As Jonathan mentioned yesterday, Hurricane Sandy is giving President Obama a break from his shrinking campaign of “Romnesia” jokes and conservative trolling. The president held a press conference to address the hurricane earlier today, and it was hard to recognize him without the anti-Romney zingers:
President Obama said in a news conference at the White House this afternoon that he is “confident that we’re ready” for Hurricane Sandy, the massive storm expected to make landfall later today and churn up much of the East Coast. …
Obama spoke for about five minutes after being briefed by FEMA and other agencies. He answered only one question, about next week’s election, and said his focus is not on campaigning right now.
“I am not worried, at this point, about the impact on the election,” Obama said. “I’m worried about the impact on families, and I’m worried about the impact on our first responders. I’m worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation. The election will take care of itself next week.”
Obama rushed back to Washington to coordinate with FEMA and hold a press conference, as he should have. But it’s also a stark contrast to his response to the 9/11 attack. It’s been a month and a half since the Benghazi assault, and the president still hasn’t held a press conference or given a speech to the American public about the terrorist attack. He also rushed out of Washington the day after the attack, flying to Las Vegas for a campaign fundraiser.
Why such different reactions? Maybe because a natural disaster isn’t a result of any presidential failures. It’s something the Obama administration has no control over, just like (as administration officials repeatedly told us) it had no control over an anti-Islam movie that was initially blamed for the Benghazi attack.
But it’s also true that the president will get most of the political blame if something happens to go wrong with the federal hurricane response, and little credit if things go smoothly. The optics of Obama campaigning in a swing state during a FEMA failure would be disastrous.
Which is why he’s back in Washington and finally taking a pause from the pettiness of his campaign to focus on national concerns. But will he return to the trivialities when the hurricane ends? Or will he use this as a chance to elevate his campaign rhetoric between now and next Tuesday?
This is a man who has demonstrated that we cannot trust any of his motives, actions or statements. I'm sure he'll, in a very subtle way, try to exploit the hurricane to his advantage. Of course I want FEMAs response to succeed, but I hope Americans are not lulled into thinking it would be due to anything remotely related to his competence or concern. A terrible thing to say about my president, I know, but my sentiments nonetheless.
It feels a little dirty talking politics with this disaster in progress, doesn't it? Having said that, I think this helps Obama if only because it keeps his pettiness in check for a few days. The less we hear from him, the more popular he becomes.
Funny, Mike, but I'd forgotten that O, throughout his term, seemed to grow more popular whenever he shut his mouth. I'd venture a guess that Rasmussen's daily tracking of O's approval numbers were, on average, a bit higher on the weekends (when O, like most pols, tend to say less and get less coverage) and when he was "on vacation."
I don't feel even slightly dirty. Obama does not believe in wasting a crisis. He is doing everything possible to benefit from it.
Obama's chief concern vis-a-vis Sandy is to differentiate himself in appearance as sharply as he can from Bush's Katrina optics…….I believe this was also a factor in his not sending reinforcements into Benghazi while the terrorist attack was in progress-he didn't want his comrades on the left to think he was doing what Bush might have done,and he didn't want to risk the appearance of a "Bay of Pigs" so close to the election, which would also,of course,infuriate his comrades.
Importantly there really isn't a great deal Obama can do about Sandy. He can tell FEMA to make a bunch of phone calls and pre position equipment where is might be needed but until we know what's happened there isn't much to do except sit around and try not to screw something up. n nAnd let's not go Mayan 12-21-12 here, it's a storm. A BIG storm ok but it's a storm.
Exactly! But maybe they can give him the Nobel Price for making a little speech and allocating the FEMA money. I mean, why not, everyone is so surprised and thankful when he finally does something right, they're falling all over each other. Oh he acted "presidential". Yea, a speech and money, he didnt go to Las Vegas this time.
There is another reason Obama pays more attention to the hurricane than Benghazi: More voters are involved in the hurricane.
NJ and NY are solidly Obama states anyhow. They'll vote for him no matter what. All Obama will do is ensure that the voting stations are up and running even before there's electricity or anything else.
Empress, I agree. But, if there are any upsets of Democrats in down-ticket races, say for Congress, get ready for the liberal whine that Republicans exploited the storm in order to suppress turnout.
Most of Staten Island was evacuated (Michael Grimm's CD). Breezy Point, where Bob Turner (NY09) lives, has more than 50 homes on fire. nAs I was watching the map last night, I realized that far more Republicans were impacted in New York. n nBut, seems Newark, NJ is out of electricity – two sub-stations were flooded by the storm surge in Newark Bay. n nWill Bloomberg/Cuomo ask for the United States Navy's help in pumping out the subways downtown and the East River tunnels? I assume the USN has experience in recovery after salt water flooding. n n
I should have known there are Republican areas hit particularly hard by the disaster. No whining. In fact, if NY and NJ were swing states, how loud would the Democratic chorum be to postpone the election
As someone who grew up on the Gulf Coast and experienced many big storms (my earliest memory is of Camille, when I was a wee lad in New Orleans), my thoughts are with those of you in the midst of this storm.
Obama with Christie on Wednesday might just be the real October surprise. nHow awkward for O to be bi-partisan with Christie?
After 3 years eleven months 2 weeks and 3 days this Pr. is finally doing his job. For that the Demo believe that he deserves a 2nd term! nHow dumb are the mass media and the American people!!!!