If I do ever find myself in a senior management role in a government agency, please, someone, do not let my assistant write embarrassing (and badly spelled) e-mails about me. The career staff at FEMA must be reading these disclosures about former director Mike Brown’s aloof incompetence with a mixture of relief and shame. At least these revelations are being publicly aired, but the agency’s image and reputation has already been badly damaged. Jesus, couldn’t have someone at least told the guy that it might be a better idea to grab a bite at McDonald’s? What exactly does this Administration have against anything resembling meritocracy? It’s fine to appoint people who supported you back in the day, but shouldn’t those people have some demonstrated skill, some evidence of expertise in managing complex, changing situations? Maybe it’s the fact that Bush himself is the personification of mediocrity, and so he feels most comfortable around other people of mediocre skills. Maybe it’s the fact that he still has a knee-jerk disdain for bright, insightful people that probably goes back to his frat-boy days. Sure, he has a few genuinely brilliant people in his inner circle (like Rice and Rove), but in general he seems to value loyalty over capability. And that’s okay if you’re mayor of a confederacy of dunces. But it’s not okay when you’re the President of the United States.
