FEMA hires Mike Brown as a consultant to evaluate the Hurricane Katrina response

[J. J.]

Whenever you bring someone in to evaluate how something is being done, it's always a good plan to ensure that that person has a very strong idea regarding what the right and wrong ways to do something are.

So, I have to ask: given that Brown resigned only a short while ago over a completely inept response to Katrina... how, exactly, is he now the authority on how a federal disaster response should proceed?

The hurricanes in FL last year, for example.

[J. J.]

The hurricanes in FL last year, for example.

But if he botched this one so amazingly badly that he felt it was prudent to completely resign, how does that make him apparently more qualified than anyone else to evaluate how someone else is doing the job he resigned from?

Oh, he got tired of being knocked around by the Press.  He could advise on what some of the problems are.

[J. J.]

The hurricanes in FL last year, for example.

But if he botched this one so amazingly badly that he felt it was prudent to completely resign, how does that make him apparently more qualified than anyone else to evaluate how someone else is doing the job he resigned from?

Oh, he got tired of being knocked around by the Press.  He could advise on what some of the problems are.

The 'victim' mentality sets in.

Oh, I'm reminded of this quote:

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It's from Vince Foster's suicide note.

[J. J.]

The hurricanes in FL last year, for example.

But if he botched this one so amazingly badly that he felt it was prudent to completely resign, how does that make him apparently more qualified than anyone else to evaluate how someone else is doing the job he resigned from?

Oh, he got tired of being knocked around by the Press.  He could advise on what some of the problems are.

But, given that there are a hundred million other people they could have hired as a consultant, what makes him the most qualified person out of all of them?  I assume that he was, given that he was hired instead of anyone else.

At the very least, this is going to be a very bad move on the part of FEMA as far as publicity is concerned.  Given that he resigned only a short while ago, whether it was deserved or not, people are going to wonder what the heck he's doing back already.

That he actually was in charge (and did handle three hurricanes successfully).  Now that probably makes him "qualified" to serve as a consultant.  That does not make him qualified to be the "sole" consultant, but his imput should be welcome.

[J. J.]

The hurricanes in FL last year, for example.

But if he botched this one so amazingly badly that he felt it was prudent to completely resign, how does that make him apparently more qualified than anyone else to evaluate how someone else is doing the job he resigned from?

Oh, he got tired of being knocked around by the Press.  He could advise on what some of the problems are.

But, given that there are a hundred million other people they could have hired as a consultant, what makes him the most qualified person out of all of them?  I assume that he was, given that he was hired instead of anyone else.

At the very least, this is going to be a very bad move on the part of FEMA as far as publicity is concerned.  Given that he resigned only a short while ago, whether it was deserved or not, people are going to wonder what the heck he's doing back already.

That he actually was in charge (and did handle three hurricanes successfully).  Now that probably makes him "qualified" to serve as a consultant.  That does not make him qualified to be the "sole" consultant, but his imput should be welcome.

I'd hate to see what J.J. would call handling hurricanes unsuccessfully.

I'd call the handling of those in Florida last year successful.  Sorry, but it's the same guy.

[J. J.]

The hurricanes in FL last year, for example.

But if he botched this one so amazingly badly that he felt it was prudent to completely resign, how does that make him apparently more qualified than anyone else to evaluate how someone else is doing the job he resigned from?

Oh, he got tired of being knocked around by the Press.  He could advise on what some of the problems are.

But, given that there are a hundred million other people they could have hired as a consultant, what makes him the most qualified person out of all of them?  I assume that he was, given that he was hired instead of anyone else.

At the very least, this is going to be a very bad move on the part of FEMA as far as publicity is concerned.  Given that he resigned only a short while ago, whether it was deserved or not, people are going to wonder what the heck he's doing back already.

That he actually was in charge (and did handle three hurricanes successfully).  Now that probably makes him "qualified" to serve as a consultant.  That does not make him qualified to be the "sole" consultant, but his input should be welcome.

I'd hate to see what J.J. would call handling hurricanes unsuccessfully.

I'd call the handling of those in Florida last year successful.  Sorry, but it's the same guy.

So are you saying he's just unsucessful when Bush doesn't need people's votes?

I'm saying that he was successful them and wasn't now.  I don't rule out the possibility that everybody was hyper sensitive because it was an election year.  Another possibility is that there was another Secretary of Homeland Security at the time.

[J. J.]

The hurricanes in FL last year, for example.

But if he botched this one so amazingly badly that he felt it was prudent to completely resign, how does that make him apparently more qualified than anyone else to evaluate how someone else is doing the job he resigned from?

Oh, he got tired of being knocked around by the Press.  He could advise on what some of the problems are.

Holy crap ... talk about spin! 

Oh, is this spin?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It's from Vince Foster's suicide note.

Some people do respond differently to press criticism.  Now as far as I know, Foster was involved in no wrongdoing.  He wasn't doing his job badly, but he did make some mistakes at the point he killed himself.

Some people don't take public criticism well; Brown might be one of them.

[J. J.]

Another possibility is that the Florida hurricanes weren't handled all that well. The clearing up in the aftermath went okay (perhaps only because of the election, perhaps on account of a number of factors of which the election was a minor one; who cares?), but that's not all there is to it. Certainly I can't remember SE Florida being evacuated Houston-style...

It should also be pointed out that FEMA was restructured under Brown to do more about terrorism and less about the things it's there for...and this process may not have been as complete then as now...
Just thinking into the blue here.

There is a problem with this logic.  FEMA neither orders nor runs the evacuations.  At best, they support evacuations.  That said, the Houston evacuation, the largest in US history, went very well and was very well organized by the TX state and various local governments.  Even the smaller LA evacuations were well run by Gov. Blanco.

[J. J.]

Like I said, Brown received a lot of cooperation from Florida, while he did not from Louisiana.  That right there is a major difference between the responses.  Florida opened the door, allowed FEMA to do their work with little resistance, and people were helped.  It was not that fluid with Louisiana. 

I think both responses should be examined so a national procedure is set up for all states to follow.

Well, Bush was blackmailing Blanco, so obviously the process was slower than if it had been a non expendable Republican governor.

How was Bush "blackmailing" Blanco?