In case of emergency, wear the right shoes

Memo to anyone who works for a public official: Any e-mail you send can and may be used against your boss later. It seems that just as former Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown’s minions were fussing about his post-Katrina attire and image on TV, so were aides and outside consultants to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. In e-mails newly released by Congress, Blanco’s press secretary fretted that the governor needed to look more like a “John Wayne” than a “first lady” and risked appearing weak by crying. Others variously urged that she wear a baseball cap and “rough looking shoes,” and “hug on some folks and be sensitive.” Meanwhile, an assistant chief of staff worried about the appearance of sending so “many black folks out of state” during the evacuations. It’s shocking to realize such superficial discussions were going on as residents were desperate for water, rescue and other aid.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

5 Comments

  1. Sum1
    Posted December 15, 2005 at 4:35 am | Permalink

    What is sad is that our leaders have to even worry about that sort of thing when there is a disaster going on.

    Ask Bush how a blue workman’s shirt that looked two sizes too small for him ended up on his back for his PR shot? His answer will probably be one of the staffers thought he’d make a better impression as a “john wayne” sort.

    Considering how many excellent documents were released that showed real issues being played out some media outlets only focus on the superficial ones.

    Since you’ve brought up mention of these, how about the Eagle making reference to some of the released documents that aren’t as superficial.

  2. Joe Williams
    Posted December 15, 2005 at 9:09 am | Permalink

    Gov. Kathleen Blanco is responsible for the deaths of over 1,000 people. She is trying to pass that blame to the Federal Government though.

  3. k
    Posted December 15, 2005 at 9:31 pm | Permalink

    When will politicians realize that what the people really want is an elected official who can lead intelligently. Nobody really cares what they look like in the middle of a disaster, they care about the relief that will make their lives a little less miserable for the moment.

  4. Rage
    Posted December 15, 2005 at 11:16 pm | Permalink

    I agree such concerns were silly and horribly inappropriate, but look at who they were coming from: aside from the weigh-in on the politics of sending people out-of-state from the assistant chief-of-staff, the rest were comments from media people–that’s their job.

    Compare that with the snotty email from Brown’s secretary, since His Highness needed at least an hour to eat dinner in a Baton Rouge restaurant before he could be bothered with dying people. And find me a similar e-mail from a Lousiana staffer like the one FEMA staffer who sarcastically noted that he understood how Brown felt about getting a table, as he just finished an MRE and took a crap at the Convention Center.

    And I didn’t notice any quotes from Blanco, who apparently at least cared enough to cry.

    It’s really the comparison that is superficial.

  5. farnacle
    Posted December 20, 2005 at 12:59 am | Permalink

    I notice that the media are very quiet,now that the data comes in showing that the drowning deaths in New Orleans were mostly white and fairly evenly ditributed across income levels.

    I can hear the liberal editors now:”What? No racism to report? No downtrodden victim class to beat up the government with?

    “Damn. Let’s move on to the next myth. Gotta keep racism going or we’ll lose our constituency.”