FEMA Answers FEMA's Questions

"Lessons learned."

That's the catch phrase buzzing around these days when talking about the government's response to the wildfires in Southern California, as compared to Katrina a couple of years ago. After being placed on the top of everyone's shit list, FEMA learned what had to be done when the next crisis arrived: Broadcast good PR as much as possible.

This past Tuesday, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson (FEMA deputy administrator) called for a 1pm presser, where he spoke of the progress at that point and even fielded some (softball) questions from reporters (video clip at ThinkProgress). The WP's Al Kamen wasn't buying what they were selling:

Very smooth, very professional. But something didn't seem right. The reporters were lobbing too many softballs. No one asked about trailers with formaldehyde for those made homeless by the fires. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about FEMA's greatness.

Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters.

This is a level of pathetic that we don't get to see too often. It's like the Haley's Comet of pathetic. A pathetic that comes around once every 75 years racing by at a speed of ... umm... Quixote?

You can imagine how happy I am that FEMA has gone from incompetence to cowardice. Are they really too scared to hold a conference in front of real reporters who would ask real questions? I'm sorry, Harvey, but this job isn't giving a book report in front of your class while waiting for the clock to buzz. It's time for your agency to get its shit together, do what it can when duty calls, take responsibility, and communicate to the public what they need to know. Until that strength of character happens to wander in unexpectedly into DC, you might want to try a different tactic for your next presser.