A focal point for Katrina criticism

A multiple-choice question on this topic would be too easy, so we’ll make it fill-in-the-blank instead: Among the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, the one causing the most widespread distress among Americans is __________. And the answer, of course, is higher gasoline prices. Sure, people outside the Gulf Coast are sorry to see all the death and destruction, but it doesn’t affect most of them directly. Gas prices do. In a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 79 percent of respondents gave a negative rating to the government’s handling of gasoline prices.