Let's Start the Kick Circle

I shirk blame and responsibility as much as the next guy, but this is ridiculous. Mike Brown earned himself a PhD in buck-passing today as he laid blame for the FEMA cluster-f**k in New Orleans on everyone but himself. The two mistakes he took credit for- not enough media briefings, and his inability to get Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin to coordinate a response. Spare me.

This, to me, is a direct result of the chief executive opening the doors for every friend they have ever had once they win the election. Time Magazine's report on this phenomenon during the Bush administration is an excellent summary of such a practice. The disaster in New Orleans, and the response that followed, is an object lesson in what happens when you give your frat brothers jobs with actual responsibility.

This is not a rant. In the case of Brown, it's been well-documented. Here is Brown's official White House bio and his FEMA bio. Here is an article by CNN questioning his actual experience, and another by Time Magazine showing the inaccuracies of his resume.

When I lived in Washington DC, I spent a significant amount of time with a friend who worked on Bush's 2000 campaign. The campaign managers (who, of course, later became Bush's senior staff) simply told all the campaign staff to show up at the White House to get their job assignments after inauguration. My particular friend ended up at EPA to start off. Now, I understand that you have to bring your people with you, and as the friend of many talented and ambitious people, I fully expect a job should any of them be elected or appointed to a position of power. But let's at least take a cursory glance at actual experience or qualifications that would make someone able to do a job before just handing over the keys to a federal agency. In this instance, the Brown nomination likely cost human lives.

This weblog is starting to look eerily leftist. I am not a leftist, and I do not want to discourage conservatives from reading/contributing. In fact, I was a registered Republican for many years, and even worked for some Republican causes. It just so happens that the current political climate is at odds with the recent actions of the administration, and that administration happens to be conservative. This is a non-partisan discussion.

With that said, let's talk some sh** about Mike Brown.