Bush backs effort to reassess federal role in disaster response

While saying he was not interested in "second guessing" or playing the "blame game," President Bush Monday promised an ongoing assessment of the federal role in the response to Hurricane Katrina, and urged Congress to look at whether laws and regulations governing the federal government's relationship with states and localities should be changed.

Asked whether existing policies hampered federal officials from acting more quickly to take control of the situation on the ground in New Orleans, Bush said, "That's one of the interesting issues that Congress needs to take a look at. It's really important that we take a step back and learn lessons. We need to learn everything we possibly can."

"I think there'll be plenty of time to examine particularly the structure between various government levels," Bush said at a news conference in New Orleans.

The president said he would defer to local officials in crafting a long-term plan to rebuild New Orleans. "I think the best policy is one where the federal government doesn't come in and say, 'This is what your city will look like,' " he said.

Bush said initial response efforts were hindered by a "sense of relaxation" on Aug. 29, when the storm hit, due to the belief that New Orleans had "dodged a bullet" because the storm had changed course just before making landfall. Bush said that at the time, he believed the city had been spared major damage "because I was listening to people, probably over the airwaves."

Bush defended the scope of the military response to storm-ravaged region, saying "it is preposterous to claim that the engagement in Iraq meant there wasn't enough troops here."

The president denied there was any racial element to the response, saying, "The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the recovery effort."