EMAIL OF THE DAY II

“Your emailer wrote that ‘FEMA is not and never was intended to be a first responder. It has only a couple of thousand employees and most are paper pushers. FEMA’s main job is not to prevent disasters in the making but rather to come in after a disaster and coordinate relief efforts (i.e., dispense pork, er, excuse me, “relief funds” to various groups) and make bureaucratic reports to Congress.’ According to FEMA’s website, your guy is dead wrong. This is the mission statement for FEMA:

“On March 1, 2003, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). FEMA’s continuing mission within the new department is to lead the effort to prepare the nation for all hazards and effectively manage federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates proactive mitigation activities, trains first responders, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration.”

Note the part about them training first responders and proactive mitigation. That’s a bit more than pushing paper and coming in after the fact. I’m just saying…”

EMAIL OF THE DAY

From a self-described “independent”:

The administration must accept its share of responsibility. They got off to an early good start by declaring a state of emergency even before the storm made landfall. But the follow up was … well, we know the results. And that’s the thing: The president likes to say he’s a leader who gets results. The results weren’t there, and if he doesn’t hold those at FEMA and Homeland Security responsible for dropping the ball, then he’s not being the leader he says he is. That makes me want to scream! Then President Bush and his administration tout their leadership in times of incredible threats … well, again, there’s that sinking feeling.
All that said, in my gut, I still can’t hold the president and the feds entirely responsible. I’m conflicted. What are state and local governments for? Aren’t they also supposed to serve citizens well? When New York, where I live, gets attacked again, I somehow don’t expect the feds to be here first on the scene picking up the pieces. As a fair-minded independent, I’m finding that too much of the piling on is leaving a bad taste and causing me to lose confidence in all of government. Democrats might be true advocates for people in distress if only they can get over this tendency of sounding too shrill and trying to exploit and attack and instantly second-guess. I’m longing for someone who can be level-headed and show authority without being defensive about it or shrill.

A pretty fair assessment, I’d say. Have I not been tough enough on Nagin and Blanco? Maybe. Too tough on Bush? Maybe. But the bottom line is that four years after 9/11, the feds aren’t ready for a major disaster. That’s the reality. Bush isn’t up for re-election and I couldn’t care less about somehow “hating” him. I don’t. I made my call last November. What I worry about is the basic security of this country. I don’t trust this administration with it. Do you?

BUSH AND BLACKS

He may care. But he has no reason to. And, in the end, that matters, argues Jake Weisberg. Money quote:

Because they don’t see blacks as a current or potential constituency, Bush and his fellow Republicans do not respond out of the instinct of self-interest when dealing with their concerns. Helping low-income blacks is a matter of charity to them, not necessity. The condescension in their attitude intensifies when it comes to New Orleans, which is 67 percent black and largely irrelevant to GOP political ambitions. … Considered in this light, the actions and inactions now being picked apart are readily explicable. The president drastically reduced budget requests from the Army Corps of Engineers to strengthen the levees around New Orleans because there was no effective pressure on him to agree. When the levees broke on Tuesday, Aug. 30, no urge from the political gut overrode his natural instinct to spend another day vacationing at his ranch. When Bush finally got himself to the Gulf Coast three days later, he did his hugging in Biloxi, Miss., which is 71 percent white, with a mayor, governor, and two senators who are all Republicans. Bush’s memorable comments were about rebuilding Sen. Trent Lott’s porch and about how he used to enjoy getting hammered in New Orleans. Only when a firestorm of criticism and political damage broke out over the federal government’s callousness did Bush open his eyes to black suffering.

His mom said it best, I think. She channeled the Bush id: not callousness, just obliviousness.

THE DEFENSE

Here’s an emailer taking issue with me and many others:

The criticism against FEMA and Brown are misplaced and, actually, quite silly. FEMA is not and never was intended to be a first responder. It has only a couple of thousand employees and most are paper pushers. FEMA’s main job is not to prevent disasters in the making but rather to come in after a disaster and coordinate relief efforts (i.e., dispense pork, er, excuse me, “relief funds” to various groups) and make bureaucratic reports to Congress. That’s the way Congress set it up. An ex-head of FEMA was on TV this morning and said he used to regularly tell members of Congress that if D.C. ever got in trouble, they would be saved by the local fire or police officers, not FEMA. This is another instance of Congress trying to pass the buck, when, in fact, things worked exactly the way they set them up.
As to Brown, much has been made of his lack of “experience.” This is bunk. Almost all appointment jobs (esp. below the cabinet level) are bureaucratic jobs that are filled by politically-connected people who are usually pretty bright and ambitious. Sometime they work out, and sometimes not, but very few of them have directly relevant experience, and I defy anyone to show me a connection between “experience” and how they actually perform. Many of our best Presidents (Lincoln, Truman) and Cabinet officers (Bobby Kennedy (a purely political appointment if ever I saw one), Paul Nitze (an investment banker by trade) had much in the way of directly relevant experience when they took their gov’t jobs, but did just fine. Besides, given what FEMA was set up to do, a lawyer is actually perfect for the job. Again, this is just a diversion.
I’ve no doubt that there may in fact be some real criticism to be leveled against the Bush administration. But I haven’t seen it yet.

I guess I should just quote the email again. FEMA’s job is to “come in after a disaster and coordinate relief efforts.” Does anyone in their right mind think that has been done competently? If at all?

CHARMAINE NEVILLE

The video clip of the African-American evacuee I linked to earlier, I should have mentioned, was not of any person. It was of Charmaine Neville. A New Orleans native emails:

I saw the clip you linked to earlier of the woman who escaped the 9th Ward. That’s not just any woman, either. In New Orleans, she’s about as big a celebrity as her uncle, Aaron Neville, the singer. To New Orleanians, it’s shocking that even she was trapped in the city.

Here’s more detail on her. One thing I keep thinking: there’s still so much we don’t know about what really went on in New Orleans. Imagine what they have kept from us on Iraq. Or do they even know?

INDEPENDENTS

According to the new Pew poll (PDF file here), they’re almost as angry at Bush as Democrats are. 71 percent say he could have done more; 25 percent say he did all he could. 85 percent of Democrats fault Bush. 63 percent of Republicans, in contrast, rate the federal performance as “excellent or good.” I guess there comes a point at which partisanship and polarization are so deep nothing will budge them. There’s an enormous racial divide as well. African-Americans are much angrier about this than whites. My bet is that no amount of gay-baiting will win much of the black vote back for the GOP in the near future. But they’ll try.