Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Filed under: response

'Heckuva Job Brownie' weighs in on Sandy

Hurricane Sandy and Post-Tropical Storm Sandy a.k.a. Superstorm Sandy hit the eastern seaboard of North America on a scale not seen in a long time. Normal protocol on this reporter's site is to point out places and people that are simply wrong or doing wrong. In this specific case, this article wants to mention the unbelievably solid response of President Barack Obama and the actions of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The Democratic President and the Republican Governor have put aside the always immature and disingenuous game of partisan politicing and simply responded to the needs of the people. This is a refreshing engagement of governance. It is unfortunately rare but refreshing especially to those in need who were affected by the storm. The people are the reason governments are here. They are representatives of the people there to collectively serve the citizenry's need. Excellent work to President Obama and Governor Christie.

There are some people who manage to rise to positions of power but have absolutely no concept of roles and responsibilities that accompanying being in governmental role. Case in point former FEMA Director Michael Brown. There is very little research necessary for me to provide to shed light on Mr. Brown's response during Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. Ultimately he failed to provide even an appropriate response to the needs of the people. History has shown his response was not adequate. Mr. Brown knows this and carries the weight of that burden. However, Mr. Brown is again adding to the weight of his burden by criticizing President Obama's response to Hurricane / Post-Tropical Storm Sandy. Mr. Brown stated that the President responded 'too quickly'.

Regardless of roles and responsibilities of federal versus state versus municipal governments, anyone in any position of power must always be prepared to do as much as they can as quickly as possible to ensure citizens are aided. Governments still need to communicate intentions, plans, and actions before and during any crisis; however, the response of Mr. Brown shows he simply still does not get the concepts necessary for responsible governmental employees. I am compassionate to mistakes made. Where I am unable to be compassionate is towards those who do not learn from mistakes. Mr. Brown is not learning from the mistakes he made. Criticizing the President's response is wrong because in this example the President acted swiftly and confidently and the citizens are happy with the response given by all levels.

There are two key elements of knowledge that we can take from former FEMA Director Micael Brown's entering of the news here. One is that a person should always be prepared to own the mistakes they made in order to learn from them. If you don't learn from your experiences and mistakes than you are missing a key character trait that makes us better human beings. And two is that the key to getting things done as a governmental organization or employee is that you need to put away partisan politics and work with those given the responsibility to act. Elected Government members are there to represent the citizens first and the party after that. Actions should be based upon the needs of the society and its citizens and nothing more.

Reference Article:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/fema-director-brownie-weighs-disaste...