Bush takes responsibility for slow federal response

WASHINGTON — President Bush, fighting to regain his political footing, set the stage for a nationwide address on Hurricane Katrina Thursday night by accepting "responsibility" for delayed federal rescue and relief efforts.

Bush, who may name a czar to chart the multibillion-dollar Gulf Coast recovery, said the aftermath of the hurricane "exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government."

"To the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

The president emphasized it was "in our national interest" to ferret out what went wrong to prepare the nation to deal more effectively with "a severe attack or another severe storm."

Bush also praised the "heroic" efforts of Coast Guard personnel and state and local first responders to rescue victims of the storm.

Bush spoke on Tuesday at a joint White House news conference with visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani as the Katrina casualty toll in Louisiana rose to 423.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat who has joined scores of other politicians from the region in criticizing the federal response, expressed appreciation for Bush's concession.

"The president's comments today will do more to move our country forward with this tragedy than anything that has been said by any leader in the past two weeks," she said. "Accountability at every level is critical, and leadership begins at the top."

The president plans to address the nation at 7 p.m. MDT Thursday from Louisiana, on what will be his fourth visit to the Gulf Coast since the hurricane decimated the region Aug. 29.

On Friday, which he has designated a national day of prayer and remembrance, he is planning to speak at the Washington National Cathedral in the morning, and T.D. Jakes, a conservative African-American television evangelist, is scheduled to deliver the sermon with some evacuees from New Orleans in attendance.

In other developments:

• Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti Jr. announced the owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish have been charged with negligent homicide in the deaths of 34 elderly residents.

"This is a horrific tragedy," Foti said. "I want to know why those people were trapped and were not evacuated."