A recurrent motif of the administration's post-Katrina damage control has been “who could have known?” Well, doesn’t anybody in this administration read?
There were reports raising red flags before 9/11, and no one appears to have read them. There were reports raising red flags about WMD and the dangers of occupying Iraq, and no one appears to have read them. And there were reports raising red flags about New Orleans and the dangers of crumbling levees, and no one appears to have read those, either.
That’s three strikes. And, as a baseball fan, the president knows -- even without reading -- that “three strikes and you’re out”.
So whatever happened to the CEO presidency? Remember all that first-term talk about how Bush and Cheney were going to run the White House like a business, picking the best people to manage America, Inc.? Instead, the administration that was going to be run on the best principles of the Harvard Business School, has given us shocking incompetence, a former Arabian horse expert running FEMA, and officials who don’t read (here’s a thought: until that changes, why should taxpayers keep paying for reports no one reads?).
Forget Business School, these guys need an elementary school refresher: “Reading is FUNdamental”.