Heckuva Job, Strickie!
Remember "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job!"? This administration's Interior Department chief of staff, Tom Strickland, was in the Grand Canyon white water rafting and doing other activities with his wife while the oil kept pouring into the Gulf of Mexico:
Jake Tapper writes at ABCNews.com:
Other leaders of the Interior Department were focused on the Gulf, joined by other agencies and literally thousands of other employees. But Strickland's participation in a trip that administration officials insisted was "work-focused" raised eyebrows among other Obama administration officials and even within even his own department, sources told ABC News.Strickland, who also serves as Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, was in the Grand Canyon with his wife Beth for a total of three days, including one day of rafting. Beth Strickland paid her own way, Obama administration officials said.
The Stricklands departed for the Grand Canyon three days after the leaks in the Deepwater Horizon pipeline were discovered. Ultimately, after the government realized that the spill was worse than had been previously thought, officials decided that Strickland was needed in the Gulf so Strickland was taken out of the Grand Canyon by a National Park Service helicopter.
One government official, asking for anonymity because of the political sensitivities involved, told ABC News that some Interior Department employees thought it was "irresponsible" for Strickland to have gone on the trip, given the crisis in the Gulf, which was fully apparent at the time he departed for the Grand Canyon.
> One government official, asking for
> anonymity because of the political
> sensitivities involved, told ABC News that...
If it's so politically sensitive, why would we trust an anonymous source? I'll be happy when TV news is dead.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at May 7, 2010 12:50 AM
FYI, Tapper came out of alt weeklies; specifically, Washington City Paper. He did a piece years ago on going out on a date with Monica Lewinsky.
Amy Alkon at May 7, 2010 1:16 AM
It's better to leave this sort of thing to the local organizations anyway.
The FEMA response to Katrina amply demonstrated that these enormous federal bureacracies are no good at quick response to disasters. If they were all off rafting, the local organizations can work without federal "help"...and get things done a lot more efficiently.
bradley13 at May 7, 2010 1:51 AM
Maybe you got the wrong idea from watching Star Trek, where only the officers go into war zones, or into the maw of some fantastic creature.
But the bigger the organization, the less the chief executive knows about its day-to-day operation -- and, unlike the military, there is no requirement that a leader knows anything about actually doing what the people do.
I mean, please. Be consistent. You've already seen that the President doesn't know anything about the real world - why should anyone near that level have a clue?
You actually want some bureaucrat to get on TV and read some speech to take the credit for something he or she didn't do?
Radwaste at May 7, 2010 7:29 AM
"If they were all off rafting, the local organizations can work without federal "help" ...and get things done a lot more efficiently."
There's some evidence of that, but a big part of it was the exercise of power in ignorance of the situation, and this wasn't confined to FEMA or other Federal agencies. Nor would the presence of a central authority figure have helped. People were allowed to "pile up" authority and spend money on FEMA without thinking about cost. You'll note that power struggles had lots to do with levy failures, and there was no shortage of stupidity among local officials; remember the drowned school buses?
Radwaste at May 7, 2010 7:44 AM
Hot Air pointed out last night that the estimated flood damage in Nashville has exceeded $1B, on a par with Katrina, and the federal government hasn't lifted a finger to help. Arguably, that might very well be a good thing... but in times of disaster, people like to hear some words of encouragement from the nation's leaders, even if all it amounts to is a five-minute, helicopter-door press conference. The current Administration hag give the people in Nashville and on the Gulf Coast the very strong impression that it doesn't give a damn.
Cousin Dave at May 7, 2010 8:42 AM
If you're going to compare Deepwater Horizon to Katrina, keep in mind that the blowout happened way out in the Gulf of Mexico, in federal waters. So unlike Katrina, where the New Orleans & Louisiana governments were the first responders, the Obama administration was supposed to lead the response to this spill from the very beginning.
Martin (Ontario) at May 7, 2010 9:15 AM
> the Obama administration was supposed
> to lead the response to this spill from
> the very beginning.
> Posted by: Martin (Ontario)
Dude....
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at May 7, 2010 9:15 PM
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