Some time ago, there appeared an editorial in the News (too lazy to look it up) saying that County Judge Keliher wasn’t a very good leader (or similar sentiment). I’ve heard from people behind the scenes that the county is responsible for how efficiently we’ve absorbed and housed the evacuees. Not the city. The city’s response has been poor. Now comes this great story by Robert Wilonsky in the Observer, detailing Keliher’s every move from the minute she learned the Katrina victims were headed our way. From reading it, I’d say Keliher is doing rather a remarkable job of leading.
Speaking of leaders, Robert gives us a great anecdote in his story, when Keliher meets Dr. Ray Fowler, the guy in charge of medical operations at the Convention Center:
The first thing Fowler says to Keliher is a line from the movie Patton, one George C. Scott delivers just before going into battle: “I’ve always felt that I was destined for some great achievement, what, I don’t know. The last great opportunity of a lifetime–an entire world at war–and I’m left out of it? God will not permit this to happen. I will be allowed to fulfill my destiny. His will be done.”