Friday, September 09, 2005

The press and washington political culture

...have this annoying habit of focusing on small mistakes that they uncover rather than big mistakes that are obvious. Here are some questions you might ask Michael Brown:

* Why were so many people prevented from leaving the city after the flood hit?
* How could FEMA have been "unaware" of the situation at the convention center when it was in the news for four days?
* Why was assistance from other cities, countries, and private groups turned away?

Instead, the press seems interested in questions like:

* Were you really a city manager in charge of emergency services, or were you an assistant to the city manager in charge of emergency services?


I know that asking any of these questions are not mutually exclusive, and many people are asking the first ones. but really, why is the resume thing above the fold in the NYT?

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