Michael Brown, former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director, added conviction to his lack of credibility today in testimony before a Senate panel investigating the response to Hurricane Katrina.
“I certainly feel somewhat abandoned” by the Bush administration now, Brown said in testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
In the hours after Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast on Monday, August 29, Brown said he bypassed his boss at the Department of Homeland Security and communicated directly with the White House about the disaster.
He described how he “got around DHS” by dealing with President Bush’s top aides instead of going to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
He also contradicted comments by Homeland Security officials that they were unaware of flood dangers in New Orleans, Louisiana, the day that Katrina made landfall.
“For them to now claim that we didn’t have awareness of it, I think is just baloney,” he said. “They should have had awareness of it because they were receiving the same information that we were.”
How can Brown’s testimony be seen as anything other than sour grapes? He received well deserved criticism for his lack of leadership during the disaster. His resignation was portrayed as voluntary, yet it’s clear that the White House and Homeland Security urged him in the decision and it’s likely he’s still smarting about that. The media has characterized him as the epitome of ineptness (although today, they’re lifting him up like he’s the smartest guy in the world).
If anyone has an agenda for payback against the Bush administration, it’s Mike Brown. While it’s clear that all areas of the Federal relief response to Katrina was lacking, the Democrats and their partners in the MSM would be wise not to suddenly embrace the ring leader of chaos. Hopefully the members of the Senate panel will take a look at Mike Brown’s motivation to play the blame game as their investigation continues.