A hurricane of a crisis on her shoulders

Louisiana's Governor Kathleen Blanco has been put on the national map by Hurricane Katrina. Picture / Reuters

"This whole situation is totally overwhelming."

No one will argue with Kathleen Blanco's assessment of the hurricane disaster in Louisiana, the state that elected her Governor in 2003.

Not everyone wants to hear her say it, however. She, more than anyone, must stay on top of this crisis.

When calamity strikes a state, it is the Governor whom people first look to for reassurance. A governor's task is to offer words that combine confidence that the challenges can be met and empathy with those suffering hardship.

"Governors tend to be the focal point at the time of a disaster," said Joe Allbaugh, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"The Governor's principal role is to make sure all the assets available to him or her are fully deployed."

She may not have known it a week ago, but this hurricane will define all of Blanco's governorship, and, indeed, the rest of her public career.

It has put her on the national map.

Blanco, 62, a former schoolteacher who rose through the ranks of state government, served as a representative in the state legislature for five years and as the lieutenant governor for another two.

Her victory in elections two years ago provided the Democratic Party with one bright spot on an otherwise dismal picture of its fortunes across the South.

Occasionally emotional in her public appearances these past few days - she has at times seemed on the brink of tears during interviews - the governor, who is also a grandmother, has seemed decisive when it matters, for instance ordering the complete evacuation of New Orleans on Wednesday.

"I think she's doing everything humanly possible to bring it together," said a former Louisiana senator, John Breaux.

But with anger building over what some say were insufficient preparations for this disaster, and in particular over the position of those trapped in the Superdome, the test for Governor Blanco - surely by far the biggest of her career - is only just beginning.

- Independent