Mayor Nagin Throws Governor Blanco Under the Bus

I was initially impressed with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, but my enthusiasm for hizzoner has rapidly declined over the last week thanks to the whining and temper tantrums. As Mark Steyn put it, Mayor Nagin has become the Anti-Giuliani.

I'm sure he's under tremendous stress, but a little more forceful leadership on his part might have greatly reduced his stress load. Instead, he and other Louisiana politicians have spent the week pretty much standing there waiting for someone to take them by the hand and lead them to the promised land. Oh, and don't forget to fill their hands with federal dollars while you're at it.

The mayor has taken to pointing fingers as fast as he can, and now he's pointing them at one of his own, the appropriately named Governor Blanco (h/t The Corner):

NOLA Mayor Nagin interview w/Soledad O'Brien in which he says Gov. Blanco told the President she needed 24 hours to make a decision for Federal aid.

NAGIN: The president looked at me. I think he was a little surprised. He said, "No, you guys stay here. We're going to another section of the plane, and we're going to make a decision."

He called me in that office after that. And he said, "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor." I said -- and I don't remember exactly what. There were two options. I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision.

S. O'BRIEN: You're telling me the president told you the governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision?

NAGIN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Regarding what? Bringing troops in?

NAGIN: Whatever they had discussed. As far as what the -- I was abdicating a clear chain of command, so that we could get resources flowing in the right places.
S. O'BRIEN: And the governor said no.

NAGIN: She said that she needed 24 hours to make a decision. It would have been great if we could of left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out. It didn't happen, and more people died.

I'm not sure what to believe from this guy anymore. He may figure at this point that if he's going to go down for poor performance, he's going to take everyone else with him.

There's also a link to the video of this interview.