Fire Brown First

If you haven't read the editorial in today's Times-Picayune, please check it out. In an open letter to President Bush, they have a simple suggestion of their own:

Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

The chief complaint is the feds' failure to know about the people at the Convention Center until they were on TV for a full day, and Brown's subsequent lie the next morning that "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

The T-P is right -- this is a key reason to fire Brown. Now. This very minute.

However, I respectfully disagree that "every official" at FEMA should be fired. Media accounts tonight are full of comments from unnamed FEMA officials who say they see Brown as a figurehead and a political hack rather than a capable manager.

President Bush needs to fire Brown and replace him with a proven leader, with the background and skills to marshal the enormous resources needed in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Once we get that new FEMA head in place, if he's got subordinates laying on the red tape, then it's gonna be time for Secretary Chertoff to break out the ax and make the heads roll.