Taking Responsibility

I watched part of the hearings today with Michael Brown, the former director of FEMA. We all know what happened just before and just after Katrina. It was all a mess and there were problems everywhere. I do not like Michael Brown and his "testimony" was simply a series of "this person didn't do this" or "I knew I couldn't cound on..." what about you, Michael? Neil Cavuto's Common Sense says it all and not just about FEMA and Katrina:

So I'm watching these Michael Brown hearings today and thinking to myself, what are they proving? We all know, in retrospect, the former FEMA director could have done more.

He got testy. Senators got testy.

Everyone looking for someone — anyone — to blame. It's human nature, I guess. Here's apparently what isn't: admitting a mistake.

I mean, when's the last time at work or even in life, you've heard someone say, "I'm sorry, I botched it"?

I guess there are all sorts of sticky legal issues when you say something like that. But I think most folks hunger for that. Someone — anyone — simply admitting, "I screwed up."

Maybe the person who screwed up fears an enormous backlash. I don't know. But I do know John Kennedy didn't have any such backlash when he admitted that the Cuban Bay of Pigs fiasco rested at his doorstep. His poll numbers went up.

Clearly, in Katrina's case, there was a lot of blame to go around.

I say, go ahead and spread it around. The president. The governor. The mayor. Local authorities. Lots of people botched it. I'd just rather hear them admit it, than point fingers over it.

Look, tragedies happen. They're not Republican events or Democratic events or FEMA events. They're human events. In which humans screwed up. And haven't the simple decency to 'fess up.

I know, it sucks when I mess up and I've let myself down or I've let others down, but I admit it, I get past it (sometimes it takes a while) and I try really hard not to repeat that mistake. Granted lives aren't on the line when most of us make mistakes, but everyone just needs to take personal responsibility and quit blaming other people.

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Tag: Katrina, FEMA