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Obama Gets One Right with FEMA Nominee

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Over the past decade, while the state of Florida has often been hit hard with hurricanes, few complaints were heard about the quality and speed of government relief efforts.  Many have credited the immediate past governor of the Sunshine State, Jeb Bush, for his hurricane response program.

Part of that good man’s administrative expertise was putting the right men and women into the right jobs, a quality which oftentimes distinguished him from his elder brother.  In 2001, the younger Bush tapped Craig Fugate to head Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.  Bush’s successor Charlie Crist, to his credit, kept Fugate on.

Now, President Obama is bringing that Bush appointee to Washington, nominating him to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  Smart move.  Given that state officials are the first responders to any catastrophe, it helps to have a man who has been on the front lines of relief efforts.

He’ll be well suited to coordinate a national effort and help whip the various state agencies into shape so they’re better prepared to face the next disaster than was Louisiana in 2005.

Kudos, Mr. President.  Fugate’s a good pick.  We can been pretty confident he’ll serve the nation as well as he served the Sunshine State.

Comments

  1. Can’t remember which storm it was, but we had one blow through here that made landfall well north of Miami. However, Miamians were filing claims with FEMA anyway. Of course Miamians and our yankee Snow Birds never saw a freebie they didn’t like.

    Needless to say that there was much kerfuffle about Miamians getting assistance that folks who actually got hit directly by the storm needed. I’m sure Mr. Fugate won’t allow that to happen.

    However, if there’s another major storm, who are the liberals going to blame for the failure of the local liberal government? Will they throw Mr. Fugate under the bus? Or will the messiah come down from on high and protect the area from nature with the sheer awesomeness of his rhetoric (read: Hot air)?

  3. Louisiana kicks Democrat Kathleen Blanco to the curb over Katrina and elects Republican Bobby Jindal. Obama’s pick for the most qualified person to handle national emergency response is yet another Republican who rightly blames the Katrina disaster on the Democrats in Louisiana who failed to follow their own emergency plans:

    “After Hurricane Katrina, Fugate said there was too much focus on blaming the federal government for the botched response. He said…that it was the state’s responsibility to prepare for such disasters”

    So Obama once again (as with wiretaps, rendition, “enhanced interrogation”, Guantanamo, Iraq, etc) adopts the Bush/Republican position, proving that Bush was right and that he and Democrats were lying.

  5. Ooops! He may not get confirmed. From the Associated (with terrorists) Press:

    After Hurricane Katrina, Fugate said there was too much focus on blaming the federal government for the botched response. He said in a 2006 interview with The Associated Press that it was the state’s responsibility to prepare for such disasters, and the state should only turn to the federal government for help when the disaster is larger than the state can handle on its own.

    Yeah, he’s Borked.

  7. During the confirmation hearings, some GOP senator should remind Mr. Fugate (boy, does that name sound Mafiosi or what?) about the recent ice and snowstorms in the Midwest that caused worse damage to the residents there than Katrina did to NOLA and ask if he believed in sending out National Guard troops.

    Hopefully The Snob won’t throw Mr. Fugate under the bus. Then we’ll have to Fugateaboutit.

    Sorry, couldn’t resist. 😉

    Regards,
    Peter H.

  8. Livewire, if you like him, there is every reason to believe the congress won’t.
    Maybe the messiah is getting scared and suddenly realized that he needs an adult somewhere in his administration.