Has government ever succeeded better at restoring people and places to normalcy after disasters than people have done for themselves?

Ok, lets step back for a moment before we get on the FEMA bashing train. FEMA is not the first line of disaster response, that responsibility goes to the local community, than the county/parish, then the state, then the feds. Next the City of new Orleans self certified themselves to be compliant in the Incident Command System to be able to respond to disasters, and make themselves eligible for grant funding. Governor Blanco & Mayor Nagen pretty much jacked the entire preparation and evacuation on themselves, let alone jacked up the Federal Response by forcing the movement of various response teams (read up on the crap she pulled with the DMORT teams that responded). Compile that with some other facts that are out there: Where did the eye of the storm touch landfall? If you said new Orleans, you would be wrong. It hit landfall as a Cat 3 storm at Gulfport MS. What occurred is the failure of the levees. Which had gone without needed maintenance for years as funds were diverted to other locations. yes some of that falls on the Corp of Engineers, and a good chunk falls on those areas where the money was diverted to.

Remind me again what the Police Department did after the storm, protect and serve, or serve themselves? New Orleans Officers either did not show up for work, or proceeded to loot themselves. Not to mention the chaos in the Superdome. Should we go into the whole shooting at military helicopters brining in relief?

The list of things NO & LA did internally to itself is without comparison. Why were other states that were in the same boat able to recover? Could it be that New Orleans is shy of being a cesspool of corruption and that funds have been misused? Could it be from the ineptitude of how it was handled from the Mayor's Office to the Govo0nor's Mansion?

There is blame enough on the Fed side, no arguments there, but the mess starts with and circles back to the core corruption of New Orleans Politicians.

To add to the problem how well did other Gulf Coast states do during and after those hurricanes, then look at how well LA did after oil spills?

There is an inherent problem when FEMA has to take point on major disaster relief efforts. FEMA should be part of a larger team to provide intelligence, command and control, transportation, and federal resources.