I finally got a sense of what President Bush meant by the "Blame Game" after reading John Bambenek's puerile column "Misplaced blame." Evidently, playing the game requires some name-calling: "campus commies" and "yard apes."

Instead of following his President's request to put aside such partisan things until later, Bambenek viciously attacked New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. So, I offer Bambenek a pertinent part of the history that he overlooked.

On Aug. 27 the White House released its "Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana," which is posted on the White House Web site. Bush declared the emergency and ordered federal aid to "supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing."

In essence, he told Louisiana, "we got your back." It must have been a great comfort to those in Louisiana to know, pre-Katrina, that the Feds were there for them.

The White House statement proceeded to name alphabetically parish by parish those friends whose backs it had. We got your back friend Allen; we got your back friend Avoyelles; we got your back friend Beauregard, and so on through Winn parish.

The trouble is that the 39 parishes the President identified were all in central and northern Louisiana. Not a single parish in the path of Katrina was identified - not Orleans, not Jefferson, not St. Bernard, not Plaquemines, not one on the coast! The federal government wasn't prepared to get their backs, as we learned - too late.

Herb Morgan

Urbana resident