This is an older article but I held onto it because it makes me laugh.
We like to think of our country as a meritocracy. The people with the most talent will rise to the top through skill and hard word. They will get rewards because they deserve it.
Yet there are many people that fly in the face of merit. These people have no skill, no hard work, no ability. These people bring other people down. When these people are involved, two heads are actually less than one.
While many of these people do sink to the bottom, enough of them surprisingly rise to the top that we have a phrase for it: the Peter principle. Scott Adams has made a successful career lampooning these exceptions to the rule and most of us have worked with or for someone like this.
With these thoughts in mind, here comes an article on President Bush and Hurricane Katrina. Video tape and other evidence of the President saying one thing on Monday and the opposite thing on Tuesday has become commonplace. What I find so surprising about this president is not that he has risen to the top, but that his obvious incompetence never seems to stick to him. Bush makes one mistake after another and never seems to pay a price.
The people around him, on the other hand, at least those outside of his circle of trust, take the fall time and time again. Yet there is always someone else eager to take up his banner and fall on a sword for him.
Sometimes you just have to laugh.
Tape of Pre-Katrina Briefing Shows Bush Was Warned of Dangers
2 March 2006
WASHINGTON -- Newly released tape and transcripts of video conferences held by top government officials before and after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast last summer show that President Bush and his Homeland Security secretary were fully briefed about the devastation that a strong storm could wreak on New Orleans.
Mr. Bush, who in the days after the storm said the government was surprised by its intensity and the breaching of the city's levees, asked no questions about the level of preparedness and appeared confident of the government's ability to respond.
...
Normally, the daily noon video teleconferences during times of disaster or national-security events are recorded, then transcripts are made. The Katrina videotapes were obtained and released yesterday by the Associated Press.
At the conference Sunday Aug. 28, the last briefing before the storm hit, the possibility was raised that the levees might fail during the hurricane, and at various times local officials expressed their fears.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown told the group he was deeply worried, and he expressed his misgivings that the city of New Orleans had chosen the Superdome as a shelter of last resort for thousands who either couldn't or chose not to leave the city. "I didn't hear about any other shelters for people to go to as they left New Orleans. As you may or may not know, the Superdome is about 12 feet below sea level. . . . And I am also concerned about that roof," he said.
Mr. Brown also told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome. "I'm concerned about . . . their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe."
The president after listening to the briefing said: "I want to assure the folks at the state level that we are fully prepared to not only help you during the storm but we will move in whatever resources and assets we have at our disposal after the storm to help you deal with the loss of property."
Yesterday, the White House and the Homeland Security Department cautioned against reading too much into the teleconferences. "I hope people don't draw conclusions from the president getting a single briefing," said presidential spokesman Trent Duffy. "He received multiple briefings from multiple officials, and he was completely engaged at all times."
