FEMA Chief Brown Resigns, Pattern of Failure Persists

Mike Brown, former head of the International Arabian Horse Association and glorified intern in Edmond, Oklahoma, resigned on Monday as Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It was a job he did poorly because he had no experience in the field, in a word “unqualified.” Fair enough, but the Bush administration still suffers from qualified people who are failing, year in and year out.

The new FEMA acting director (because the real job requires Senate confirmation), David Paulison, is qualified on the surface. A first-responder for about 30 years, Mr. Paulison was also fire chief of Miami-Dade, Florida, and administrator of the US Fire Administration. Yet, he is also the blithering idiot who suggested that the best defense against a chemical or biological attack was duct tape. And one must remember that the operational supervision in the Gulf States remains with Vice Admiral Thad Allen, the Coast Guard's chief of staff. Perhaps if more than three days separated Mr. Brown’s departure in disgrace from Louisiana and Mr. Paulison’s appointment, one might believe that President George “Nero” Bush actually put some thought into the decision.

However, everyone is entitled to a duct tape gaffe every now and then. What is more troubling are the qualified people who have failed in their jobs in the administration who haven’t resigned. Secretary of Defense Field Marshal Donald von Rumsfeld held same the job in Jerry Ford’s White House, so he’s certainly qualified. However, he wanted to attack Iraq on September 12, 2001 because Afghanistan didn’t have enough good targets. When he finally did drag American into a war of aggression against Baghdad (which has resulted in an inchoate Islamic Republic potentially hostile to America’s very existence), he made sure there weren’t enough troops to secure the country. General Eric Shinseki said hundreds of thousands were needed, and he was fired by the Field Marshal, who looks more and more like Robert McNamara every day.

Then, there is Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, a very smart and talented woman who has been consistently wrong about foreign developments since the fall of the Berlin Wall. This woman literally stood in the doorway of the Oval Office to prevent Boris Yeltsin from meeting with the Elder President Bush – Condi thought Mr. Gorbachev was still the man. She helped with the infamous “Chicken Kiev” speech, in which Bush 41 begged the people of the Ukraine to stay loyal to Moscow. And more recently as National Security Advisor, she let America go to war over non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Yet, the problem is even bigger. All of these jobs require Senate approval. There are 100 Senators in the US, and each has a great deal to answer for when it comes to incompetents in the administration. It is customary to let the president have whomever he wishes fill most jobs, but some questioning of the appointee is appropriate. Mr. Brown’s confirmation hearing took 45 minutes, most of which was small talk.

Of course, there is the man who appointed them all, but it is doubtful that serving as Governor of Texas, a job almost as meaningless as the Vice Presidency of the United States, actually qualifies one for the White House. Failing as an oil man and a baseball owner certainly doesn’t. It has taken him almost five years to accept responsibility for anything that has gone wrong with his administration.

And that raises the question of “who hired him?” Could it be that the American voter is not only failing to elect decent leaders but also is not qualified to do so? A more depressing idea is difficult to imagine.

© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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