Should We Call Sandy Romney’s Katrina?

What’s Right Today:

 Over the past few days as the east coast of the US has begun to dig and pump its way out of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, there has also been some starting to talk to professionals from austin roofing company or someone not too dissimilar to better understand the process when it comes to repairing their homes. it is worth saying something good about the response by FEMA and the Obama administration. They provided human resources; they will provide disaster relief, they cooperated with local and state authorities in what appears to be an unprecedented manner.

 

Several governors have commented on the quality of support they have received.  Governor Christie of NJ, not an Obama supporter, was very complimentary of the work by the President and the FEMA team.    

Imagine that, our government working for the people. Obama meets the test of helping people on the ground, thereby failing Ronald Reagan’s test that the most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”

 

So, let’s remind people of what the government does with hurricanes.  

• The detailed projections of where Hurricane Sandy is going to hit and how strong it’s going to be come from the National Hurricane Center, part of the National Weather Service and is sent to your favorite news source.
• The raw data come in part from the Hurricane Hunters, the pilots who fly planes into hurricanes, who are part of the Air Force Reserve and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The computer models that predict where hurricanes are going to strike are developed by the NHC.
• Oh, and FEMA.

Almost everyone agrees that the federal government should be engaged in disaster prevention, disaster relief, and even weather forecasting.

 

So, What’s Wrong?

 

Except for um, Republicans. Let’s review what Mr. Romney thinks about Federal Disaster Relief. We have insight from the Republican Presidential Primary Debate moderated by CNN’s John King:

Romney: “Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?”

“Including disaster relief, though?” John King asks Romney.

Romney: “We cannot — we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids. It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.”

And consider this editorial in The Lowell Sun, August 7, 2006, No relief from Romney, taking Mr. Romney to task on disaster relief while he was governor of Massachusetts:   

“We find it inconceivable that Gov. Mitt Romney claims the state can do nothing to help those residents still struggling to rebuild homes and businesses after the May flood. Massachusetts is sitting on millions in unspent emergency funds from Hurricane Katrina and more than $1 billion in cash reserves, yet Romney has failed to even respond to the Lowell delegation’s requests to discuss additional aid for victims…

 

If ignoring the pleas of legislators and constituents is the way Romney’s going to handle a crisis situation, why would anyone vote for him for president? How would he handle a national crisis, by flying in for photo ops and then hiding in his White House office?…”

Finally, there is this from Ohio yesterday:

 

At Romney’s relief event outside of Dayton, Ohio, the candidate compared the federal government’s hurricane relief efforts to the time he and some friends had to clean up a football field strewn with “rubbish and paper products.”

 

That was supposed to be a parable about how Republicans handle disaster – with private charity, not government intervention – as Romney told his audience, “It’s part of the American spirit, the American way, to give to people in need.”

 

Should Mr. Romney be the guy? With the insight offered by his debate answer, the Lowell Sun editorial and his comments yesterday, should the nation be turning to him when a disaster happens?

 

Neither Mr. Romney nor his running mate Paul Ryan have been forthcoming on whether FEMA should be operated by the Federal Government. They have been unwilling to say if they think federal spending on disaster relief for Sandy’s aftermath should be offset by spending cuts elsewhere, as Ryan’s budget demands.

 

They’ve been asked – but they just don’t answer. Doesn’t THAT sound familiar`?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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