Bush's 'Brownie' criticizes Obama on Sandy
By Pete Kasperowicz - 10/30/12 01:12 PM ET
Michael Brown, former President George W. Bush's former FEMA director who was criticized for his slow reaction to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said on Monday that President Obama may have acted too quickly on Hurricane Sandy this week.
Brown said Obama's Sunday press conference with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials was "premature" because the effect of the storm was not felt until a day later.
"It's premature [when] the brunt of the storm won't happen until later this afternoon," Brown said Monday, according to Denver Westward.
Brown said he was concerned about Obama's early remarks because people in the Northeast were "already beginning to blow it off." He added that Obama's comments on Sunday were leading New Yorkers to start "shrugging their shoulders" and ask "what's this all about?"
Brown, now a talk radio host in Colorado, said Obama was likely trying to get ahead of the storm politically.
"[He] doesn't want anybody to accuse him of not being on top of it or not paying attention or playing politics in the middle of it," Brown said. "He probably figured Sunday was a good day to do a press conference."
Brown added that the message Obama should have sent is one that says the administration will help FEMA with whatever it needs to handle the effect of the hurricane. Obama largely said that on Sunday, when he said the government needs to "respond big" to the storm and that he would not let the process of responding get "bogged down in a lot of rules."
Brown, famously dubbed "Brownie" by Bush, was harshly criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for the way FEMA handled Hurricane Katrina in 2005. That storm left New Orleans residents in a chaotic struggle to find food, clean water and shelter, and FEMA was widely seen as reacting too slowly to that event.
The Bush administration was also criticized for appointing Brown to lead FEMA when he had no disaster relief experience. Brown was relieved of his control over the Katrina response after just a few weeks.
Brown later criticized state-level officials and former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for failing to evacuate New Orleans quickly enough. Brown said cities in Mississippi and Alabama were evacuated on time, and added that his "biggest mistake" was not realizing that Louisiana was "dysfunctional."
