Reply #28: Blanco and Nagin should resign as well. [View All]

[recidivist]

I hold no candle for Mike Brown. He wasn't up to the job. He's gone. Good.

That said, it is also true that the city and state messed up big time. People on this board need to be careful about whitewashing them just because Blanco and Nagin are Democrats. There's plenty of blame to go around.

FWIW, one personal experience: I had occasion to sit on on a meeting a couple of days ago with some professional disaster relief folks. A couple of them were fairly recent FEMA retirees and others had worked in and around major disasters for many years in other capacities. In temperment, they were careful bureaucrat types and didn't tip their hands about partisan politics, though as government careerists they would likely lean Democratic.

These folks expressed some concern about FEMA being weakened due to the reshuffling involved during the creation of DHS. However, all of them were livid over the beating FEMA has been taking in the press. And they clearly held Nagin and Blanco in complete contempt. Their basic point is that FEMA, which has only 2,500 total employees, is not a first responder. The police, fire department, emergency services, busses, and medical facilities are all local assets, in this case controlled by the mayor. The second line of defense is the State Police and National Guard, controlled by the governor. FEMA rolls in along about the third wave; it's role is to coordinate the outside support and dump money in for reconstruction.

Yes, Mike Brown should have intervened more forcefully. But he should not be made the scapegoat for the whole fiasco. The truth is, the mayor and governor went walkabout, and that was where the trouble began.