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Originally Posted by innerSpaceman
And yes, FEMA, like to admit it or not, Ms. Neph, was FANTASTIC during Clinton's terms
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Well, I can sure find one hell of a lot of info to say otherwise on two pretty large hurricanes that took place during his terms - Hugo, in South Carolina, and Andrew, in Florida.
Rather than post all of the info I could find absolutely blasting FEMA for their performance during these tragedies, here's a couple quick tidbits -
From Wikipedia -
"Hugo caused $7 billion ($9.4 billion in 2000 dollars) in damage in the US (plus $3 billion in the Caribbean). At the time it was the costliest hurricane in US history, but was exceeded in 1992 by Hurricane Andrew in south Florida. In South Carolina, which bore the brunt of the storm on the continent, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was slow in responding and Senator Fritz Hollings referred to them as "a bunch of bureacratic jackasses.""
Well, reforms were made. FEMA had only been under control of the Clinton administration for 9 months. So I'll cut him a bit of a break. Then came Andrew -
"Rarely had the failure of the federal government been so apparent and so acute. On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew leveled a 50-mile swath across southern Florida, leaving nearly 200,000 residents homeless and 1.3 million without electricity. Food, clean water, shelter, and medical assistance were scarce. Yet, for the first three days, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is responsible for coordinating federal disaster relief, was nowhere to be found. And when FEMA did finally arrive, its incompetence further delayed relief efforts. Food and water distribution centers couldn't meet the overwhelming need; lines literally stretched for miles. Mobile hospitals arrived late. In everything it did, FEMA appeared to live up to the description once given to it by South Carolina Sen. Ernest Hollings: "the sorriest bunch of bureaucratic jackasses I've ever known." "
So....a few years later, FEMA didn't do much of a better job. If anyone wants me to post the NUMEROUS links to news stories of suffering and incompetence, I gladly will.
So, no - FEMA was most assuredly NOT fantastic during the Clinton years.
Do I blame Clinton? No - I blame bureaucratic government that gets ever larger as more disasters hit.
Edited to add:
I will say that I think FEMA under Clinton did a fine job in Oklahoma City. Similarly, FEMA did a great job under Bush in NY post 9/11.