Michael Brown was competent at his job and handled the hurricanes in 2004 with alacrity and competence.
Brown's efforts to mitigate the disaster in Louisiana were blocked and sabotaged by the incompetence of the local leadership, the lack of preparedness of the local first responders, and the deterioration of the infrastructure due to hurricane damage impeded the response.
Nobody complained here about Brown's management of the previously unprecedented devastation by the hurricanes in 2004. With Katrina - the demands on the Federal response overwhelmed the Federal preparation because local preparation was not up to par with the states that are used to being hit by natural disasters, and the information that the Feds were working from was being provided by people like Blanco and Nagin who were intent on covering their butts.
Oh, and Brown was competent at his job because of his years representing owners and judges of Arabian horses? I've had it with cronyism in the GOP. Okay. Sure. They all do it. But let's hand out jobs that aren't quite so crucial in the future. Bernie Kerik would've been a lot better as head of the DHS to oversee the inexperienced Brown.