3 - How Bush Blew It - Chris Schippers

How Bush Blew It

Chris Schippers

Reference: Thomas, E., Gegax, T., Campo-Flores, A., Murr, A., Meadows, S., Darman, J., & ... Tuttle, S. (2005). How Bush Blew It. Newsweek, 146(12), 26-40 Retrieved on September 22, 2013 from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=b6e828f1-aa5d-4181-951b-290968241215%40sessionmgr198&hid=6&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=18202381

Theme: The leadership style of President George W. Bush, in the response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster was a disaster itself, regardless of the stubborn New Orleans residents that didn't want to evacuate.

Summary:

·         President George W. Bush's Staff were apprehensive to tell the President his vacation would have to be cut short because of Hurricane Katrina.

·         President Bush didn't know how bad the results of the storm were.

·         The President lacked "situational awareness," less even, than an average American.

·         Because of the ease for Presidents to overreact to media buzz and noise around them, President George W. Bush often dodged the media or avoided reading newspapers.

·         His leadership style is somewhat one-sided and a bit of a one-way street, in that, he relates disagreement with disloyalty.

·         His staff is largely people that agree with him instead of having a voice or something different to bring to the table.

·         No one told him what he needed to hear; that efforts being made by state and local governments, and FEMA, were ineffective and basically useless.

·         President Bush should have anticipated and prepared for the worst outcome and aftermath events of the storm by having troops ready to deploy when needed.

·         Bush's advisers were not much help either.

·         The government's response to Hurricane Katrina was a domino effect as problems cascaded and compounded; each mistake made the next mistake worse.

·         Communication between local leaders and senior Washington Officials were poor at best.

·         Bush failed to take steps that would have helped such as order the military to take over emergency communications; instead, he went to bed.

·         As to avoid security issues and chaos by flying to New Orleans, he and his advisors thought it best for Bush to finish his vacation.

·         FEMA was incorporated into Homeland Security after 9/11 and as a result has digressed.

Application to the Lesson Topic:

President George W. Bush lacked some of the traits which make a good leader as outlined in our readings of the importance of being a good listener.  If he would have listened to some of the advice on the urgency to take over control of the situation, aid would have been rendered more effectively.

Application to Emergency Services:

This article is directly correlated with Emergency Services in that the display of poor leadership skills affected the people of New Orleans to the extreme.  Aide was not given in an appropriate manner or time and as a result unnecessary destruction, chaos, and riots emerged.  More work was created for emergency service crews as a result of poor leadership displayed by President Bush.  Good leadership is important to emergency services, for if leadership is poorly executed, results can be fatal.