-CH
ETA....I am a deputy director of a local EMA agency. FEMA and local EMA's are not all that different than the old Civil Defense system. It just uses a new name and is better funded and organized. But the way I see it, I am FEMA on the local level. The initial response is my job. If there's fuck up's at the start of an incident, that's my fault, not FEMA's.