As a Democrat, I'm getting increasingly concerned about the storm's impact on the election, and yes, I'm certainly concerned about the storm's impact on the people and infrastructure of the region, which could be huge, but I'm looking at this from a political angle. The President's campaigning is going to get a major disruption. He can't just leave Washington during this and campaign in several of the swing states, or he'll get hammered for "ignoring the crisis" as President, but Romney can do what he likes, say what he likes, and go where he likes, hammering Obama the entire time, no matter what's happening. All he has to do is open every campaign speech with a "solemn" comment voicing his "concern" about the situation there, telling everyone to "pray for the people," blah, blah, blah, and then launch into his campaign rhetoric, which changes, of course, depending on where he is, and how he feels when he licks his finger and sticks it up in the air. Something has to be done. Obama needs to be in Washington looking after the country during this evolving crisis, of course. The country expects him to. Hell, I expect him to, unless the White House floods, or the storm turns out to not be as bad as so many experts are saying it's going to be. One of my concerns is that someone besides Joe Biden, who I admire, but who hardly campaigns as effectively as the President, needs to step up and take up the slack. In my opinion, it needs to be Bill Clinton, it has to be Bill Clinton, and I would love it if Hillary hit the campaign trail as well, but that's unlikely, worse luck, considering the situations overseas that she has to keep an eye on. Yes, Bill has been doing some good campaigning for the ticket in selected spots, but now they need to slip him into President Obama's slot on the campaign trail, because the President's going to be very busy over the next crucial days, and Clinton is the only guy I see who can have Obama's impact on the electorate. I'm going to be watching how this plays out. I'm worried. President Obama will be showing leadership during this crisis, which will help him politically, but that isn't the same as campaign rallies in the swing states. Thoughts?
I brought this up a few days ago in the main election thread but I can see the see the storm possibly affecting voter turnout in the swing states of VA, NH and possibly OH. That could hurt Obama in VA and NH since Republican voters are more likely to turn out and the storm will affect North Eastern VA where it is more heavily Dem. than West and South VA that is more heavily Rep.. If the storm is bad enough and brings a lot of snow and moisture into the Cuyahoga valley that could help Obama by depressing Rep. vote turnout. All of this depends though on exactly how lingering the affects of this storm is. A week may be enough time to get things relatively back to normal. As far as the reaction to the storm as sitting President this is Obama's to lose. Romney can say whatever he wants and isn't accountable to the recovery but if things are bad he risks alienating people if it looks like he is trying to score political points off of the crisis. Further so much coverage will be geared to the storm and the response that Obama will get more coverage than Romney and unlike Romney he will be in a position to actually do something about it. The only way this response helps benefits Romney is if it is very bungled like Katrina and Obama makes a "heck of a job type comment" like GW Bush. From the reaction side of things this is actually a big potential benefit to Obama, essentially an October surprise, IF it is handled well.
You might want to post this in the other thread, judo. That seems to be the one folks are posting in. I'm hoping one (this one, I guess) will be closed/deleted.
You make a strong point. Black people in power seem to elicit a strong response from mother nature. Preach on brotha.
