Presidential Visit
It was at the Mobile Regional Airport that President George W. Bush, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on September 2, 2005, praised Michael D. Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Bush lauded Brown with the phrase "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" in front of Brown, the media, and assembled politicians and cabinet officials (including Mississippi Senator Trent Lott; Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran; Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour; Alabama Governor Bob Riley; Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development). Only ten days later, on September 12, 2005, Brown announced his resignation after intense criticism of FEMA's perceived shortcomings in its response to Katrina. The phrase "heck of a job" then became synonymous with an utter mess.
Read more about this topic: Mobile Regional Airport
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