Bush and Chirac

From Fr. Neuhaus:

One notes in passing that President Bush was much criticized for taking two days before making a national address about Katrina and the devastation of the Gulf Coast. He should have responded more quickly. By way of contrast, however, President Jacques Chirac of France waited until the violence had raged for eleven days in hundreds of cities before addressing the nation, and has been invisible since.

I wouldn't think things like nationwide riots lasting a week and a half without government intervention happened in a civilized nation.