Posted on 08/27/2015 8:11:40 AM PDT by PROCON
Ten years later, the name Brownie is still identified with the governments failures. Heres what really happened.
Had I left the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the spring of 2005, my life would be very different today. And I really wish, in retrospect, that I had. But after the 2004 hurricane season, when FEMAs excellent responses to hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne in Florida were widely praised, White House chief of staff Andy Card persuaded me to stay on as director through the 2005 hurricane season. I didnt want to disappoint President George W. Bush. Wed developed a good relationship. Heck, he even gave me my own nickname: Brownie.
By the end of the summer, it was a nickname the whole world would know. I, in turn, would have learned many lessons in how Washington failsand how it assigns blame. People are still saying now, as they said then, that what went wrong in New Orleans a decade ago was all my fault. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now. There were many dark moments in those three weeks on the Gulf Coast, and FEMA and the federal government certainly made some mistakes, but perhaps the worst part was being held responsible for the things that I didnt control at all.
Im often asked, as the person who was running FEMA when Hurricane Katrina hit, why I didnt evacuate New Orleans. My response is simpleFEMA had no authority to do that under the Constitution, which clearly establishes a system of federalism in which state and local governments are autonomous governmental entities.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
The media was relentless in blaming Bush, Republicans and everyone else except the real culprit, namely New Orleans Mayor and now Federal Prison Inmate, Ray Nagin.
I seem to recall that the "Reverend" Jackson even accused Bush and Cheney of bombing the levees to hurt the "Chocolate" city and kill black people.
What a fiasco.
I blame the mayor and governor. Joe Bastardi predicted Friday night prior exactly what would happen. Bush had to call the governor and the mayor who is now in jail? They both have freaking no brains and allowed all those people to be killed.
This is what I absolutely could not stand about the Bush administration. They would let the media paint them badly at every turn with no pushback whatsoever. On and on for years.
No “war room”, narrative control, spokespeople who were worth a damn, nothing.
The result of what happened from Katrina would have been the same even if Obonzo had been sitting in his Rainbow Palace.
I am still stunned years later, that the liberals and the media politicized a hurricane.
Even though state and local officials are supposed to take the lead on dealing with disasters, and even though the governor and mayor were both Democrats, Bush and Republicans were blamed for everything which went wrong in New Orleans.
Though the blame would not have been dished out the way it was. If Obama had been president then, he and his administration would not have been blamed for everything which went wrong.
If Bush stood up for himself the way Trump is, the history of Katrina would be far different.
I saw (was there) more Individuals and charities, mostly churches, helping more than i saw government officials?
If all things being equal except a Democrat was President the narrative would have been different. Instead of painting a picture of incompetence and failure on the part of the Federal Government, there would have been praise for the heroic action and calm leadership provided by the White House.
Katrina was a disaster too good for the left to pass up on in order to paint the Republican administration as bad as they could. Propaganda works, especially as another posted pointed out the Bush administration did nothing to put out the truth on what was happening (incompetent local authority>
The DNC gave Blanco and Nagin their marching orders, it was one of those “Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste” things.
Brown’s emergency management experience was totally inadequate for being the head of FEMA.
Also, it is important to note that the emergency response to Hurricane Ivan was a disaster. The evacuation plan was completely f-ed up from the start and thousands of people were left stranded for more than a day on the side of the road. Some elderly evacuees died during evacuation. It was the completely screw-up of the Ivan evacuation that led to the extremely poor voluntary evacuation response by the public to Katrina.
It was very frustrating to watch Bush 43 stay quiet after the unmerited criticism by the Press.
As it should be......Last thing you want to hear is, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
I agree with your assessment of the tone-deaf Bush Administration. They simply refused to fight for American ideals in the public square and let American down by paving the way for the Kenyan.
Exactly! To this day I don't understand the failure of the Republican Party to recognize they are playing in the dirtiest game known to man with a rulebook that changes at the whim and convenience of the enemy. If they knew they would have taken every measure to not only defend themselves, but to mount an offensive against it. That they didn't smarts of ignorance and naivety. The RATs must have been besides themselves laughing at the incompetence. Soetoro even knew and has used the Bush Administration as their whipping boy ever since.
“This is what I absolutely could not stand about the Bush administration. They would let the media paint them badly at every turn with no pushback whatsoever. On and on for years.”
Bush would not use the bully pulpit. His public relations staff and press secretaries were inept at managing any story. If the administration really believed the city was in danger and the state/local government was not taking necessary action to save lives, Bush could have publicly called for the governor to evacuate or he could have sent “Brownie” out to give a news conference imploring local leaders to take action. Instead, Bush chose to work quietly behind the scenes with Democrats playing politics instead of taking care of the public. He allowed them to set him up to take the blame.
Exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing.
Watching the helicopter video of the evacuation from NO, the two lanes leaving the city, packed not moving, the left lanes wide open on cars, I thought, wow these people can’t figure out to shut down those lanes to incoming, and open two more lanes to outbound?
The idiocy was going to end in disaster
And whoever in the bush admin who was doing PR didn’t - one -figure out that these people were complete idiots, and - two - get out ahead of it
Stupidity
Bush did! He went on national television, I believe it was a Friday night, and he begged the mayor and governor to react. But he also told the people directly to evacuate. I t was during prime time.
Lots of people on here blamed him, too. Or at least slammed his appearance before congress.
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