Dressed for Success
I think y'all are being unfair about whether Michael Brown, the besieged head of FEMA, is qualified for his job. One should be careful to keep in mind the current set of standards that we use.
You may recall that when the newly named Secretary of State Rice made her first official visit to Europe, commentators were stunned and bedazzled by the sartorial qualifications she displayed: she looked, they exclaimed, incredibly Secretary of Stately in her lucious outfits.
Now, let's ask Michael Brown's former boss in Edmond, Oklahoma (where he wasn't quite the "assistant city manager" as claimed, but "assistant to the city manager" — aren't we supposed to leave out little words like prepositions on resumes) what he remembers most about Mr. Brown's professional qualifications:
He always had on a suit and a starched white shirt.[*]
[Daren Fonda and Rita Healy, "How Reliable Is Brown's Resume?", Time, 8 September 2005.]
There ya go! Not quite Secretary of Stately, but way up there, if you ask me, depending of course on whether his ties coordinated with his suits. And — hey! — what about his shoes? Maybe he could get some advice from his colleague Condi….
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* I'm only being a little unfair. Brown's boss also praised him for being consistently on time to work, which is more than usually has been said about Brown's current boss, the President.