GETTING BACK TO POLITICS...

President Bush's timing for ending his vacation early and returning to Washington earned some harsh words from what is generally considered to be one of the most conservative newspapers in American, the Manchester Union-Leader of New Hampshire:

AS THE EXTENT of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation became clearer on Tuesday — millions without power, tens of thousands homeless, a death toll unknowable because rescue crews can’t reach some regions — President Bush carried on with his plans to speak in San Diego, as if nothing important had happened the day before.

A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease.

The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty.

But the Union-Leader didn't keep Louisiana and New Orleans officials off the hook.

On Wednesday, two days after landfall, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco was still trying to decide how the state would react. She had no plan for evacuating the thousands of refugees stuck in the Superdome, no plan for finding survivors elsewhere, no plan for handling corpses, and no plan for stopping looters. And we thought Gov. John Lynch was indecisive.

The New York Times chimed in:

Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.

Both these editorials were noted by CNN's Jack Cafferty this afternoon on The Situation Room, and he put in some strong words of his own.