Blame the Bureaucrats

When the country goes to war overseas, we're told as citizens that however we feel about the policies and plans for battle, we're supposed to support our troops involved in the effort. It’s clear now that the same simply is not true of domestic operations. Turn on the TV, and you won't see the kind of veiled bias that journalists are often accused of--you'll see open disdain for the government workers on the ground and their leaders in Washington. Check out this exchange yesterday between CNN reporter Jamie McIntyre and anchor Aaron Brown. McIntyre mocks Pentagon officials who suggest that members of the media who have focused their attention (understandably) on the victims may not fully understand the complexity of a response effort like this, or sympathize with the challenges confronting the federal officials involved in it.

"It doesn't really seem all that unusual that you would tend to understand the plight of the victims a little more than the bureaucrats in Washington," McIntyre says. "We'll worry about the bureaucrats later," Brown chimes in.

There's plenty of room for criticism about government's preparations and actions in response to the disaster (see posts below)--and there will be even more in the future. But how does turning this into an opportunity to take potshots at "bureaucrats" help anybody?