With the swearing-in of Craig Fugate (he was confirmed May 12, 2009), President Barack Obama fulfilled one of the promises he made regarding the Federal Emergency Management Agency: He has clearly put a seasoned emergency management professional in charge of the agency.

Fugate boasts 25 years experience in emergency management, including chief of Florida's emergency management department under Govs. Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist, and he is widely considered one of the nation's foremost experts in disaster response.

But set aside, for a moment, questions about why Obama felt compelled to put a pro in charge of FEMA in the first place (hint: it has to do with someone nicknamed Brownie). In a February 2008 campaign speech in New Orleans, Obama also promised to protect his FEMA chief from politics by giving him a set six-year term and by having him report directly to the president. But it now appears the Obama administration is not pursuing those elements of his FEMA promise.
 
In Fugate's inagural appearance as director of FEMA Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in response to questions that she's heard no talk of any six-year term, and that Fugate will report directly to her, not Obama.

Although some members of Congress want to pull FEMA out of the Department of Homeland Security and make it a free-standing agency, as it was under President Bill Clinton, Napolitano said she supports keeping FEMA within her department. She said there's nothing to prevent Obama from dealing directly with Fugate, particularly at times of major disasters, but the day-to-day administration, such as budgeting, will go through her.

"I haven't heard of the term issue," Napolitano said. "But with respect to reporting ... the president will feel free to reach out and talk directly with him ... and also with myself as the secretary. There's nothing about FEMA ... that precludes direct interaction with the administrator."

So he's fulfilled his promise to appoint someone with "professional emergency management experience" but has broken the part about the six-year term and reporting directly to the president. That sounds like a Compromise to us.