Grover's Bathtub: Isn't it your Bureaucracy, President Albatross?

AP: Bush Says He'll Find Out What Went Wrong

WASHINGTON - Buffeted by criticism over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina,
President Bush said Tuesday he will oversee an investigation into what went wrong and why — in part to be sure the country could withstand more storms or attack.

Bush also announced he is sending Vice President Dick Cheney to the Gulf Coast region on Thursday to help determine whether the government is doing all that it can.

"Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people," the president said after a meeting at the White House with his Cabinet on storm recovery efforts.

"What I intend to do is lead an investigation to find out what went right and what went wrong," Bush said. "We still live in an unsettled world. We want to make sure we can respond properly if there is a WMD (weapons of mass destruction) attack or another major storm."

But Bush said now is not the time to point fingers and he did not respond to calls for a commission to investigate the response.

(emphasis mine)

Yes, I don't much enjoy it when folk tell me I've screwed the pooch either. It really steams my oysters when they tell me I've spent four years birthing a tumor while I'm trying to rescuscitate the damn thing.

Let's see, FEMA, was a stellar solid example of an Agency that actually *worked*, thanks the efforts of James Lee Witt beginning in the early 90s. They'd been pitiful nincompoops ever since Carter created the outfit in his term in 1979. They became more powerful nincompoops when Reagan gave them broader, "field general" powers to ensure Continuity of Government (COG) in the 80s. Still, they did lackluster work at the senior managerial level, like most of the rest of their Federal sisters and often got way too big for their britches, thanks to the COG thing.

Then some boob callled Bill Clinton beat some other boob called George Herbert Walker Bush. The younger boob called his old Director of Arkansas Emergency Management who knew a thing or two about Hurricanes, Floods, Tornados n stuff and said, essentially: The last place we need screw ups is National Disaster Recovery. Can you fix it? Yes we can, came the answer.

It worked. FEMA began to -- GASP -- ask questions of local and state officials without seeming like pricks who knew it all. They worked and played well with others. Actual inter-agency cooperation, undergirded by a not-so-unspoken, enlightened self-interest directive: We can be heroes or goats--do you like good PR for your agency or department, or shitstorms of brimstone and blame following every aftermath?

Easy answer. They began to plan ahead. Gee whiz, they even realized that the only time people really care about saving their own asses and about being smart is right after they've been very dumb and had to have those asses hauled out of the fire, water, rubble, etc. It's called mitigation or proaction investment. Sensible people in the insurance and risk management business understand its amazing bottomline and livelihood impact.

So is born Project Impact, designed to actually mitigate risk by buying out flood-prone homes, installing or upgrading defensive seawalls or levees (!), enhancing pre-planning, pre-running and beefing up aging, inefficient evacuation routes, and generally doing things that REAL grown-ups or a guy like Ben Franklin would appreciate. FEMA even earmarked 15% of disaster funds up front for just such suddenly catastrophe-aware moments when decision-makers were still wet, scorched, bruised or pissed and ready to move. Yes, a creative solution that was working. 500+ high-risk localities saw the light and moved to save themselves, and save US money in the long run. Business as unusual. Finally. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Then we had an election. A "reformer with results" won a mandate by 527 votes in a hurricane state.

The mantra? Efficiencies must be wrung from an unweildy--you guessed it--bureacracy. We bring ambrosia and free market principles. We are here to save you.

The answer? Get rid of pork like levee upgrades. Leave the seaview pristine and unfettered for coastal oil refineries and chemical plants. More productively use, or lose, those hurricane speedbumps known as wetlands, especially those in Democratic AND primarily poor states. Introduce a new megaplatform called the National Response Plan. (3 links) Outsource to private contractors, push out the experienced emergency managers and institutional memory, and bring in political appointees with "horse sense." Centralize all administrative functions with the agency--we are the brains, you, the private sector, are the muscle.

RFPs to come. Bid early, bid often.

Never fear. Remember 9-11.

It's under control.

We have a plan.


[update cuz I'm crappy at html]