I am the smartest person in the US (and maybe so are you)

[AlienGirl]

Theoretically, the people who are in charge of things like natural disaster recovery and other issues that will affect the welfare of the entire country ought to be the brightest, most well-informed people the country can hire. If we go on the presumption that this administration is neither criminally incompetent nor criminally malevolent, we must assume they have hired the smartest people known to them, and kept them as well-informed about Katrina's possible effects as possible.

The night before Katrina made landfall, I was sitting here in my studio apartment near Seattle saying to my buddies, "I think the levees could break, in which case we might lose an entire fucking city. I sure hope the people at FEMA are ready to reinforce the levees." I based this conclusion on what I read on the Wikipedia article about New Orleans, and a couple of quick Google searches I did. Took about three minutes.

How did I, with no disaster management experience, manage to predict what none of the highly-paid experts in the government could possibly imagine? I am left with the conclusion, assuming this administration is neither criminally incompetent nor criminally malevolent, that I must simply be the Smartest Person In The United States, and they just haven't tapped me for the job because they don't know about me!

That means, I bet, that there are plenty of other Smart People reading this who know way more about important things than the experts currently in charge. Maybe what the administration needs is a flood (forgive the expression) of applications for all the important positions currently being filled by well-known, but not terribly bright, people. That is...assuming this administration is neither incompetent nor malevolent.

Tucker

[SmokingJacket]

1. Yes, somehow I predicted that too...

Just by reading what the weather forecasters had to say, and reading up on the subject. I sat by my computer all day, checking up to see if the levees were holding.

Weirdly enough, I also remember saying to my mother, "Invading Iraq is going to be a disaster, mark my words."

I must be a freaking genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AlienGirl]

2. Time to apply for those highly-paid jobs!

[A K A Stone]

3. smart

Actually im the smartest.

[Syncronaut Seven]

4. Smart

:kick: anyway. ;o)

[niyad]

5. I remember talking to a friend that night, and the last thing I said was,

"when we wake up, there may be no new orleans". I HATE being right.

[OneBlueSky]

6. nah . . . being smarter than George W. Bush and . . .

the subhuman detritus that comprise his "administration" isn't much of an achievement, I'm afraid . . . :)

[AlienGirl]

7. ...psst...

That's the point. ;-)

[OneBlueSky]

8. . . . psst . . .

I know . . . (that's why the smiley) . . . :)

[radfringe]

9. not the bushies fault

they have Cranial-Anal Inversion Syndrome

[LWolf]

10. I remember a DU thread that said just that.

I think it was started by Ben Burch. There were many DUers who came out to contest and protest that prediction.

As far as putting real people in those jobs, I don't think that assumption holds up under the light of day. This administration is definitely malevolent, and deliberately incompetent.