Zachary, Louisiana: President Barack Obama tried to set aside politics Tuesday in favour of pointing to the plight of victims of the devastating floods in Louisiana as he underscored the importance of an effective and quick federal disaster response.
Obama toured ravaged homes and talked with relatives of some of the 13 people killed by flooding from severe rains of the last two weeks. With Republican and Democratic officials at his side, he dismissed criticism that he ignored the unfolding disaster while he was on vacation and instead urged Americans to help.
“Nobody on this block, none of those first responders — nobody gives a hoot whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican,” Obama said during his tour. “What they care about is making sure they’re getting the drywall out, the carpet out, there’s not any mould building, they get some contractors in here and they start rebuilding as quick as possible.”
Obama bragged about the speed with which his Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) is dispatching aid to the region, and White House aides noted that more than $127 million (Dh466 million) for rental assistance and flood insurance payments has already been disbursed. More than 100,000 people have applied for federal assistance.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, cautioned that it was too early to judge the Fema response.
But the bipartisan array of officials touring with Obama made for an image that stood out for its contrast from the partisan accusations lobbed in recent days. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump visited the area last week and complained that Democratic rival Hillary Clinton had not done likewise. Clinton countered that she would travel to Louisiana “at a time when the presence of a political campaign will not disrupt the response”.
Trump charged Tuesday that the president should have gone to Louisiana instead of golfing on vacation. “Too little, too late!” he tweeted as Obama was en route to Baton Rouge.
Local critics were quick to take offence last week when Obama did not leave his vacation to go see the flooding damage. The Advocate, Baton Rouge’s newspaper, published a harsh editorial about images of Obama golfing while victims suffered.
“It evoked the precedent of the passive federal response to the state’s agony in 2005, a chapter of history no one should ever repeat,” the editors wrote, referring to the George W. Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Katrina caused damage on a much larger scale than the recent flooding; the hurricane killed at least 1,400 and was the costliest natural disaster in US history.
White House officials believe the public will tolerate a short delay in a presidential visit to the site of a natural disaster as long as the federal government’s response is effective and have said Obama waited to see the flood damage out of respect for law enforcement officials, not wanting to pull them off of their immediate emergency work in order to provide security for him.
Aides to Obama have said that the theatrics of a presidential visit weren’t the point of the trip, but rather to inspect the quality of the federal government’s response.
When a natural disaster hits, competent leadership matters more than partisan politics, Obama suggested.
“When you get into trouble, you want somebody who knows what they’re doing,” Obama said. “And that’s true whatever party.”
Residents still gutting flooded brick homes stepped outside to greet Obama, who hugged them and stopped to chat. Several said Obama asked them to gauge Fema’s efforts.
“He seemed pretty interested in what we’re going through,” said Rose Armstrong, 67, a retired postal clerk who was helping clean the waterlogged home of her daughter Rita Polk, 50, a letter carrier who also lost her new white Camaro in the flood.
Neither Quincy Snowden, 33, an AT&T manager and father of two who was hosing down his flooded house with bleach to ward off mold, nor Oliver Cage, 33, a truck driver, said they faulted Obama for delaying his visit. Last week, many roads in this town about 24km north of Baton Rouge were impassable, and police were stretched thin responding to the storm’s immediate aftermath.
In Baton Rouge, standing outside her flooded brick home, Kejuana Sibley said she hoped Obama’s visit would open the door to more federal aid.
“I hope it brings an awareness” of the disaster, Sibley said. “How soon is relief going to start coming? I don’t know if he can get the ball rolling, maybe get some assistance, visit a shelter.”
