President Obama visited the offices of the Red Cross today, in part to thank folks for their efforts, and in part to provide an update on where things stand with regards to the response to Hurricane Sandy.
The clip is well worth watching, but this portion stood out for me.
“My instructions to the federal agencies has been, ‘Do not figure out why we can’t do something. I want you to figure out how we do something. I want you to cut through red tape. I want you to cut through bureaucracy. There’s no excuse for inaction at this point. I want every agency to lean forward and to make sure that we are getting the resources where they’re needed as quickly as possible. I want to repeat, my message to the federal government: no bureaucracy; no red tape. Get resources where they’re needed as fast as possible, as hard as possible, and for the duration.” In instances like these, there’s often talk of having some sort of “disaster-response czar” to help cut through the bureaucracy and ensure the federal government in responding as it should to an emergency. By all appearances, the “disaster-response czar” this week in response to Hurricane Sandy just happens to be the president of the United States.
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