Having a director of FEMA who didn't use to be a horse breeder, and doesn't have to answer to a new, getting-it's-shit-together higher bureaucracy, will be a big help in itself. There's also the matter of whether the US is in Iraq (or Afghanistan) TTL, and if the National Guard is available at full strength from the get go.How would a different administration, either Republican or Democrat, handle the hurricane?
We already know how it would have gone with competent governing figures involved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Red_River_Flood
Having a director of FEMA who didn't use to be a horse breeder, and doesn't have to answer to a new, getting-it's-shit-together higher bureaucracy, will be a big help in itself. There's also the matter of whether the US is in Iraq (or Afghanistan) TTL, and if the National Guard is available at full strength from the get go.
Brown clearly wasn't a great leader at FEMA, but it's very unclear whether other FEMA picks would have done much better. (1)
In looking at failed leadership, let's not forget the failings of the NO PD, NO Mayor Nagin, and governor Blanco all of whom underestimated the problem and responded poorly. (2)
I don't think that the US being in Iraq/AFG had much of an impact except in that leadership attention was initially focused elsewhere. There was still PLENTY of national guard presence in the US that could have been called out, neither Iraq or AFG impacted their overall ability to respond. (3)
1) The Arabian horse breeder was FIRED for incompetence, was even worse running FEMA, and W told him he was doing a great job.
2) Agreed, but only the Federal Government had the resources to really make the difference. The only real hero of this story was the local Coast Guard commander.
3) NOT true. While there was a good amount of personnel left in the states, they were mostly the wrong type, and logistical material had largely been stripped in the US to support A-Stan and Iraq. The reasons for Iraq turned out to be completely bogus (except for Saddam trying to kill W's daddy). W's refusal to go to the predominantly African-American city of New Orleans (that shot of him looking out the window of Air Force One was devastating) while he proceeded to Ground Zero in NYC to inspect the destruction of the World Trade Center as a Republican could hardly have made a more stark comparison in the hyper-partisan atmosphere of the Karl Rove-Dick Cheney-Donald Rumsfeld Gang.
John McCain does the best job. Between his suffering as a PoW and his combat military background he would have had the greatest sympathy for the victims AND understood the need for immediate action. Gore strikes me as someone who would have spent too much time mulling over his options.
I don't see how they would have handled it much differently. Its not as if they had time machines that could have gone back to the founding of New Orleans and told them that it was a really fucking bad idea to build a city below sea level.