IRVINE, California (CNN) -- Governor Schwarzenegger believes President Bush learned a valuable lesson from Katrina, too.
"Believe me, I am the first one to complain if the federal government doesn't really play ball with us or if they are not good partners. I complain immediately," the governor told CNN.
"But in this particular case I can tell you I was really suprised -- pleasantly surprised -- by how quickly the president picked up the phone, called me in the middle of my first briefing that I had with the fire officials and said to me, 'Do you need me to come out there? Do you need help? Let me know what you need. I am ready for you. All my departments are ready for you to act immediately, just let me know.'"
And the governor rejects the idea that the California National Guard's duties in Iraq and along the US-Mexican border have undermined its response to the fires.
"It has absolutely nothing to do with that," Schwarzenegger told us. "We have trained the National Guard for these kind of natural disasters and there will be plenty of them available on an ongoing basis."
-- By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent
