WaPo editorial: so very right, and so very wrong

at the same time.

Let FEMA Be FEMA: "The correct response, in the wake of hurricanes Rita and Katrina, is not to bring in the military to do FEMA's job but to fix FEMA. Of course, the agency's civil servants are demoralized: Their role has been downgraded, their agency has been robbed of funding and they have been led by unqualified political appointees. As we have written before, there isn't much point now in moving FEMA back out of the Department of Homeland Security. But within that department, FEMA could play a bigger role. "

FEMA should be moved out of DHS, and their status should be restored to where it belongs. The Bush administration needs to shift Chertoff aside, he is a useless cog in the Federal government's engine, and a competent and unaffiliated FEMA Director should be appointed immediately. FEMA will remain incapable of fulfilling it's most fundamental and important role; coordinating Federal Agencies and their assets in times of emergency, so long as it remains buried under an amorphous blob of cronyism and blowhardedness. The kind of effective coordination that I'm referring to requires strength, and a distinct and universally-understood chain of command. Some things are too important to turn over to hacks and novices... [and I say this, ironically, as Bush appoints a crony to the Supreme Court].... responding to catastrophic disasters is one of those things. We should expect the Bush administration to act like adults... admit that their DHS'ification of America was a monumental mistake... and propose a solution to fix the problems they've created. But we know that's not going to happen, since this model of governing is the only thing they know. And here I thought that The Washington Post had grown a pair.