5 ms·

USDOT does have an important role to play. But the link (which I admittedly didn't follow) has a headline about the CDC. EPA is also an important agency, maybe

by drewda 4y ago

USDOT does have an important role to play. But the link (which I admittedly didn't follow) has a headline about the CDC. EPA is also an important agency, maybe the most important one for this clean-up. All that to say I'm somewhat skeptical when criticism focuses on Pete Buttigieg in particular...

mc32 4y ago
I dunno, he's the face of the Feds. He sets the tone --this is his purview. He needed to go over there, check it out, figure out the magnitude on the ground and call in the cavalry (EPA, FEMA, etc.) as he saw necessary. But no, it took him two weeks to show his face.
- anonymouskimmer 4y ago
  I wish we, as people, would pay less attention to figureheads and more attention to what's happening behind the curtain. I also wish said figureheads, and the media that comment on them, would report more of what does, doesn't, and should go on behind the curtain.
  - willcipriano 4y ago
    The media is the curtain.
    - anonymouskimmer 4y ago
      No. They're the Munchkins.
      - SoftTalker 4y ago
        They’re the flying monkeys
- DSMan195276 4y ago
  Err that's not his job. Literally, the NTSB exists as an independent entity from the DOT and is tasked with investigating disasters like this one.
munk-a 4y ago
I think it's honestly quite fair. He was a presidential candidate and looks likely to run again in the next election - as a consolation prize he was appointed to the department that handles these things and absolutely failed to step up when a disaster directly in his domain happened. I think it's fair that he's held to a higher standard than Ellen Chao who was pretty much just a nepotism appointment and, as far as I've seen at least, has no real desire to get into serious election competitions.
- Spooky23 4y ago
  Lol. So we’re supposed to show deference to an appointee whose a member of a family controlling a Chinese maritime shipping company who happens to be the wife of the Senate Majority leader, because she’s just a patronage appointee? So many regulatory changes were made during the Trump administration that directly benefited shipping interests. Chao isn’t some Washington DC housewife!
  - munk-a 4y ago
    I don't think I ever said anything about deference? Chao was a complete BS appointment who was clearly just there to hand off contracts to family friends... Buttigieg was someone who wanted to be endowed as the chief executive and instead got a cabinet appointment - they came from being a mayor to having a role on the national stage and I honestly don't think they've really accomplished anything of note that would give them a boost in an upcoming election - this collision was not their fault personally but they responded to it poorly and hasn't been doing much else. I'm pretty sure Katie Porter has had a much larger impact on most people's lives than Buttigieg. To clarify - when I said I hold them to a higher standard than Chao it's because my expectations were for Chao to wave in a series of corrupt defunding decisions and they ended up only being relatively corrupt - they cleared the extremely low bar I had for them. I had expectations about Buttigieg and they have not lived up to them.
- mhh__ 4y ago
  I don't really see what answer to "step up" wouldn't be considered wrong in the eyes of most people dunkin' on Buttigieg. Personally wading in saving the fish?

by drewda 4y ago

mc32 4y ago

I dunno, he's the face of the Feds. He sets the tone --this is his purview. He needed to go over there, check it out, figure out the magnitude on the ground and call in the cavalry (EPA, FEMA, etc.) as he saw necessary. But no, it took him two weeks to show his face.

anonymouskimmer 4y ago
I wish we, as people, would pay less attention to figureheads and more attention to what's happening behind the curtain. I also wish said figureheads, and the media that comment on them, would report more of what does, doesn't, and should go on behind the curtain.
- willcipriano 4y ago
  The media is the curtain.
  - anonymouskimmer 4y ago
    No. They're the Munchkins.
    - SoftTalker 4y ago
      They’re the flying monkeys
DSMan195276 4y ago
Err that's not his job. Literally, the NTSB exists as an independent entity from the DOT and is tasked with investigating disasters like this one.

munk-a 4y ago

I think it's honestly quite fair. He was a presidential candidate and looks likely to run again in the next election - as a consolation prize he was appointed to the department that handles these things and absolutely failed to step up when a disaster directly in his domain happened. I think it's fair that he's held to a higher standard than Ellen Chao who was pretty much just a nepotism appointment and, as far as I've seen at least, has no real desire to get into serious election competitions.

Spooky23 4y ago
Lol. So we’re supposed to show deference to an appointee whose a member of a family controlling a Chinese maritime shipping company who happens to be the wife of the Senate Majority leader, because she’s just a patronage appointee? So many regulatory changes were made during the Trump administration that directly benefited shipping interests. Chao isn’t some Washington DC housewife!
- munk-a 4y ago
  I don't think I ever said anything about deference? Chao was a complete BS appointment who was clearly just there to hand off contracts to family friends... Buttigieg was someone who wanted to be endowed as the chief executive and instead got a cabinet appointment - they came from being a mayor to having a role on the national stage and I honestly don't think they've really accomplished anything of note that would give them a boost in an upcoming election - this collision was not their fault personally but they responded to it poorly and hasn't been doing much else. I'm pretty sure Katie Porter has had a much larger impact on most people's lives than Buttigieg. To clarify - when I said I hold them to a higher standard than Chao it's because my expectations were for Chao to wave in a series of corrupt defunding decisions and they ended up only being relatively corrupt - they cleared the extremely low bar I had for them. I had expectations about Buttigieg and they have not lived up to them.
mhh__ 4y ago
I don't really see what answer to "step up" wouldn't be considered wrong in the eyes of most people dunkin' on Buttigieg. Personally wading in saving the fish?