Obama's Katrina? America's Northeast Suffers As President Puts Re-Election Ahead Of Relief

Powered by a gas-rationed generator on Saturday night, a quick glance at the Drudge Report shed little light on what many in the Northeast are experiencing first hand: Devastated communities left in the dark, thirsty New Yorkers ‘dumpster diving‘ for food, many faced with looting, fear of nightfall, and a President who, rather than leading at a time of crisis, continues his stump speeches and demonizing ordinary Americans in order to get re-elected.

Although many on the Left may find the comparison to Barack Obama’s handling of Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath to Hurricane Katrina offensive or “unfair,” it is as fitting as was the criticism directed at George Bush from 2005 through today.

In 2005, even before the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina was fully realized, the Left immediately began the blame game aimed at then-President George Bush.

As NewsMax noted on August 29, 2005:

A handful of liberal bloggers have wasted no time politicizing the Hurricane Katrina disaster, alleging that the Iraq war has stripped New Orleans of National Guard protection and blasting President Bush for not dealing with global warming.

“So far today, I’ve looked at Global Warming and Katrina and the crisis resulting from Louisiana’s National Guard being in Iraq instead of defending their state,” complains the “Swing State” blog.

[snip]

“Can’t you just see Bush staying on vacation while all this happens THEN touring the damage like he’s some kind of concerned hero?” the American Blogger griped. [Emphasis added.]

Isn’t that what Barack Obama did last week when he toured the damage of ~~New York~~ New Jersey for photo ops before taking off to return to the campaign trail?

Baseball bats & machetes.

Meanwhile, in anti-gun New York, after nearly a week in the dark, residents are having to arm themselves with guns and whatever make-shift weapons they can to ward off would-be looters.

Hardened New Yorkers are ready to battle lowlife criminals to protect their homes and stores in storm-ravaged areas plagued by looting and break-ins.

In Coney Island, several residents were loading up their guns, sharpening their machetes and brandishing other deadly weapons.

Jacinto Gonzalez, 42, picked up a baseball bat and stood guard outside his two-story rowhouse on West 27th Street near Neptune Avenue with his family.

Another Coney Island resident, Roberto Aviles, brandishing a rusty 3-foot machete and warning he has a gun, who has lived in Coney Island since 1995 with his wife, says he’s ready to take on phony burglars posing as Con Ed workers.

“I’m prepared inside here,” the 76-year-old Aviles said, showing off his rusted, three-foot machete and warning he had a gun. [Emphasis added.]

Of particular note, the handling of Hurricane Sandy is already being compared to that of Katrina–and not by those wishing to score political points, but by those who are feeling the inefficiencies of the offcials handling of the hurricane’s aftermath:

“It’s chaos; it’s pandemonium out here,” said Chris Damon, who had been waiting for 3 1/2 hours at the site and had circled the block five times. “It seems like nobody has any answers.”

Added Damon: “I feel like a victim of Hurricane Katrina. I never thought it could happen here in New York, but it’s happened.”

Damon, 42, had already been displaced to Brooklyn from his home in Queens, where he still lacked power, as did millions outside Manhattan – from Staten Island, the hardest-hit borough, to Westchester County and other suburban areas. [Emphasis added.]

From bad to worse.

To make matters worse for those still stuck in the dark, the threat of a Nor’easter hitting New Jersey, with wind gusts and snow, may create even more dangerous conditions for those without power and without the gas to power generators to warm their homes.

Campaigning is not leading.

Yet, as millions suffer the aftermath of Hurricane ~~Katrina~~ Sandy, Barack Obama continues to put his re-election ahead of leading, as the Washington Times noted on Saturday:

“It’s a spirit that says, ‘We’re all in this together,’ ” Mr. Obama told about 4,000 supporters in a high-school gym in northeast Ohio. “We rise and fall as one nation and one people.”

The president then pivoted quickly to his partisan stump speech, attacking Republican rival Mitt Romney for pursuing “top-down economics” for the wealthy and billing himself as the true agent of change in the election on Tuesday.

No, Mr. President, WE are not all in this together.

While you are out giving speeches to your union cronies and their purple pawns, millions of Americans are still without power, many facing looters, as well as a lack of basic needs, like food, water…and gasoline to heat their homes.