“Part of the elevation of the presidential role points to how we’ve turned federalism on its head,” says Craig Fugate, who led FEMA under President Obama. “The primary role of responding is the governor’s and not the federal government. People expect the president to be in charge, and if something is wrong it’s the president’s fault, but you elected the governor. Blame them. The primary responsibility is not federal. In many cases it is unfair to say it is all the president’s fault when we’ve seen big failures and structural problems at the local and state level that the federal government
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