AMERICAN STORM

The Huffington Post led with a headline today describing how President Obama was balancing his efforts at dealing with Hurricane Sandy and the campaigning for re-election. The article goes on to point out how the President has been faced with this difficult challenge all year long as he has balanced his campaigning with chief responsibilities in running the country. Amazingly, in all that challenging high-wire balance, he has found time to play golf, be on softball television show, rub elbows with rapper disc jockeys, and crow about getting Bin Laden. Unfortunately, with all that on his plate, he just did not have time to deal with the decision to save American lives in Libya. It just was not an optimal situation.

Obama flew to Florida on Sunday afternoon aboard Air Force One. He had campaign events scheduled in Florida for Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning prior to returning to the White House. Now, going to Florida, for the President of the United States, is no cheap deal. When one considers the cost of operating Air Force One and all the people, vehicles, and equipment involved in keeping the President secure. The price of the trip would easily be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and possibly even millions yet the decision to go is made as if it is some kind of Sunday afternoon whim.

Surely the President, having sighted his concern for the approaching storm off the Atlantic Coast would be very informed as to the expected movement of that weather. His staff would be tracking the event minute by minute in order that the President would have the latest information and an accurate forecast regarding the movement of this massive storm. On that basis, one has to wonder why the President would opt to fly out of Washington to Florida on Sunday only to get up on Monday morning and decide that he needs to return to Washington with the window of opportunity being limited by the approaching storm. The decision to cancel the events could have easily been made by the available weather information at hand on Sunday afternoon saving the taxpayers some needed dollars which could have been used for better purposes. If actions taken are representative of this Administration, then I certainly do not want this Administration making decisions on my health and welfare, or how we get America back to work.

On the other hand, maybe this trip represented an opportunity for Obama’s handlers to demonstrate his selfless perspective by abandoning what would serve his needs best and turning his attention back to the storm. A fearless leader at work with his shirt sleeves rolled up…ready to answer the call win or lose. I am quite sure that President Obama’s air crew had pointed out to the staff that the window of opportunity back into Washington would close by Monday night and possibly delay a return until later in the week. If that happened, the President, stuck in Florida with advance knowledge of the coming storm in the northeast, would look like a buffoon. Still, there was the need to go and demonstrate the President’s willingness to try. The message to Florida was clear….”He’s coming!” Point….Obama! Once that score was made and the sun came up, it was back to Washington to win the hearts of those about to bear the brunt of the storm….Point…Obama! Again! Could there be a greater mental genius than David Axelrod?

The collision between Hurricane Sandy and the approaching low pressure based system approaching from the west provides the “perfect storm” and the “perfect shelter” in which Obama can hide. If not for this storm, more time might be devoted to the tragedy in Libya which apparently evaded the President’s attention as he prepared to head off for yet another campaign tour. Lesson learned….no more campaigning…stay home for the storm! For the President, this approaching storm is like big umbrella in a downpour deflecting attention away from Libya and away from his miserable record of the first four years. Every day this storm rages and stays in the news is another day of neutrality closer to the election process and no one is happier about it than Obama…except maybe, David Axelrod.

These actions are commonplace to this Administration which is based solely on symbolism over substance. This waste of taxpayer money to go to Florida is just another example of lack of conscience and consideration for those who work hard in America and pay their taxes. Of course, there are those walking around who believe that the Obama Campaign will be picking up the price tag for that trip. Don’t bet on it. They might buy a little J-4 for airplane but that will be about where it all stops. The rest will simply be rationalized as the normal cost of the President moving about. Besides that, the President’s minions consider the American public too dumb to notice anyway and too apathetic to care. In some regards, they may be correct.

The commercial airline industry cancelled literally thousands of flights into and out of the Northeast beginning today but the President did not take notice, jetting off to Florida. Remember the adage which first arose in the Obama Camp uttered by Rahm Emanuel, “Never let a good disaster go to waste”? Well, here comes that opportunity once again for the Obama crowd and sure enough they spend what time and money is necessary to capitalize on it….at least as long as the American public does not take a hard look and see through the curtain of façade. It is okay to waste the taxpayers’ money if your intentions were good.

Many have expressed concern as to how this giant of a storm will affect voter turnout in the Northeast and how that will affect the overall election. In reality, voter turnout may not have quite the impact that the distraction away from campaign issues and the short comings of Obama in first term will have on the choice of the voters. At present, silence and distraction are golden gifts in the Obama Camp and the longer it can last, the better. The weather systems approaching each other from opposing directions and bound to collide over the Northeast is a gift of the gods to the Obama Camp and could most certainly be called “The Perfect Storm.”

No doubt, the collision between the cold winter front bearing down on the Northeast from the west and Hurricane Sandy coming from the east will produce some traumatic conditions which will likely leave marks in the history and records books. But for all of the dangers of this massive storm system, it cannot hold a candle to the dark cloud which has hung over America since the current Administration took office. America has suffered a massive and burdening economic digression which has left us mired in debt and placed the private sector into limbo with the threat of dynamic taxation policies, overwhelming regulatory actions, and an unaffordable healthcare system. While the Northeast will likely weather the hazards of Sandy, America is still taking on water from the effects of Obama and four more years of the same turmoil will most certainly spell doom for the nation we have known in our history.

©Copyright WBrown2012. All Rights Reserved.

29 October 2012