Our commander-in-chief stumbled over his tongue Tuesday morning in addressing our situation here:

“I’ve just assembled my — many people on my domestic policy team to discuss the current flooding in the Midwest.  Of course, our hearts and thoughts go to those who lost life.  And of course, we’re concerned about those whose — who lost their homes or lost their businesses. I’ve been briefed by Secretary Chertoff and Secretary Schafer and Director Paulison about the response.  First task at hand is to deal with the flood waters, to anticipate where the flooding may next occur, and to work with the state and local authorities to deal with the response. For example, in the case of Iowa, one of the issues was the need for fresh drinking water or drinking water, and so Director Paulison informed me that we’ve provided about 2 million liters of drinking water.  When I was overseas I spoke to the Governor, and he said, listen, I — the federal — we need federal help on drinking water.  So I sent the word to David and he responded well… I fully understand people are upset when they lose their home.  A person’s home is their most valued possession.  And we want to work with state and local folks to have a clear strategy to help people find — get back into a place that — where they can live…”

Does not that instill us with great confidence?

An update soon: I had an adventure sneaking back into my house! I also had a nice phone conversation with a FEMA rep in DC who took my registration information. We’ll see if they do any better in Iowa than they did in New Orleans. This is much less severe and involves far fewer numbers, but if they can find a way to screw it up I’m sure they will.