Before the deluge, Obama positions for Isaac

Barack Obama struck a pose as the man for a crisis in the eye of Hurricane Isaac on Tuesday, wielding the power of the presidency just as Republicans gathered to trash his record.

With New Orleans in the crosshairs, Obama delivered a sober warning of looming danger, drawing an implicit contrast with his predecessor George W. Bush's notorious no-show before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city in 2005.

With a Stars and Stripes over one shoulder, a flag with the presidential seal over the other, and a portrait of George Washington looking on, Obama leveraged the power of incumbency to muscle into the news.

"We're dealing with a big storm and there could be significant flooding and other damage across a large area," Obama told Gulf coast residents from the ornate oval Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.

"Now is not the time to tempt fate. Now is not the time to dismiss official warnings. You need to take this seriously."

Obama had already planned to thrust himself into the political conversation on Tuesday, bidding to grab some limelight from the delayed opening day of the Republican National Convention by launching his own campaign swing.

But Isaac's approach offered a chance to project an image of a competent executive and show Americans that the vast machinery of the US government, which Republicans decry, could be wielded for everyone's benefit.

"As president, I'll continue to make sure that the federal government is doing everything possible to help the American people prepare for and recover from this dangerous storm," he said.

Hurricane Katrina roared ashore in 2005, whipping up a storm surge that swamped the levees of New Orleans, savaged the Gulf Coast and killed around 1,800 people.

Its deadly arrival revealed a disastrous breakdown of communication and a riot of incompetence among federal, state, and local authorities, which exacerbated the crisis.

Thousands of people who couldn't afford to evacuate were left to their fate as floodwaters surged into New Orleans, leading to scarcely believable footage of people dying in the streets of a major US city.

The disaster shredded former president George W. Bush's political capital early in his second term, as he appeared indifferent and incompetent -- even if he was not alone to blame for a botched relief effort.

As a White House candidate, Obama highlighted Katrina as evidence the Republican Party was not fit for power, and as president slammed the "unconscionable ineptitude" of the Bush administration over the storm.

Drawing the contrast Tuesday, Obama painstakingly described his order last week to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) -- a laughing stock during Katrina -- to muster in states expected to be in Isaac's path.

In a short statement, pruned of political language that would spur charges he was exploiting Isaac for political gain, Obama promised frequent updates on the storm.

Republicans meeting to nominate Mitt Romney for president might be forgiven for wondering if they will ever escape the taint of Katrina.

Four years ago, haunting images of the nightmare of New Orleans were revived when Hurricane Gustav smashed Louisiana, forcing the postponement of the first day of the Republican convention in Minnesota as a mark of respect.

On Monday, the curse struck again with the first day of this year's convention -- dedicated to exposing the "failures" of the Obama administration -- being cancelled as Isaac's rain bands whipped over Tampa.

Now, convention planners will be fretting at the jarring imagery that could juxtapose red, white and blue balloons tumbling from the rafters in Tampa with pictures of Americans reeling in the wreckage of a storm hammered Gulf Coast.

With Isaac expected to make landfall later Tuesday as a serious, but not devastating storm, Obama's maneuvering will likely be quickly forgotten.

But his intervention helped to draw media attention away from Tampa and onto the more telegenic spectacle of a hurricane.

And if disaster were to strike, he at least was seen as already on top of the situation.

The political subtext of every Obama utterance, as his re-election campaign hits full tilt, was underlined when a reporter asked the president whether it was appropriate to carry on with campaigning as Isaac loomed.

Obama ignored the question.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deluge-obama-positions-isaac-191254355.html

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