Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane. Once it got over the warm Gulf waters, it quickly developed into a much stronger storm. I remember watching the cable news, I remember them telling all of us that this was slated to be a devastating storm if the trajectory kept on path with what the computers models were saying. AND-- this is the important part: People were being warned of the impending catastrophe that this storm could potentially bring.

On Monday, August 29 at 7 am in the morning, the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. This was 6 days after Katrina formed-- and 4 days after it crossed southern Florida, killing 3 people and leaving about a million people without power. At 7:30 am that same morning the Bush Administration was informed that levees had been breeched.

Go to this timeline from ThinkProgress for far more information. Please note the following dates:

Friday, August 26:
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA

Saturday August 27:
GOV. BLANCO ASKS BUSH TO DECLARE FEDERAL STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA:

Sunday, August 28:
At 2 am CDT, Katrina was upgraded to a category 4. By 7 AM it was at Cat 5. At 9:30 am, Mayor Nagin issued a mandatory evacuation of the city of New Orleans.

That afternoon, Bush, M. Brown and M. Chertoff were warned of levee failures by the national Hurricane Center Director.

Late that afternoon there were reports of water topping the levees. During this day, about 30 thousand people gathered at the Superdome with less than 36 hours of food and water. The Lousiana National Guard requested 700 buses from FEMA to evacuate those that were being dislocated from the storms. FEMA supplied 100. It's important to note, at this point, Katrina has not hit landfall.

Monday, August 29:
At 7 am Katrina makes landfall as category 4 hurricane. At 7:30 am the Bush administration is notified of the levee breach. This breach would ultimately lead to massive flooding of the city and surrounding regions. President Bush would be quoted on September 2nd as saying: "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." He added, "Now we're having to deal with it, and will." That morning, George W Bush celebrated John McCain's 69th birthday. Later that morning, the former pResident went to an Arizona resort to promote his Prescription Drug care benefit (also know as Medicare Part D -- AKA the Donut hole) At 4:30 pm he went to a California Senior center for the same promotion.

At 8:30 that evening, The Governor of Louisiana once again asks the federal Government for help. There is no response from the President.

Tuesday, August 30:
pResident Bush takes time to guitar with country singer Mark Wills after a visit to Naval Base Coronado in California. He returns to Crawford, Texas for his last night of vacation. It should be noted that this was a vacation that began nearly five weeks earlier, and was his 50th visit to the Crawford ranch.

Wednesday, August 31:
FEMA requests ambulances that do not exist at 1:45 in the morning. FEMA Staff also informed the director of the agency that people were dying at the SuperDome. His press secretary informed the staff 3 hours later that the Director needed more time.

3,000 people are estimated to be stranded at the convention center without food or water. This is in addition to the 30 thousand people at the SuperDome. pResident Bush, upon ending his vacation, survey's the damage from Air force One. Michael Chertoff proclaims: We are extremely pleased with the response of every element of the federal government (and) all of our federal partners have made to this terrible tragedy,"

Earlier that Morning, Governor Blanco, once again asks for federal help. This is the third time on record. That afternoon, Bush gave his first major address regarding the events in NoLa. That evening, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice attends "Spamalot" at the Shubert theatre in NYC's Theatre district. During that time, the head of FEMA says “I must say, this storm is much much bigger than anyone expected.”

Thursday, September 1
Secretary of State Rice attends the U.S Open. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issues an SOS for his city. He is begging for busses, busses that were requested days earlier. Michael Brown learns of the people at the convention center.

Friday, September 2
White House goes into political Damage Control. This is Led by Karl Rove. "Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan…to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.” President Bush’s comments from the Rose Garden Friday morning formed “the start of this campaign.” Also on this day, Bush watched a DVD prepared by staffers so he could see the 'horrific reports' from the media. Also on this day, a meme is born: " "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" I would be remiss to not note this statement from GWB on this day: "Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch.”


I can go on, I can continue to give details of this horrific event that took at least 1,836 lives. I could mention that this GWB suspended the Davis-Bacon act. I could mention that Senate Republicans voted down an independent investigation to the response to Katrina and its aftermath. Hell, I could even tell you that Bush appointed Donald Powell as a KATRINA CZAR... We could go on and on. It's worth the discussion, to tell the truth. It is important to understand the facts that surround the horrific of Hurricane Katrina. This was a natural disaster exacerbated by a horrific emergency response.

What I CAN'T tell you is that the oil spill in the Gulf is Obama's Katrina. It isn't. It's disrespectful to the people of the gulf coast to do so. They have already suffered enough.

This is NOTHING like Katrina. This is not a force of nature with a terrible response as I tried to point out. This is a man-made disaster born of deregulation. Obama and his administration are doing everything they possibly can to stem this disaster, but only BP can close that valve. Until then, it's not going to get better; it will likely get worse. An industrial oil spill in the gulf of Mexico is a lot worse than a cat 4 hurricane it seems.

Meanwhile, this President is doing everything he can. Obama and his administration aren't eating cake, playing guitar, going to a broadway show, the US open... You see, Katrina was Bush's Katrina. No one else's. Nothing else should be compared to it. Ever.

Bush owns the responsibility for the response to Katrina. As a natural disaster-- he was warned of the outcome .

Tell me, How is this Obama's Katrina? I really want to know.