FEMA getting it done

It appears that FEMA is doing a good job in Louisiana. Of course, the real test is yet to come, since FEMA's real job is to deal with the post-disaster issues of housing and general survival of storm survivors and evacuees. Your blogstress hopes the administration truly learned its lessons and has heeded the advice of what career civil service employees remain in its ranks. What happened during FEMA was not some sort of general incompetence on the part of FEMA's rank and file; it was the result of the politicization of the agency by the Bush administration. Indeed, well ahead of Katrina, FEMA workers tried to turn the attention of Congress to the lack of readiness created by political decisions made by the administration, but found no takers for the suggestion of an investigation.

Here's Siobhan Gorman of the Wall Street Journal's Storm Tracker blog:

After overseeing one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will now shift its focus to taking care of evacuees immediate needs and then rebuilding communities lashed by Hurricane Gustav.

"We did a very good collective job in term of response, and we’ll do an equally effective job with recovery,” said Deputy FEMA Administrator Harvey Johnson, a retired Coast Guard admiral said Monday. "Act Two is about to unfold."