Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Jimmy Bush
I'm afraid this emergency is Bush's hostage crisis, his Waterloo. (Pun intended.)
Minimal and reticent government is wonderful in normal times. It's not wonderful in wars and disasters.
I keep hearing the Call of the Wild Bureaucrat echoing in my ears. The entrenched, unionized, solidly Democrat permanent Washington, unwilling to move under the best of circumstances, totally intransigent when the President wears an R. There may have been things happening under the surface, especially in military circles, but it's fairly obvious that the bureaucrats didn't start moving for real until Bush returned from Texas, two days late.
Basic rule of any institution, first codified by C. P. Snow: BE THERE.
If you want to have any effect, you can't assume the other players will do what's necessary, especially when they are Democrats and you are a Republican. Herbert Hoover, who ironically made his bones by effectively leading the Red Cross to assist New Orleans after the 1927 flood, nevertheless showed the same kind of Republican naivete after he was elected President. He figured Congress and the bureaus would help him deal with the Depression. Nope, Congress turned Dem just after the stock crash, and proceeded to block all his efforts. Hoover didn't crack the whip, and the blocking worked; FDR was elected in '32 and immediately implemented Hoover's programs. (They weren't very good programs, but that's irrelevant here.)
No New Tone. No New Tone. No New Tone.
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Addendum: I'll bet Osama's research staff is learning from this event. For best results and maximum chaos, don't pick a city with a tough mayor like Giuliani. Cities with good leadership will recover quickly. Instead, pick a city like New Orleans where criminals have been allowed to run free, and where infrastructure has been allowed to decay.
And I hope (which means I do not expect) that the mayors of other cities will also learn from it. Serious local governance is a matter of national security now. Stop protecting the owls, clams, gangsters and illegal immigrants; start protecting the law-abiding people.
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Another addendum: Former Okla Gov Keating clarified things nicely in a comment on Fox this aft. He said that emergency response -- including the decision to call in Federal support -- is strictly up to state governors. He didn't explicitly say that Blanco was incompetent for failing to start the ball rolling, but his meaning was perfectly clear. Unfortunately, the ball still ends up in Bush's hands, because anyone with a television could see how quickly things were falling into chaos. Even if he doesn't watch the news, a President presumably has people who do that for him. And if he doesn't have such people, or if he doesn't listen to them, that's still his failure. The Pres is supposed to know more than the common yokel, not less. ¶ 9:03 PM
I'm afraid this emergency is Bush's hostage crisis, his Waterloo. (Pun intended.)
Minimal and reticent government is wonderful in normal times. It's not wonderful in wars and disasters.
I keep hearing the Call of the Wild Bureaucrat echoing in my ears. The entrenched, unionized, solidly Democrat permanent Washington, unwilling to move under the best of circumstances, totally intransigent when the President wears an R. There may have been things happening under the surface, especially in military circles, but it's fairly obvious that the bureaucrats didn't start moving for real until Bush returned from Texas, two days late.
Basic rule of any institution, first codified by C. P. Snow: BE THERE.
If you want to have any effect, you can't assume the other players will do what's necessary, especially when they are Democrats and you are a Republican. Herbert Hoover, who ironically made his bones by effectively leading the Red Cross to assist New Orleans after the 1927 flood, nevertheless showed the same kind of Republican naivete after he was elected President. He figured Congress and the bureaus would help him deal with the Depression. Nope, Congress turned Dem just after the stock crash, and proceeded to block all his efforts. Hoover didn't crack the whip, and the blocking worked; FDR was elected in '32 and immediately implemented Hoover's programs. (They weren't very good programs, but that's irrelevant here.)
No New Tone. No New Tone. No New Tone.
-----
Addendum: I'll bet Osama's research staff is learning from this event. For best results and maximum chaos, don't pick a city with a tough mayor like Giuliani. Cities with good leadership will recover quickly. Instead, pick a city like New Orleans where criminals have been allowed to run free, and where infrastructure has been allowed to decay.
And I hope (which means I do not expect) that the mayors of other cities will also learn from it. Serious local governance is a matter of national security now. Stop protecting the owls, clams, gangsters and illegal immigrants; start protecting the law-abiding people.
-----
Another addendum: Former Okla Gov Keating clarified things nicely in a comment on Fox this aft. He said that emergency response -- including the decision to call in Federal support -- is strictly up to state governors. He didn't explicitly say that Blanco was incompetent for failing to start the ball rolling, but his meaning was perfectly clear. Unfortunately, the ball still ends up in Bush's hands, because anyone with a television could see how quickly things were falling into chaos. Even if he doesn't watch the news, a President presumably has people who do that for him. And if he doesn't have such people, or if he doesn't listen to them, that's still his failure. The Pres is supposed to know more than the common yokel, not less. ¶ 9:03 PM
