This is classic when MBAs run operations. This is what happens when top management does not come from where the work gets done AND when his boss is a classic MBA:
Quote:
from the NY Times of 5 September 2005
After Failures, Government Officials Play Blame Game
"Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired?" asked Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, south of New Orleans.
Far from deferring to state or local officials, FEMA asserted its authority and made things worse, Mr. Broussard complained on "Meet the Press."
When Wal-Mart sent three trailer trucks loaded with water, FEMA officials turned them away, he said. Agency workers prevented the Coast Guard from delivering 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and on Saturday they cut the parish's emergency communications line, leading the sheriff to restore it and post armed guards to protect it from FEMA, Mr. Broussard said.
...
Ms. Bottcher was one of several officials yesterday who said she believed FEMA had interfered with the delivery of aid, including offers from the mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, and the governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson.
Adam Sharp, a spokesman for Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, said the problem was not who was in command. FEMA repeatedly held up assistance that could have been critical, he said.
"FEMA has just been very slow to make these decisions," Mr. Sharp said.
In a clear slap at Mr. Chertoff and the FEMA director, Michael D. Brown, Governor Blanco announced Saturday that she had hired James Lee Witt, the director of FEMA during the Clinton administration, to advise her on the recovery.
Nearly every emergency worker told agonizing stories of communications failures, some of them most likely fatal to victims. Police officers called Senator Landrieu's Washington office because they could not reach commanders on the ground in New Orleans, Mr. Sharp said.
Dr. Ross Judice, chief medical officer for a large ambulance company, recounted how on Tuesday, unable to find out when helicopters would land to pick up critically ill patients at the Superdome, he walked outside and discovered that two helicopters, donated by an oil services company, had been waiting in the parking lot.
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I am not posting these details for American cellar dwellers. If they don't understand how bad this president really is by now, then they clearly would praise the devil. Only a fool or the naive, at this point, would be the 50% of Americans who feel this president did a good job. These posts are mostly for the benefit of those outside the US who really don't receive these details. That Nightline interview is repeatedly cited for those who did not see Ted Koppel grill Michael Brown, Director of FEMA, and a political hack of George Jr, mental midget president.
After three days of no water, then people start dying. FEMA provided no food and water to tens of thousands in the Superdome and Convention Center for four days. No wonder this same president also did not bother to go after bin Laden. And yet about 50% of Americans still think the mental midget is doing a good job. Those outside of America really need to understand what is going on in this country. Worry about the extremism that has so distorted perception.
Quote:
Mr. Chertoff said he recognized that the local government's capacity to respond to the disaster was severely compromised by the hurricane and flood.
"What happened here was that essentially, the demolishment of that state and local infrastructure, and I think that really caused the cascading series of breakdowns," he said.
But Mayor Nagin said the root of the breakdown was the failure of the federal government to deliver relief supplies and personnel quickly.
"They kept promising and saying things would happen," he said. "I was getting excited and telling people that. They kept making promises and promises."
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One promotes spin that is so effective. The second talks about the product - bottom line - the purpose of a responsible government response that did not happen.
The George Jr administration knows aid is not most important. Be best at spin. Same spin that lies about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. Same spin that should even have citizen of China worried for their security. Same spin that justified an illegal Pearl Harbor attack on a sovereign nation - and 70% of Americans said it was good.