Katrina, federalism, and the levying of blame

At Kausfiles, Mickey Kaus makes the interesting argument that perhaps, just perhaps, federalism is to blame for the whole Katrina aftermath "fiasco". That is, the lack of a clear chain of command across (or down through) the different layers of government (federal, state, municipal) prevented any one government from assuming responsibility and control: "This gratuitous complication of authority clearly crippled effective planning for a New Orleans catastrophe."

I disagree that states represent "an unnecessary level of government" -- given the size and scope of the U.S., does a centralized system with a unitary national government ruling over diverse municipalities make any sense? -- but it does seem to be the case that a power struggle between Washington (President Bush) and Louisiana (Governor Blanco), not to mention New Orleans itself (Mayor Nagin), was partly to blame for the initially inept response to Katrina, and hence for much of the death and devastation of those first few days.