I wouldn't be surprised if some of the stories about FEMA Director Michael Brown's padded resume were being released for the sole purpose of giving some cover to the White House in firing him: "The President is extremely disappointed that Brownie, umm, Mr. Brown, represented himself as holding qualifications he did not hold, and the President will not tolerate anything other than complete forthrightness," Scotty will say, presenting the president as the Stockard Channing character in Six Degrees of Separation.
But it's actually more like Bernie Kerik's nonexistent "nanny problem" because, in reality, Brown's resume wasn't all that padded. Sure he changed "Assistant to the City Manager" to "Assistant City Manager," added a couple of honors he hadn't gotten, and made it sound like he'd been practicing some law when he hadn't. But a real resume padder adds a couple of degrees from Stanford and a stint in Special Forces.
The important point is this: Even if every single thing on Brown's resume was true, it was still an obviously pathetic set of qualifications to run a major federal agency, or even to supervise the 30 lawyers in a federal agency's general counsel's office.
It is a little shocking that none of the Senators who participated in the 42-minute confirmation hearing that Laura Rozen linked to yesterday made any note that even Brown's padded resume was empty of any actual disaster management, or any management at all at any level above that of a very small city a quarter century ago!
And the liability now should rest entirely with the White House. They were not tricked into hiring someone who lied about his qualifications. They made the appointment with a total lack of interest in any qualification other than loyalty, and as this article suggests, may have been complicit in the exaggeration.
Read the rest here.
It does make a rather convenient excuse now, but I am not sure if I agree that this is coming from the Bush Administration as some sort of cover for his firing.
It seems to me that Bush would have looked better simply firing the guy rather than admitting that he didn't bother to notice that the guy wasn't at all qualified to be the director of any federal agency, let alone one as vital in its purpose as FEMA.
Then again, maybe their right. Maybe in the twisted world in which the Bush administration operates, it is simply easier to say that this man lied on his resume and for that reason he must be let go, rather than admit is completely incompetent performance was criminal in its ineptitude.
Ultimately, as President, Bush owns Brown's failure even if we all know Brown was given the job as a political thank you rather than manipulating his way into the position by lying to his superiors about his qualifications.
The buck stops with Bush. End of Story.
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