regarding Chertoff: "He gets a bye because he's so new"

[sabra]

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/living/education/higher_learning/12704768.htm

Chertoff has little room for error on Rita

Associated Press

...

The next storm, Hurricane Rita, looms as a test for the Homeland Security secretary with little margin for error and few others to take the blame.

Chertoff, a brusque former prosecutor, has maintained a tight grip on his job heading the department, which oversees 22 disparate agencies, including the lead entity for natural disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

He has faced some carping from Democrats, but nothing on the scale of criticism leveled at Bush or former FEMA Director Michael Brown for the government's slow-motion reaction to Katrina.

"He gets a bye because he's so new," said Paul C. Light, a New York University professor who recently completed a study of the Homeland Security Department.

Yet, Chertoff, on the job since February, has made some of the same missteps as Brown.

[marbuc]

1. A bye because he's so new?

The FEMA secretary has to be new to the position at some point, but he/she should NEVER be new to the job at hand. There is no learning curve in this type of job, he/she should be experienced enough to step in and take care of business.

[indepat]

2. But missteps are o.k. because his politics are so right