Deep thought, hurricanes don't mix: a Louisiana editorialist deals with the chaos of Katrina.

Our job is leadership, and few places need it more than Louisiana these days. To some extent, it's been dismaying to be called upon to do what we were born to do.

Just take the first days of Hurricane Katrina. Our newspapers, despite heroic efforts of our staff, not to mention the displaced New Orleans Times-Picayune and the AP, faced a truly unprecedented challenge in the magnitude of the catastrophe. In Baton Rouge, we saw a second, "human tsunami" of refugees from disaster.

Our editorials in The Advocate tried to cover a lot of ground in every piece, like rescue teams distributing too little water to too many people in several places. Editorials work best when they're laser-like, as Bill Clinton used to say. But it's easy enough to see in retrospect the difficulty of focusing when so much is happening at once, and one's audience is overwhelmed with news and images.

Perhaps the best value in an editorial page is getting some kind of a grip on things ahead of public officials and others more distracted by events. Looking back, we tried to do so, particularly about the impact of refugees in Baton Rouge. But asking for longterm thinking in a short-term crisis is easier asked for than achieved.

The magnitude of this crisis tested the limits of a very traditional editorial page like that of The Advocate. With so much to read, so much going on--virtually every household getting our paper had refugees to the rafters, often without power--is an editorial page going to be heard? We're probably more useful after the first crisis than in it.

We're also family-owned, staffed by Louisiana natives, and in terms of policy the de facto editorial page editor is the executive editor. She and her deputy, needless to say, had a lot on their plates just dealing with disaster coverage in the immediate wake of the first storm.

Communications were difficult, as cell phones were promptly overwhelmed. Almost everyone in Louisiana was deeply stressed in one way or another. Our homes had refugees sweltering without air-conditioning and freezers melting into toxic waste dumps. The pain of New Orleans and its environs were felt too deeply for us to be detached commentators.

For the longer term, our page has probably performed better as the state's official leadership has floundered in the past few weeks. Local roots gave us the knowledge to develop a coherent agenda about issues that the power structure would probably want to avoid--or paper over with federal aid or the distractions of the "blame game" about hurricane responses.

Further, the editorial page is powerful in keeping elected officials honest. Our page drew attention to power plays in local agencies, perpetrated during a time when attention was focused away from purely local concerns.

Were we prepared for this? Hardly. As the mayor of New Orleans told us in an editorial board meeting the other day, I didn't sign up for this. But when a state needs leadership, particularly disinterested voices, it's important to do the best one can.

Lanny Keller is an editorial writer for The Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. E-mail Ikeller@ theadvocate.com