Monday, February 2, 2009

Katrina Redux?

From PJM's Steve Gill:
Last week a massive ice storm struck the heartland of America, leaving at least 42 dead and millions without power or water. Days later there are still over a million people in Kentucky who have no power, no water, and no communications....The conditions are dire and getting worse, with some storm survivors carrying pails of water from creeks. Thousands more are living in shelters with no timetable for returning home... Amid this catastrophe, where is President Barack Obama?

On Thursday — while millions in Tennessee and Kentucky did not have access to shelter or food — Obama hosted a cocktail party at the White House and served up fancy martinis and an appetizer menu that featured mouthwatering wagyu steak costing $100 a pound.

Saturday night — as the governor of Kentucky called up the entire National Guard in his state to deal with the
ongoing crisis — President Obama slipped into his black tie attire to attend the exclusive Alfalfa Club dinner, where lavish cocktails and fine dining were the order of the evening. And on Sunday — when millions in Kentucky and Tennessee still lacked the basic necessities of power and water — the Obama family threw an extravagant Super Bowl party!

The devastating storm has been virtually ignored by the national media...President Obama has been living it up in the White House while people have been suffering and dying. Five days after the storm, he still has not traveled to the area to provide aid and comfort to the victims...
Meanwhile, Kentucky Emergency Management Director, Randell Smith said that FEMA was still a no-show days after the storm.

“I’m not saying we can’t handle it,” Smith said. “We’re handling it. But it sure would have made life a lot easier." [if FEMA had been there to help]

The Examiner's Amos Wright comments:
Had this been another administration, one might assume that Kentucky... was being punished for its general political views and skin color. One might hear reckless and awful accusations that... a state full of white people who voted against Obama – were being left in the disaster area without help because of the President's barely concealed racism...

From the White House website on Hurricane Katrina:

"He [Obama] and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.”
But of course, let's not forget that Joe Biden and Barack Obama voted twice for the infamous Alaskan "Bridge To Nowhere", while specifically voting against giving that money to Katrina victims!