Leaders Lacking Disaster Experience

I admit until the aftermath of Katrina, I didn't really know much of anything about Bush's dismantling of FEMA, or his appointment of unqualified people to head it. But anyone who has followed anything this administration has done shouldn't be suprised. Anytime there is a position for which Bush needs to appoint someone, it seems that he actively seeks out the people most uniquley unqualified for the particular position. It also seems that he gives out appointments as rewards for support or loyalty. And I don't see anything terribly wrong with appointing people that are close to you and you are more familiar with, but that should only be after you've determined that they are qualified in the first place. Even when he finds someone who does seem qualified, like Colin Powell, he seems to morph them into something else, where loyalty to the administration trumps the duties of the job they hold.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that we shouldn't really be surprised that there was someone incompetent in charge of FEMA. We should be surprised that this is really the first time that one of Bush's appointees is taking a lot of criticism for displaying the incompetence which has become a trademark of this administration. Hopefully, now people may start to notice it in other places as well.