Czar None

Apparently, President Bush isn't quite ready to sign on to the notion of a federal hurricane reconstruction czar. The New York Times reports that Bush is not going to use his speech to the nation tonight to take the opportunity to name somebody to head the recovery effort. From the story:

Officials said the 9 p.m. address, the president's first major speech on the hurricane, would not be a State of the Union "laundry list" of proposals. Instead, they said, it would focus more generally on Mr. Bush's vision for the reconstruction of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, with the federal government playing a supportive role to what White House officials are calling a "home-grown" plan that must be created by city and state authorities.

Apparently, for now at least, the president intends to stick with the theme that it's not the federal government's job to take the lead in any aspect of dealing with this disaster.