Watching the President last night made my stomach twist into knots. First off it came off was an oversized case of ‘too little – too late’ in my book. Second we’ve heard all this rhetoric before; almost four years ago to the day.

It was only a couple of days after the World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorists that W. stood in the rubble and promised us that we would chase down the criminals that did it; no matter where they fled or how long it took us. Now he’s using almost those exact words to promise New Orleans residents that we will re-build their town. Oh yeah, and the same goes for all of you guys in Mississippi and Alabama that are turning into a national afterthought.

There is no secret that I’m a fan of W. I think that he was the right choice for America in both 2000 and in 2004. He had my support to kick Saddam out of Iraq, and he continues to have my support to attempt to introduce a more just form of government into a region that so crucial to our medium and long term national interests. I also support his attempts to straighten out the problems with FEMA and the other national agencies that didn’t respond quickly enough to Katrina.

What I don’t support is the underlying promise in last night’s speech to enlarge the size of the Federal government and become more intrusive into the rights of the individual States. There is no way in hell that we can have “one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen. . .” without creating an even larger, less responsive system of government. Granted, the President did say that it would all be under local control with the primary bids and work being given to businesses from the disaster areas. But all of the promises, programs, and monies will come with Federal oversight. Some people see that as keeping the system honest and cutting down on cronyism, but I see it as making the government bigger. Mark my words, there will be at least three new agencies created before this is over and when was the last time we shut one of those down for good?

I have a hard time getting my head around the idea of “a broader role for the armed forces” too. Somebody needs to talk to the President about the concept of posse Comitatus before this gets out of hand. There is a very good reason the Framers of the Constitution didn’t want the Executive Branch to have the authority to use Federal troops to enforce the law. I have yet to hear a good reason that we should let them do it now. Two hundred plus years haven’t changed the nature of mankind enough to change that part of our nation.

It’s a basic tenant of the conservative philosophy that less government is better. The speech last night seems to throw all of that right out the window.

My best friend is a huge fan of the Big Easy. He thinks we should do whatever it takes to rebuild the city. And rebuild it stick for stick, brick for brick, the way it was before Katrina hit shore. We should put all the drunks and beggars back on their usual street corners and party on like nothing ever happened. I’ve said before that I think we need to put our heads where our hearts are before we start spending any serious money to rebuild the Crescent City. I agree that the name and general location need to be salvaged, but we need to do it the right way and I’m not sure anyone is listening to that message yet.

My closing thought is this. For all of those who find fault with the President on a daily basis, can you name another official at a high level of any government that would have taken the fall for all the screw ups of the last 18 days? W. did last night.

“Four years after the frightening experience of September 11th, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I as president am responsible for the problem, and for the solution.”

For those of you that have never seen that before, it was a sign of leadership. He could have passed the buck, argued over definitions, or simply denied any liability. Instead he stood up in public and took a round to the chest. Like him or not, he takes as good as he gives and that is a nice change of pace in this town.