Echos, anyone?

This was just posted on the National Review Online:

The fact is that the the scene on the ground is a total and complete failure of the local and state authorities having any foresight and ability to protect and defend their own constituents. The fact that the federal government has been caught flat-footed by the local authorities complete inability to maintain any kind of order is not that surprising. I don't think anybody could have anticipated the utter chaos the local authorities are not only complicit in, but completely responsible for. The failure here is on a local level, plain and simple. Simply put, it is not unreasonable for the federal goverment to expect the locals to hold down the fort for a few days until the cavalry can arrive.

It looks like that as soon as The Feds realized that the state and local authorities were hand-wringing idiots, they stepped up and things started to happen. And perhaps that's what the state and local officials thought was supposed to happen; a disaster hits and it's Uncle Sugar's job to fix everything and that they, the state and local authories, don't have to do anything more that order the Federales around like the hired help. Maybe that's the mindset we saw in action: a sort of learned helplessness that comes when you're a professional victim. They did not because they could not, at least not in their heads. The "can do" attitude was replaced by "I'm just the victim here" mindset. And everybody knows victims can't do anything to help themselves. That's ther reason they're victims.

Just a guess though.