Tornadoes and the presidential visit

Posted at 12:12 PM on April 29, 2011 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Disasters

President Obama toured the tornado destruction in the southeast United States this morning. "I've never seen devastation like this," he said as he stepped through the debris in Tuscaloosa.

As I mentioned on 5x8 this morning, one letter-writer to the Star Tribune criticized Obama for taking too long to schedule his trip, saying he flew to a fundraiser in California instead. Forgetting the fact that the fundraisers in California happened four days before the first tornado struck Alabama, I looked back at the presidential response in visiting regions where major natural disasters occurred (I left off Hurricane Katrina; it being so well documented).

"Any other president would be called out on this. Where is the media demanding accountability?" the writer asked.

Event	President	Date of Event	Date of tour
Oklahoma City tornado	Clinton	5/3/99	5/8/99
Alabama tornadoes	Obama	4/27/11	4/29/11
Georgia tornadoes	Bush	3/1/07	3/4/07
Kansas tornadoes	Bush	5/4/07	5/9/07
Tennesse tornadoes	Bush	2/5/08	2/8/08
Red River flooding	Clinton	4/17/07	4/22/07
California wildfires	Bush	10/20/07	10/25/07

For the record: None of those incidents/visits prompted any coverage of complaints the presidents took too longer to get to them.

Last Sunday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked that his state be declared a disaster area because of wildfires. He's not happy about the presidential attention on the tornado states. "You have to ask, 'Why are you taking care of Alabama and other states?' I know our letter didn't get lost in the mail," Perry said after addressing a Texas emergency management conference.

A FEMA spokeswoman said Texas has already received 22 grants to help pay fire management expenses this fire season, including 16 in April alone.

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Comments (9)

You liberals and all of your fancy facts.

When will you finally get it through your thick atheist socialist feminist gun confiscating union member illegal alien skulls?!?

Obama is BLACK!

Posted by Jim Shapiro | April 29, 2011 12:36 PM

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My first reaction was that it seemed incredibly early, that an entourage would get in the way and distract from real work needed to be done. Like searching for survivors, receiving aid and getting it to people who need it. Or getting body bags for the dead and water to fire departments so people without electricity can start using candles.

Posted by V | April 29, 2011 1:10 PM

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um Jim

you forgot goll-darn supporter of reformed pipe bomber Sarah Jane Olson.

Posted by Vivian | April 29, 2011 1:41 PM

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Disaster area? more like a war zone right at our own front door.

Posted by Vivian | April 29, 2011 1:51 PM

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Apparently, Rick Perry's love of small government only goes so far.

Posted by Tim | April 29, 2011 2:29 PM

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Dear Vivian -

Damn that Olsen woman! And she was mingling with negroes. See what happens?

And those hollywood liberal jews let her daughter perform on that TV show! They should change it's name to Un-American Idol!

Posted by Jim Shapiro | April 29, 2011 2:56 PM

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I would even venture to say that these are mirrored images of the destrucction that happens in other countries due to war.

Posted by lucy | May 1, 2011 9:42 AM

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Historically the busiest month for tornadoes in America is May.

Posted by Rich | May 1, 2011 2:09 PM

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//Historically the busiest month for tornadoes in America is May.

that and Cinco de Mayo

Posted by Vivian | May 2, 2011 7:24 AM

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