President Obama is opting not to visit the tornado-ravaged areas of the South, choosing instead to embark today on a three day tour out West where he will try to boost his political standing by talking up his approach to the deficit and raise millions for himself and fellow Democrats.
The tornadoes, part of a storm that rampaged though six states Saturday, resulted in one of the worst disasters of any kind in the United States since the Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Scores were left injured or homeless while 45 people were killed – about four times as many as died in the Gulf oil rig explosion and the subsequent oil spill last year. In North Carolina alone, there were nearly two-dozen storm-related deaths Saturday, with 130 homes destroyed and an estimated 700 more damaged.
photo by Keith Koffler
Not only is Obama staying away from the region, he has said almost nothing publicly about the tragedy beyond an interview with a North Carolina TV station and a very brief mention at a White House prayer breakfast. The president has failed to make the kind of national, attention-getting public statement presidents offer during crises to comfort victims by expressing the condolences of the nation and to seek charitable aid.
Sunday, he went golfing. On Monday, he did sign a disaster declaration for North Carolina, which will free up federal assistance to the state.
Vice President Biden has also failed to show up. He’s cooling his heels today at home in Wilmington, Delaware. The disaster did not even merit a visit from Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar who – without any apparent irony – was in Boston Tuesday announcing a new wind energy project.
Meanwhile, the South is bracing for more, as forecasters say severe storms and tornadoes could hit the region again today.
Obama’s failure to publicly attend to the fallout from the tornadoes comes on the one-year anniversary of the rig explosion that caused the Gulf oil spill. Obama was roundly criticized then for failing to respond sufficiently to the crisis.
The president’s silence and absence during the current crisis is particularly odd given his political stakes in North Carolina, which barely went for Obama over McCain in 2008. Obama is so desperate to hold the state that he’s chosen to hold the 2012 Democratic convention there, in Charlotte.
Obama’s first stop out West will be in San Francisco today, where he will stage two fundraisers and host a “town hall” style meeting at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto focusing on his solution for the federal deficit. On Thursday, he’ll hopscotch over to Reno, Nevada – also a key presidential battleground state – for another deficit town hall, and then head back to California to rake in more money.
While the fundraisers are obviously political events, Obama’s public sales job for his deficit plan also has a major political component, given the widespread public concern about the economy is behind his perilously low poll ratings.
323 thoughts on “Obama Skips Tornado Destruction, Heads West to Raise Money”
And we are surprised at this because….??????
Because we were told he was “THE ONE” and was “Brilliant” and was “Post-Racial”
Bill Ayers wrote the book. PROOF – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6aElR-SR8k
Another 5 letter word for FRAUD… O-B-A-M-A
Despicable.
Obama doesn’t care to visit us b/c he figures he’ll never win the South b/c they see us (I live in Tenn) as racist rednecks who love our guns, God and pick-ups….
I, too, live in the South, in a state that voted for McCain.———–Barack Hussein Obama or whatever his real name is, presides not over the U.S., but is president of the Democrats, liberals and leftists.———And his constituency lives in urban areas and on the East and Left coasts.
Just Wait…It’s coming, the ultimate “TRUMP CARD” that is:
“Why does Obama have a Connecticut SSN? He NEVER lived there!”
MUST READ – http://www.cashill.com/intellect_fraud/another_look_at_obamas.htm
Expect a Full-blown Media Meltdown.
His behavior is inexplicable. Does he ignore advise or he’s never given it in the first place? Maybe,”he’s just not that into you, NC”. The administration knows that outside of a few places, the media will never report this anyways.
Why does this not come as a surprise? At least he was able to fit in a round of golf while 45 families mourned the loss of a loved one due to the storms.
He has set Tue record for the most rounds of golf by a president at 64 rounds since having taken office
Thus the term Flyovers.
And this is surprising why? This guy cares about one person himself. I’d consider it a blessing that he didn’t come around.
Despite not keeping up with some of the weather outside (I’ll go ahead and admit I’m not too sure how close any of these might have been to where I live in Fayetteville) for various reasons, I can’t help but wonder what else everyone might have had the opportunity of hearing about our President had he come to give a speech or something…
To paraphrase Kanye West …. President Obama hates white people
Took the words right out of my mouth.
PREACHE IT BROTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess too many Bibles and guns.
Well said !
Amen!
When will impeachment start ?
As soon as the GOP grows a pair. http://www.BirtherReport.com
This from a man who criticized the Bush response to Katrina. I wish I had time for that much golf.
Have you not heard? Our Usurper-In-Chief spends so much time playing golf, due to research necessary for his upcoming book –
“DREAMS FROM MY DRIVER”
Trump is doing a public service by http://www.DeconstructingObama.com
No he golfs because he cant handle being in the public eye.
Golf is his me time. It is very important for the president
To go on vacation and have “me” time. Otherwise his job could become to taxing. Only 16 more months!!!
I thought his job was all about taxing.
Full campaign mode! Follow the money, that’s where he goes, average citizens don’t count.
There is one major character flaw that keeps showing over and over again… It is his “inability” to follow rules, laws, and past presidential traditions. He seems to do what he wants when he wants, and the heck with everything else!
There is little compassion in him for others, it does not surprise me that no statement was really made about the devastating storms in the south. The only thing he is concerned about is raising money to get re elected! NOT……
Inability or simply no desire? The Marxist megalomaniac from Chicago is so psychologically fractured that he appears to believe that he is above everything.———-He will receive a bolt of reality on Election Day 2012, though.
Heather, that “inability” to follow rules, laws, etc. is called narcissism.
Narcissism is the personality trait of egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight of others.
Narcissism in this case applies both to Obama personally as well as to the group with which he has surrounded himself.
He’s a stupid, self-absorbed, arrogant fool who lacks any of the qualities that Americans value. Strangely enough I’ve yet to meet a single person who admits voting for this abomination. He’s courting the 18-21-year-olds and Hispanics (legal and illegal) in the hope that by combining them with the radical left and the blacks who vote Dem. 92% he could pull off a narrow victory. Pray he’s wrong.
I voted for him. There you go.
john-john…now that’s embarrassing.
from looking at your picture, I’m not surprised. Isn’t it ironic that the conservatives are fighting for the very freedoms that the libs think will never change!
Can’t let a little thing like this get in the way of his perpetual presidential campaign! What will happen, more stories like this will be printed and he will be dragged, kicking and crying to NC, just like he has always done when things like this happen. I can hear ‘The One’ now: “Ah, do I have to go? I want to play some golf and today is Wednesday. I don’t want to cancel my weekly party with that $150.00/pound beef from Japan!”
Quite honestly, most of us here in the South and in Texas–especially Texas–would just as soon the fraudulent SOB stay as far away as possible for as long as possible until we can vote his imposter ass out of office in 2012.
–AOA
Ditto.
Let him keep his butt out of NC. We will take care of our own an not sit around and wait for the gov. to help. Let him go out and visit with the fruits and nuts in LA.
AMEN!!!
I’VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO SPELL WHAT A HARD BELLY LAUGH.SOUNDS LIKE!!! CONCISELY PUT ORDINARY AMERICAN. Sincerely, Another Ordinary American
Let’s remember he didn’t go to Nashville after the floods. Also, it took him a long time to get to Louisiana after the oil leak.
It’s clear what the Kenyan’s priorities are.
I don’t believe his 1 billion dollars for his next run is going to be enough this round. He won based on what he said he was going to do. Now, he has to run on what he did and didn’t get done. In other words, he now has a rap sheet.
And Trump will tell him he’s fired!
Well said!!!
What A POS Commie, Kenyan, SOB. WTF Is With This “Fn” Turd?
Tommy Boy, Please tell us what you really feel about this POS. Please don’t be so polite. Let your truly feelings shine through. You’re among friends and we all feel the same way!!!!
Election 2012 can’t come fast enough to hear his pathetic concession speech about how all those racist pig Republicans frustrated his glorious plans for the United Soviet Socialist States of America. Too bad, stop whinning you facist dictator Obumer. Get thee gone!
good artical
The Grand Old Opry was FLOODED for months, and Tenn. had catastrophic weather damage and yet, there was never a word from the great agitator-in-chief. However, he did find the time to criticize the Police and to comment when his pal, the “professor” was “abused” in Massachusetts. What else is new?
Too many white people, so the Opry didn’t qualify for “fairness”
just keep voting for the foreign interloper, though.
Ok At least Bush made it to the damages areas after Katrina. But Obama doesn’t go at all. Say what you want about Bush but Obama is the man I put down. And this isn’t the first time either!!!
Hey, it’s the South.
Who cares?
I care…
I care.
Probably for the best. The more he gets involved in anything the more fouled up it becomes.
N C is not a Democratic State so he does not give a sh*t.
He wanted to be president for one reason- himself. Face it, Bill Clinton made a fortune after he got out of office and Obumbles is in office for the same reason. Get rich…
Clintons made a fortune writing books about things that they could not remember while in the WH. The good book says that it will do you no good to win the whole world if it cost you your soul.
The only thing that still surprises me is the fact that he has any supporters at all. He’s a political scum bag. He doesn’t have America’s best interest at heart, but then he never has.
Most of the states hit were “White states” so why should we be surprised at Obama’s behavior? You saw what he did with the Black Panther voter intimidation case.
Bizarre comments regarding Obama here. I’d hardly call the south “White.” Or have the white people forgotten that the descendants of slaves also inhabit the south because they’ve been made invisible to white southerners? Every article I’ve pulled up about the disaster shows pictures of affected black and white families. I am not justifying Obama’s apparently shitty behavior, or any other presidential failure to comment or act on a tragedy (and really, the president is a figurehead and what the government is interested in is money, not people) but some of these comments are outrageously stupid.
It’s a matter of perception. Kanaye West portrayed the South as the home of downtrodden Black people for whom Bush didn’t care. Obama portrayed the South as a bunch of unsophisticated, ill-educated, Rednecks, who were too stupidly dependent on God and guns to be taken seriously. What it really boils down to is that Obama is an elitist of an order not seen for a very long time in this country. He’s making the Kennedys and Bushes look like Middle America! The difference is that the Kennedys and Bushes really do care about people, but Obama only cares about himself, as illustrated by nearly everything that comes out of his mouth, regardless of the event. It’s a sad day when I genuinely miss Bill. :(
I don’t really see Obama as an elitist, since most of his major presidential moves were attempts at redistributing wealth and most of his campaign rhetoric relates to supporting poorer communities… or, more than anything, making a series of botched attempts at fixing the broken economy he inherited. Perhaps this is his perception of the South, but what is being repeated on this forum is that he didn’t come because “urban” and “black” people were not affected by the tornadoes. Raleigh is one of the largest cities in North Carolina. Mississippi and Alabama are some of the poorest states in the country, with large black communities at that. My suspicion is that his administrations failure to give a shit about the South has more to do with money and voters (as this article suggests) than all the rural white people who read the bible. Bigger than that, to suggest the president is solely responsible for any of the apparent “choices” he makes about affairs of the nation is ludicrous. The president is controlled by a body of people who don’t care about anything but money. This is as true for Obama as it was for Bush and anyone else who comes into the American presidency.
Bush would have already been here….with his chainsaw. This so called president is an embarrassment to us. We don’t want you to come here to see our devastated city.
Of course not. Punish your enemies right? How very “christian” of him. So he jets off the SoCal to raise money trying to connect on FB with his new BFF Zucherburg. Sickening. This phone has feet of clay.
Hey Obama I am sure you might never read this or give me the time of day. All I like to say is thank you. Thank you for making me understand there really isnt any good in you, or your wife. Good upbringing for you kids and seeing how we don’t learn from history and you setting they way for any possible qualified ” minority” candidate to run for office. Just as any professional sports figure has to sign a wellness contract you so called caring people should do the same. Damn you make me sick with your smug attitude. How can you honestly look at yourself and say your a man and your wife who whished to be Jackie O lol. Get off it and do the job you begged for
O.K. Jay, here’s what we tell em……….”the president has been on top of this from day one, his focus has been laser like and be assured he has his boot firmly on mother natures neck. The last thing he thinks about before falling asleep at night and the first thing he thinks about upon waking is the hardship being endured by the people in North Carolina and surrounding states”. Oh Jay,by the way what time am I teeing off tomorrow?
Good one!
Impeach this loser. Or coup him… whichever.
You mean he didn’t take his klingon wife? Off to soCal to spoon with zuckerburg. No time for red states eh barry? Enjoy it while you can, soon you will be a sh*t stain on US history.
No one should be able to be a Congressmen, or Senator or Presedent with out having proof they are a US Citizen, Born Legally in the United States. Enough of the over the Boarder Drop your kids citizens. Legal Residence as a Citizen for 5 years!!!!!! Then your kids can be Born here and be a birther.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but only the President has to be American born. I think everyone else can be a naturalized citizen, but they can’t run for President.
Not only do we have tornados ravaging the south, we have major wildfires destroying Texas and the S &P downgrading the US credit rating due to his wreckless spending…and all he cares about is getting more money and power…that’s all! Remember, Obama is a Communist. And they do NOT care about the people…just themselves and their power.
Most of the victims were the wrong color to expect any attention from the Obamas (except when it’s time to collect taxes, of course).
Oh yea last thing. Understand our government is run by humans who fail to see they think they have it so good. But when we die which we all do. They can’t take it with them no matter what. And God decides from there yes I said God. So when your times are up. Good luck side steppin on how good of a person you were. Hahaha
does this mean he hates the conservative South…too many whiteys affected by the recent storm? not politically expedient? slimey, cold little man in the WH.
remember, Bush hated the blacks…Katrina was all the proof the liberals/media needed…even though he had to work with “beavus and butthead” (democrat incompetents from Louisiana – the lady governor & the chocolate mayor)…what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, right? so, i’m waiting for the big networks to start asking, “where’s obama?”…waiting…waiting…
He ran. He won. That’s it. Was he supposed to do anything more than move his family and indolent friends to DC? What turns my stomach with equal measure is to know that there are still sheeple in this land who think he is the cat’s meow. He, they, and every lib are emetic.
Party on you heartless scum! We are finally seeing that your smile is not a welcome friendly sight, but a sneer of contempt! You will not fool us again!
The storms were inherited by Obama from the Bush administration. Not his fault so why should he have to visit the area?
Yes, these are in fact Bush storms, good point.
Oh, wow, Babs….thanks, I’d completely forgotten about Bush. Poor man, Obumbley…he was totally not responsible for anything.
This man is unbelievable (and so is Biden) They think they are “entitled” to their offices, and the rest can “eat cake”. When will the electorate wake up and rid the Country of these sleeze bags??? Ayn Rand – where are you!
I heard he’s busy visiting the other 56 states of the union.
No–he’s already been in 56. He still has a couple to go.
If only this had occured in a Muslim country. The Campainer In Chief would be flying ther billions in aid over himself. <>
Why would he pay a visit to ordinary folks in a land that he is doing his best to destroy in line with his marxist ideology? Just look at this leftist robot, totally devoid of human feelings, other than vengance, and think about his being raised and mentored by American-hating marxists. Don’t worry, he will have some remarks of sadness and pain for those suffering on his teleprompter, which is ever present.
They don’t want to be seen denying American people federal assistance; they are more interested in doling out money to the Libyians…
For those of you that voted for Obama, have you had enough change in your life? Obama’s mantra of “yes we can” of Yes, we can divert your money to worthless causes; yes, we can dig a bigger debt hole,
tks.
Biden has been fundraising in ohio. Google Biden eats at Slyman’s deli.
This is simple. His “base” was not affected. If urban areas had been affected, he would have shown up.
Exactly right!
Dead On!
At the risk of sounding racist (which I’m not), I have to ask Blacks/African-Americans who live in the major metro areas that are falling apart (Detroit, Gary, NewOrleans, Washington, Harlem, etc.), why they keep voting for Black/A-A Democrats to run their cities after decades of repeated decay,crime, horrible poverty, etc., then blame everything on Whitey when they have no jobs, etc.?
They don’t trust Whitey, but they keep voting for the people who keep promising to make things better and give them free stuff, but never do! It’s like watching Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football! You know what’s coming and that it’s going to suck, the rest of us watch as he keeps trusting her to give him what she promised, but never does. Why don’t you try something new? Go listen to Herman Cain or Allen West, if you want to vote for a Black man who truly cares about you and ALL of us.
Why would the ‘Campaigner In Chief’ spend his time visiting states that lean conservative when there are leftists to woo and fools to delude?
I live in the Pasquotank County NC. We would rather not see this POS here stay away, we will take care of our own
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