David Brooks does better than I can in making a mockery of his own argument against big government coming in to help; in this case, handling the after-effects of the BP disaster in the Gulf:

The balance between federal oversight and local control is off-kilter. We have vested too much authority in national officials who are really smart, but who are really distant. We should be leaving more power with local officials, who may not be as expert, but who have the advantage of being there on the ground.

Because that’s what really matters, isn’t it? They may not know what they’re doing and they may not have the resources to do it, but by golly, they know where to get a good cheeseburger in town so they can sit around the diner and complain about Big Guv’ment getting all involved in their business.

Meanwhile, they all have FEMA on their speed-dial.