Sorry, I think your defense of Mike Brown is bending way too far over backwards. I think there were screw ups at all levels, from city to the feds. Everybody did a bad job. from the President all the way down to the mayor of New Orleans. I hope they can all learn from their mistakes.
I think your attack on Michael Brown is a reach.
The fact is that he executed the responsibility of the post competently before Katrina. That alone removes any doubt that he was qualified for the job regardless of what was not in his resume or his background.
Up until Hurricane Katrina he had only worked with states with strong and prepared plans. He had never worked on a disaster this size, and no American can claim to have done so, so the issue of past experience is again a moot issue.
There is no doubt that errors were made. Tell me, have you ever had to try and coordinate just your family to go on a vacation? How many mistakes are made that could've made the preparations easier and the execution easier?
Mistakes are made even in well prepared and competently led disaster responses.
I think you're trying to crucify a man that did his job as well as could be expected of a human being, and that nobody could've anticipated the lack of preparation by the local authorities, or the degree of miscommunications that would occur between the local authorities and the Feds. And any reasonable assessment of the miscommunications points to the local authorities (Blanco and Nagin) having had made multiple errors that contributed and continued to contribute to the problems.
If you've ever worked as a project manager - have you ever had to mange people who hide any problems they're having with a project out of fear, reporting what you want to hear? FEMA is aptly named as a management organization. This happens.
The thing that made the difference between Louisiana and all the other states that have been affected by disasters during Brown's tenure was not his experience or lack of it, but the degree of preparedness of the local authorities. Blaming Mr. Brown with the majority of the blame is wrong. Yes, he made some errors. In hindsight he should've assessed the situation using his own sources of information, but seeing as how the resources FEMA designates for information gathering is limited and that FEMA has always relied on local authorities to be honest and upfront, such hindsight cannot be weighted heavily against Brown.