Investigation and Resignation
Well it was certainly a busy day for Bush and his administration. Today Bush was in New Orleans for his third visit. Apparently Bush is making good in his pledge to lead an inquiry into the slow response time of FEMA to the destruction created by Katrina. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't find anything reassuring about Bush's statement, "What I intend to do is lead an investigation to find out what went right and what went wrong. We still live in an unsettled world. We want to make sure we can respond properly if there is a WMD (weapons of mass destruction) attack or another major storm."
Of course Bush's visit was more about the slight of hand that comes with photo-ops. As Bush and the political paparazzi where following Bush about the city back in Washington DC incompetent Mike Brown was resigning his position as the Director of FEMA, effectively immediately. And as scripted, Bush was asked by the ever "observant" media throngs that surrounded him whether he knew about Brown's resignation. Bush on cue responded "Maybe you know something I don't."
Bush acted suprised and called short his investigating in the Gulf region to learn more about the resignation he should have know about since Saturday, considering that Chief of Staff Andy Card spoke to Brown and even asked him not to resign.
It is shear folly to believe that Bush didn't know that Brown wasn't going to resign today. To further my point, there was the near instantanious replacement of Brown with R. David Paulison who actually had experience in the field of emergency preparedness and response. Surely filling the shoes of a man that once headed the International Arabian Horse Association will be a tall order. It was nice of Governor Jeb Bush to recommend Paulson for the position.
It wouldn't be fair to the former head of FEMA if I didn't point out that he followed in the footsteps of the Medal of Freedom recipient George Tenet who also fell on George Bush's sword. It is pretty clear that Brown was hoping that his resignation would lift Bush's sagging poll numbers as his statement in part reads "The focus has got to be on FEMA, what the people are trying to do down there." There was also this eye-opener, "I think it's in the best interest of the agency and the best interest of the president to do that and get the media focused on the good things that are going on, instead of me."
Yeah, it was pretty clear that Brown's being relieved of duty by Michael Chertoff despite the president's high praises was the beginning of his return to the public sector. Perhaps the reason Brown waited to announce his resignation was because he was trying to line up his next job interview. Of course this time around it will be a lot harder to falsify his resume.
Next time I will have to talk about the role of loyalty, lies and the refusal of Bush and his adminstration to admit that they (often) make "big time" mistakes.
Of course Bush's visit was more about the slight of hand that comes with photo-ops. As Bush and the political paparazzi where following Bush about the city back in Washington DC incompetent Mike Brown was resigning his position as the Director of FEMA, effectively immediately. And as scripted, Bush was asked by the ever "observant" media throngs that surrounded him whether he knew about Brown's resignation. Bush on cue responded "Maybe you know something I don't."
Bush acted suprised and called short his investigating in the Gulf region to learn more about the resignation he should have know about since Saturday, considering that Chief of Staff Andy Card spoke to Brown and even asked him not to resign.
It is shear folly to believe that Bush didn't know that Brown wasn't going to resign today. To further my point, there was the near instantanious replacement of Brown with R. David Paulison who actually had experience in the field of emergency preparedness and response. Surely filling the shoes of a man that once headed the International Arabian Horse Association will be a tall order. It was nice of Governor Jeb Bush to recommend Paulson for the position.
It wouldn't be fair to the former head of FEMA if I didn't point out that he followed in the footsteps of the Medal of Freedom recipient George Tenet who also fell on George Bush's sword. It is pretty clear that Brown was hoping that his resignation would lift Bush's sagging poll numbers as his statement in part reads "The focus has got to be on FEMA, what the people are trying to do down there." There was also this eye-opener, "I think it's in the best interest of the agency and the best interest of the president to do that and get the media focused on the good things that are going on, instead of me."
Yeah, it was pretty clear that Brown's being relieved of duty by Michael Chertoff despite the president's high praises was the beginning of his return to the public sector. Perhaps the reason Brown waited to announce his resignation was because he was trying to line up his next job interview. Of course this time around it will be a lot harder to falsify his resume.
Next time I will have to talk about the role of loyalty, lies and the refusal of Bush and his adminstration to admit that they (often) make "big time" mistakes.
posted by M A F at 12:40 AM
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