Ex-FEMA director Michael Brown criticizes Obama for reacting too quickly to storm

[CaptainJaneway]

I am really glad that the president acted quickly and not have another diaster like Katrina.

This brown person is an ass.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...202803013.html

[TheHuckster]

More and more often I'm seeing headlines and double guessing whether they're Onion-esque satire or serious.

His statement is a whole lot of nothing. What questions are people going to ask? Had all the predictions been false and the storm turned out to be nothing, then yeah, maybe then the president acted too soon, but that didn't happen. The storm did exactly what the meteorologists said would happen.

By Sunday morning we knew where the storm was going even before it made its turn. It's at that point you start evacuations, declare states of emergency, and make a recovery plan.

[smileyeagle1021]

Had all the predictions been false and the storm turned out to be nothing, then yeah, maybe then the president acted too soon

No, even then he wouldn't have acted too soon. After the disaster that was Katrina we should have learned that it is better to waste some money preparing for a storm that looks like it is likely to hit and ends up not hitting, than to not prepare and have lives be lost instead of money.

[CaptainJaneway]

Gov. Christie Praises President Obama

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs...-politics.html

[Nekojin]

As the person who was shit-canned as the scapegoat for the Bush administration's slow and lackluster response to Katrina, Michael Brown is the last person on Earth to be bitching about someone else jumping the gun on a similar hurricane. Either he has terrible judgment on storm preparedness, or he has terrible judgment on who to work for. Either way... not terribly impressed with his credentials for making this criticism.

[Racket_Man]

and he is even LINKING this major preparedness event with the ambassedor's killing in Lybia.

[fireheart17]

Wait....so he's complaining because he responded QUICKLY?!

What the fuck did he want, a slow response?

[RedRoseSpiral]

And here after the Katrina mess I was hoping never to hear from Brown again. It was a good 7 year stretch.

[Aethian]

What the fuck did he want, a slow response?

Yes, cause then his response time would have been justified.

[TheHuckster]

No, even then he wouldn't have acted too soon. After the disaster that was Katrina we should have learned that it is better to waste some money preparing for a storm that looks like it is likely to hit and ends up not hitting, than to not prepare and have lives be lost instead of money.

On the other hand, when it comes to impending hurricanes, you really don't want to be the boy who cried wolf. If you say, "This is going to be the big one" enough times when in fact it wasn't, people will stop taking you seriously and when the big one truly comes, people will be less apt to heed warnings and more lives will be lost.

So, yes, there is such a thing as too soon when it comes to preparation, at least where the public is concerned. Not in Sandy's case, of course.

[HYHYBT]

As the person who was shit-canned as the scapegoat for the Bush administration's slow and lackluster response to Katrina, Michael Brown is the last person on Earth to be bitching about someone else jumping the gun on a similar hurricane. Either he has terrible judgment on storm preparedness, or he has terrible judgment on who to work for. Either way... not terribly impressed with his credentials for making this criticism.

I'm impressed by them. It tells me, far more concisely than any news story, that the response has been enough better than his was to embarrass him. Meaning they've done well.

Yesterday, I was thinking that this wouldn't affect the election because of the Electoral College: turnout will be lower in the affected states, but the storm would affect people regardless of their politics and the state gets weighed just as heavily whether turnout is high or low. But now... a Republican governor apparently praising the behavior of a Democratic administration? The notion put forth that the response should have been slow, like it was in Louisiana? A candidate who, surely, is regretting having said essentially that states should be left to fend for themselves when disaster strikes? I wouldn't be surprised if this shifts a couple states in the blue direction... and, there's no even remotely sane way to claim "October Surprise" over a hurricane.

[Talon]

Sounds like someone's angling for a job on the Fake Noise network.

[Gravekeeper]

I can't believe this dude would stick his head out from under whatever rock he's been hiding under. Nevermind to say something this profoundly stupid on a topic that he should literally never discuss in public again in his entire life.

[MrsEclipse]

I am really glad that the president acted quickly and not have another diaster like Katrina.

This brown person is an ass.

I soooooooo misread this the first time.

On the other hand, when it comes to impending hurricanes, you really don't want to be the boy who cried wolf. If you say, "This is going to be the big one" enough times when in fact it wasn't, people will stop taking you seriously and when the big one truly comes, people will be less apt to heed warnings and more lives will be lost.

So, yes, there is such a thing as too soon when it comes to preparation, at least where the public is concerned. Not in Sandy's case, of course.

It's true, but like you noted it doesn't have a lot of bearing in this argument, unfortunately for this guy. It's not like Sandy's the only hurricane we've had in the past few yeas, so we've already got a pattern down. When it's the BIG one, we're ready to respond fast. When it's not, we take precautions and hunker down. Every time I see a hurricane a-comin', it gets sensationalized in the media for ratings, but not so much as the people in charge of disasters.

My philosophy is never be afraid of "crying wolf" if you really think you see a wolf. If you think you see a wolf so many times that people stop paying attention, then maybe somebody else should be watching the sheep.

[HYHYBT]

Some hurricanes drastically change size or course at the last minute. This one was pretty obvious it was going to be a Really Big Deal, about what area it would hit (most of the East Coast), and how other weather systems would add to make it all the worse. To expect this sort of advance reaction (if that's not the oxymoron it appears to be) every time a hurricane forms, much less every time a storm forms which might or might not become a hurricane, would be fatiguing and bring on the "cry wolf" effect. But when it's plain that this is almost certainly the real thing, waiting longer only serves to make things worse.