« Blessings | Main | A failure to communicate »
November 23, 2005
Still speaking his mind
I miss Warren Rudman. As a U.S. senator from New Hampshire during the 1980s and early ’90s, Rudman was a remarkably candid politician. He had strong views, which were not always party boilerplate, and he wasn’t afraid to express them. After interviewing him or seeing him on the stump, I always thought: This is what politicians are supposed to be like.
I was reminded of that quality last night as I watched Rudman share his views on Frontline, which did a fine investigative piece sorting out who was to blame for the botched emergency response in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. You can see the program on New Hampshire Public Television (Channel 11) tomorrow night (Thanksgiving) at 10, so I won’t characterize the bottom line other than to give you this hint: Brownie didn’t do a heckuva job.
Rudman is quoted on camera several times, usually as a truth-teller after a spin or a moment of ideological claptrap.
One theme of the documentary is how President Bush praised FEMA under Bill Clinton during the 2000 campaign, then, once elected, turned FEMA’s top office into a political plum for unqualified people. The agency was further degraded and demoralized in the post-9/11 reorganization that created the Department of Homeland Security. This, even though one of the three biggest emergency threats in the nation was a terrorist attack! (Another was a Hurricane disaster in New Orleans.)
Anyway, back to Rudman. Post-9/11, everyone realized that the greatest need in emergency preparedness was better communication systems among first responders. But even with buckets of money to dole out, Homeland Security failed to make grants to cities and states contingent on creating such systems. On the Frontline piece, after Tom Ridge, the first boss at Homeland Security, tries to defend this failure, which was a huge problem in New Orleans after Katrina, reporter Martin Smith asks Rudman for comment.
Well, says Rudman, of course the federal government can attach strings when it doles out money. Of course Homeland Security could have made up-to-date communication systems the top priority and made sure they were in place.
The uninitiated might think such candor comes only because Rudman is now a senior statesman (he’s 75!) rather than an officeholder. But we who have been around awhile know that Rudman has always had a refreshing – and rare – habit of saying just what he thinks.
Oddly enough, the voters always liked him for it, too.
Posted by Mike Pride at November 23, 2005 05:49 PM
Comments
You're right about Rudman. He was one of those rare breeds who was concerned about running the country rather than running for office.
Posted by: TED LEACH at December 1, 2005 12:38 PM