Obviously the O does not understand the pirnciples of
subsidiarity — let the smallest government take care of it if at all possible
or
solidarity — just plain common sense.
Paul Ryan campaigns on these two principles all the time. Go Paul Ryan!
Key words: "if at all possible." Experience has to play a role here.
Say 49 states out of 50 states or 499 out of 500 cities can deal effectively with a major storm. The one case where a state or a city can't or doesn't makes the papers and there's a call for greater federal oversight. After that, it's hard to go back.
But the federal government is already involved in disaster response. Federal disaster aid and FEMA have been around for some time. Washington DC already has a responsibility for disaster relief, and an interest in seeing to it that the right response is made.
I'm not sure that they're taking it over: cities and states still play the major role, but after Katrina the federal government is going to make sure things go smoothly -- whoever is in the White House.