Skip to main content

Obama Hurricane Sandy

Obama Hurricane Sandy, The giant storm that will power through the East Coast on Monday night and into the week presents both a crisis and an opportunity for the two men entering the last week of their fight for the White House.President Obama canceled an appearance Monday in Orlando with former President Bill Clinton in order to return to Washington to monitor the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Sandy.
His Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, announced Monday that he would cancel events Monday night and Tuesday. Those were just the latest in a series of cancellations by Obama and Romney.

As the sitting president with authority over the government’s storm response, Obama sits in a stronger position when it comes to reacting to the 1,000-mile-wide storm, potentially the largest ever to strike the U.S. He's expected to oversee the federal government’s relief efforts — a duty that has become far more than an afterthought ever since Hurricane Katrina.The slow response to the deadly 2005 disaster in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast tainted the reputation of President George W. Bush, whose administration appeared inattentive and ineffectual.

Sandy’s course and duration remain not precisely known, but it’s likely that Obama will be visiting neighborhoods damaged by the storm by the weekend, just days before the Nov. 6 election.
A politician can always get in trouble if they appear to be politicizing tragic events. But a president can hardly be expected to sit on the sidelines in what will probably be one of the biggest natural disasters of his tenure.The media has generally judged President Obama to be in good form in moments when compassion is required. Sen. John McCain(R-Ariz.), who lost to Obama four years ago, said that he thinks the hurricane presents an opportunity for Obama to demonstrate presidential leadership in the crucial hours before the vote.

Romney also will have to make some sort of response to Hurricane Sandy, though his lack of official duties in the damage zone will make his exact activities less obvious.

Expect Romney to lend support and encouragement at volunteer centers or charities, but only once his campaign receives assurances it won’t interrupt emergency relief efforts.The last thing a politician wants in such a setting is to appear to get in the way of rescue workers.

As he has on several other issues, Romney may also be asked to explain a sharply conservative opinion from the primary season — that the work of the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) would be better handled by the states.

During a June 2011 Republican primary debate, CNN's John King asked Romney whether disaster relief should be handled by the states. “Absolutely,” Romney said. “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.”
INTERACTIVE: Battleground states map

Romney went on to explain that debt reduction was a key motivator in driving his thoughts about FEMA.

Voters tend to like such government reductions in theory, but not so much when they need help. It's unlikely that the majority of voters would warm to an anti-FEMA argument in the coming days, when they will be looking to FEMA to rebuild their lives.

Several years and some $2 billion have gone into an election that has blotted out many other news events. But this storm will not be pushed off the top of the agenda. Both candidates appear ready to heed that truth, even if it means a somewhat muted conclusion to loud and contentious campaign.

Popular posts from this blog

Kardashian LaChapelle Christmas card 2013

Kardashian LaChapelle Christmas card 2013, Kardashians leave no stones unturned in making their annual Christmas card as larger than life as possible, but for this Christmas, they might have gone a tad overboard as it cost $250,000 for their latest move of self-glorification; obviously the Kardashian Klan didn’t shell out a penny for it. You can see big hair and high fashion but the card shows no Lamar, Scott, Kanye or Rob. Kim Kardashian was more than excited to see the concept of the new card, as she mentioned trying new things was something that excited her the most. Before the shoot, the entire family was seen sitting around in their robes and jammies, discussing the previous Christmas holidays, presents and much, sipping their favorite champagne throughout the time. The Drama The off-beat or rather intricate Christmas card shows us the five sisters Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner along with their parents Kris Jenner and Bruce Jenner. They are seen in...

Ugly bridesmaid dresses

Ugly Bridesmaid Dresses Ugly bridesmaid dresses - All brides are beautiful, and all bridesmaid dresses are ugly, unless it’s Pippa’s. But some bridesmaid dresses go beyond ugly to truly hideous. Those Ugly bridesmaid dresses look like they came from the closet of my high school’s drama department. You know, the crappy, shapeless costumes that have seemingly been there since 1972? That’s what these dresses remind me of. Like a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. I’m glad they’re wearing such big smiles on their faces, because it shows that they don’t care about stupid, shallow things like that. They’re just happy for their newly wedded friend. Impressive.

'Star Trek' Actress Grace Lee Whitney Dies at 85

'Star Trek' Actress Grace Lee Whitney Dies at 85, Grace Lee Whitney, the on-screen character who played Yeoman Janice Rand on the first Star Trek, passed away Friday. She was 85. Every USA Today, child Jonathan Dweck said the star passed on of common reasons at her home in Central California. Whitney depicted Captain Kirk's collaborator for eight scenes of the first 1966 TV arrangement before she was composed out of the script. At the point when Star Trek was renewed as a motion picture establishment in 1979, the performing artist returned as a boss frivolous officer in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Her last appearance as Rand was in 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. William Shatner, who played Whitney's onscreen manager, tweeted Monday: "Sympathies to the group of Grace. She was a consistent sparkling grin throughout the years each time our ways crossed." Every NBC News, Whitney was a customary at Star Trek traditions around the glob...