Posted on 11/02/2012 10:25:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
If President Obama had the time for some introspection on the campaign trail, he might take offense at all the media speculation (and in many cases wishful thinking gussied up as speculation) that his response to Hurricane Sandy will give him the edge going into Election Day.
In effect, people are saying: "Obama is doing the minimum requirements of his job, what a game-changer!"
Now, one could quibble about whether he's really doing what a president should. He's handing out a bunch of checks, which is warranted, but he has staff to do that. Moreover, presidential photo ops at disaster sites aren't all that helpful. In his remarks Wednesday, the president thanked some local politicians and told people to visit the FEMA website, if they have electricity. The imperative for him to be the one delivering that message is no doubt obvious to all.
Still, the conventional wisdom is probably right that acting presidential during a crisis helps Obama politically. And it's probably true that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's praise of Obama is helping at the margins too. Though it's probably helping most in New Jersey, where Obama would win anyway -- and with the D.C. press corps, which loves both stories of bipartisanship and stories that help Obama.
But if this tragic natural disaster is boosting the president in any meaningful way, it's not because of any of that.
Before I go on, let me say that like most people, I find the scoring of natural disasters for their political impact distasteful. But it's also unavoidable. Politics is about the conduct of politicians and how they allocate taxpayer-funded resources. James Lee Witt, Bill Clinton's FEMA director, was inadvertently insightful when he said, "Disasters are very political events."
That said, to the extent that Hurricane Sandy is a boon to Obama it's because the storm saved him from himself.
During the weeks leading up to the storm, the president, vice president and the Obama campaign were being, to use a family-friendly term, jerks.
The president in particular was acting like he was auditioning for Keith Olbermann's old time slot at MSNBC.
In the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney said he didn't think it made sense to borrow millions from China to subsidize public television, including the immensely profitable outfit that owns Big Bird.
Obama's response was to mock Romney for his war on Big Bird, insinuating in ads and condescending rants (often punctuated by Obama laughing at his own jokes) that Romney thinks Big Bird is the source of all of our problems. Anyone who watched the debate knew that Obama was being both petty and dishonest.
In the second presidential debate, Romney inartfully explained that as a newly elected governor of Massachusetts, he did exactly what liberals and Democrats should have wanted him to do: go out of his was to find qualified women for top jobs. "And so we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our Cabinet," Romney explained. "I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks?' And they brought us whole binders full of women."
Instead of conservatives fretting over this nod to identity-politics bean counting, we saw liberals, egged on by the president, freaking out over the word "binders" as if it meant, well, something funny, important and damning about Romney. After all, we know that real leaders organize their documents in file folders, not filthy, stinking, yucky binders.
At the end of an interview with Rolling Stone, an editor there told Obama that his 6-year-old daughter had a message for the president "Tell him: You can do it." Instead of replying with an aw-shucks thank you, Obama immediately snapped back with a remark about how little kids can tell Romney's a "bull----er."
I know what you're thinking: Classy. Presidential. High-minded.
The irony, I think, is that the president was projecting a label better applied to himself, and voters were catching on to it in ways they hadn't before, even when he promised to make the oceans heel to his command. I still expect the president to fail in his bid to be re-elected. But if he squeaks by, it just might be because he was saved from himself -- by the very oceans he failed to conquer
Too little, too late, Obama is “one and done.”
No the media along fat ass Christie saved Obama. NOTHING has happened to help the poeple in NJ and NY. NOTHING. But we won’t hear about that. The media is now on to their other propaganda about how great the jobs report is and how a rise in unemployment is basically great and the number
“essentially unchanged.”
No the media along fat ass Christie saved Obama. NOTHING has happened to help the people in NJ and NY. NOTHING. But we won’t hear about that. The media is now on to their other propaganda about how great the jobs report is and how a rise in unemployment is basically great and the number
“essentially unchanged.”
The apparent neglect of Staten Island, with resources it direly needs being diverted from it to the NY Marathon, may yet bite Obama, Bloomberg, and Christie in their respective asses.
Will be depressing if a natural disaster hoists onto the American people the disaster of an Obama 2nd term.
When I see Obama in that presidential flight jacket, my main thought is that it’s way too big for him. Apparently they don’t make those jackets in child sizes.
You do NOT want to be an incumbent in NY or NJ come Election Day.
The anger here (downstate and City) is extraordinary. Long gas lines, no electric crews to be found, food scarce, electricity scarce - it is really ugly. And Bloomberg wants to go on with the Marathon. What planet is he from?
Staten Island, they are finding bodies every day. Downtown NYC still dark. Trees all over the place in L.I. and Westchester (I’m a NY’er - actually, NJ has it worse).
The politicians (Cuomo and Christy) started all right, but nothing is getting done. Sure, it is a huge job, I get that. I was told I’d have electricity on the 9th! I have a decent generator set up, but now gas is scarce b/c 60% of gas stations are closed (with plenty of gas) with no electricity.
People are stressed and angry. Trust me, those who find a voting booth will be kicking the whole gang out. (Since this is a big Dem stronghold, I’m thrilled!). Watch for surprises on Tuesday in these ignored states.
"The apparent neglect of Staten Island, with resources it direly needs being diverted from it to the NY Marathon, may yet bite Obama, Bloomberg, and Christie in their respective asses."
what’s that got to do with Christie?
Bomber jackets are made for military MEN.
Okay, I'll give you Christie. . a New York problem. Christie did what he had to do for New Jersey.
Somebody said that jacket will look a lot better on Romney.
Unless of course Christie had anything to do with turning away non union workers which I seriously doubt. He seems to be dead serious about helping everyone in his state.
as opposed to Bloomberg and The Traitor who are ignoring Staten I.
Yeah, right.
The only way it's going to help him is by giving the MSM the help it needs keeping Benghazi off the front page.
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