There actually were plans for strengthening the levees by the Army Corps of Engineers and they were ready to do it, but bush cut funds to the project and diverted them to Iraq, where significant numbers of Louisanna National Guradsman were also diverted.
Everybody is criticizing the administration, the MSNBC crowd, the conservatives on CNN, even the FOX Cable News. Today I read that even Newt Gingrich was yelling about how if this is an example of how the Homeland Security reacts to homeland disasters then we are in big trouble.
Still there were some angry defenders of the administration calling into the Brian Leher show this morning on WNYC (Local NPR). In their minds defending those asshole rich white men in Washington comes first before feeling any anger for the poor people dying in New Orleans while waiting to be rescued for five days and counting. But the vast majority of people, Dem or Repubs or angry about this.