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Compassion just isn't enough
Sep. 7th, 2005 08:06 amSo now I'm seeing reports in the press that we shouldn't be so hard on Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, because he's "just so compassionate" and "really just wants to help people". Similar things have been said, of course, about the guy who hired him, George W. Bush. Setting aside the question of whether these folks really are compassionate for the moment, let me go on the record right now pointing out what should be inherently obvious to everyone in the country:
Compassion alone isn't enough of a qualification for holding high office.
For those of you who decided to vote for W. because you believed he was such a good person - that his moral recitude was somehow the most important factor in the past presidential election - take a good look at Exhibit K: the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a disaster that has been foretold, studied, and allegedly planned for for years. College students made it in and out of the hurricane disaster area, rescuing people in their 2-wheel drive SUV, while the federal government employees (our armed forces included) were stuck waiting for orders that didn't come until days too late. Our national leaders are on record denying any problems existed in New Orleans even as local leaders were on-air on all the national news channels begging for help and newspapers were showing bodies floating in the streets. Broadcasters even went so far as to confront those spinning lies in the face of disaster.
Compassion without competence doesn't help anyone.
It shouldn't escape anyone's attention, either, that the vast majority of the people suffering and dying from this catastrophe are the poor, the elderly, and yes, largely african-american - but our President is on the record joking about how he looks forward to standing on Trent Lott's rebuilt summer-home's front porch (direct quote from the White House transcript: "The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)" This was probably intended to sound compassionate - but honestly, it betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of the disaster that goes well beyond cluelessness.
People drowned waiting for rescue that never came, starved, and died of dehydration on Friday and Saturday - five and six days after the storm passed. This is the very definition of failure, of incompetence on an unspeakable scale.
And YES, the local officials who failed to plan adequately for a disaster like this (why weren't there more buses picking people up from the poor parishes? There were some, but obviously not enough. Why weren't there adequate food and water and sanitation supplies at the Superdome?) should be held to account. But we have a federal government precisely to oversee crises that cross state boundaries and that encompass disasters that are far more than any one city, county, or state can handle. We have a national Disaster Plan from 2004 that states that at times of any natural or manmade incident, including terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions, the federal government pre-empts local and state government in its responsibility to act quickly.
Compassion is a good trait - but competence is what saves lives, prevents disasters, and adequately prepares us all. And competence is what is sadly and demonstrably lacking in our government - right on up to our executive head. Bush should fire Michael Brown. And the next time we have an election, we should skip the spin-controlled questions of "is he or she a good person (whatever that is)" and take a really hard look at the resumes of the candidates. If he's never led a successful business - if he's been fired for being unable to run horse shows - if she's had all the real-world management experience of a newt - perhaps we should look elsewhere for our leaders.
When did basic competence become an optional quality for a political candidate, anyway?
Compassion alone isn't enough of a qualification for holding high office.
For those of you who decided to vote for W. because you believed he was such a good person - that his moral recitude was somehow the most important factor in the past presidential election - take a good look at Exhibit K: the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a disaster that has been foretold, studied, and allegedly planned for for years. College students made it in and out of the hurricane disaster area, rescuing people in their 2-wheel drive SUV, while the federal government employees (our armed forces included) were stuck waiting for orders that didn't come until days too late. Our national leaders are on record denying any problems existed in New Orleans even as local leaders were on-air on all the national news channels begging for help and newspapers were showing bodies floating in the streets. Broadcasters even went so far as to confront those spinning lies in the face of disaster.
Compassion without competence doesn't help anyone.
It shouldn't escape anyone's attention, either, that the vast majority of the people suffering and dying from this catastrophe are the poor, the elderly, and yes, largely african-american - but our President is on the record joking about how he looks forward to standing on Trent Lott's rebuilt summer-home's front porch (direct quote from the White House transcript: "The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)" This was probably intended to sound compassionate - but honestly, it betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of the disaster that goes well beyond cluelessness.
People drowned waiting for rescue that never came, starved, and died of dehydration on Friday and Saturday - five and six days after the storm passed. This is the very definition of failure, of incompetence on an unspeakable scale.
And YES, the local officials who failed to plan adequately for a disaster like this (why weren't there more buses picking people up from the poor parishes? There were some, but obviously not enough. Why weren't there adequate food and water and sanitation supplies at the Superdome?) should be held to account. But we have a federal government precisely to oversee crises that cross state boundaries and that encompass disasters that are far more than any one city, county, or state can handle. We have a national Disaster Plan from 2004 that states that at times of any natural or manmade incident, including terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions, the federal government pre-empts local and state government in its responsibility to act quickly.
Compassion is a good trait - but competence is what saves lives, prevents disasters, and adequately prepares us all. And competence is what is sadly and demonstrably lacking in our government - right on up to our executive head. Bush should fire Michael Brown. And the next time we have an election, we should skip the spin-controlled questions of "is he or she a good person (whatever that is)" and take a really hard look at the resumes of the candidates. If he's never led a successful business - if he's been fired for being unable to run horse shows - if she's had all the real-world management experience of a newt - perhaps we should look elsewhere for our leaders.
When did basic competence become an optional quality for a political candidate, anyway?
