Bush-Blanco tensions on display during Bush's visit to the Gulf today, the AP reports:

...Blanco was not told when Bush would visit the state, nor was she immediately invited to meet him or travel with him. Blanco’s office didn’t know Bush was coming until told by reporters. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House reached out to Blanco’s office on Sunday, but didn’t hear back. White House staff in Louisiana spoke with Blanco early today, he said.

Making his third visit to the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged states, Bush stopped first at the Bethany World Prayer Center, a huge hall half covered with pallets and half filled with dining tables. Blanco visited at the same time, but she and Bush kept apart as they walked around talking to people.

During his stop at Bethany, several people ran up to meet Bush and get autographs as he and first lady Laura Bush wandered around the room. But just as many hung back and looked on.

“I need answers,” said Mildred Brown, who has been there since Tuesday with her husband, mother-in-law and cousin. “I’m not interested in handshaking. I’m not interested in photo ops. This is going to take a lot of money.” ...

Seems to reflect the level of emergency communications established by FEMA in Louisiana during the aftermath of the hurricane, where Chertoff and Brown were somehow unaware of what everyone in America and the world with access to CNN, Fox, NPR, etc. was last Thursday: that more than 2,000 evacuees were stranded at the New Orleans convention center with no food, water, or security.

More from Knight-Ridder about the stage management of Bush's trip today:

...Bush and his wife, Laura, visited Louisiana and Mississippi three days after his first up-close look at the stricken region. The hastily arranged return trip came amid mounting criticism of the president's leadership in the aftermath of the natural disaster.

"We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry," the New Orleans Times-Picayune said in an open letter to Bush in Sunday's edition. "Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame."

Bush didn't directly address complaints about the government's response during his stops in Baton Rouge and Poplarville, Miss. Instead, he praised the work of private volunteers, reassured evacuees that they wouldn't be abandoned, and expressed confidence in the region's ability to rebound.

Bush didn't venture into New Orleans, which he also skipped on his first visit. But after days of televised suffering by African Americans in the city, White House officials ensured that the television pictures of Bush's trip would include shots of the president with African-American survivors.

Posted by Laura at September 5, 2005 10:21 PM