Why was the federal government response to Hurricane Katrina not appropriate?

I would say that one of the most important aspects of a government's response to a disaster is how it makes the victims of the disaster feel.  Does it make them feel like the government cares about them?  Or does it make them feel abandoned?  To me, this was the major problem with the response.

The government's response to Katrina really made it look as if they did not care about the residents of New Orleans.  This was made worse by the fact that the residents were black and poor and the government was Republican (and these two don't usually get along).  Because of that, there seemed to be a logical explanation as to why the government wouldn't care.

Finally, there was the President praising the man whose organization was botching the job.  That seemed to indicate that the government didn't really care what was happening to the victims.