The Politics of Tragedy

One of the most respected political columnists of our time, Charles Krauthammer offers his opinion about the politics of President Obama’s attention to ‘Storm’ Sandy versus the amount of attention he paid to the terrorist attack that took place on September 11 in Benghazi, Libya.

“He says he’s not concerned about the impact on the elections,” Krauthammer said. “I’m sure he’s very sincere on that. It is a little odd that he shows up in the briefing room, where he hasn’t shown up in the briefing room for about, what — a month and a half on Libya, or for everything else for that matter? Then you get the photo-ops of him in the situation room deploying, I guess, the utility crews who will restore power all over America.

Whereas you would think he might want to use the situation room and had convened high-level people during the nine hours our people were under attack in Benghazi.”

Krauthammer went on to explain why the onus of the disaster prep and relief isn’t on the president, but on the governors of states. But in this instance he suggested it is serving as an opportunity for the commander-in-chief to steer the momentum of the election back his way.

“It’s hard to look at this, playing the president, playing the commander-in-chief in what’s a natural disaster that really doesn’t a lot of leadership from the White House,” Krauthammer said. “It’s up to the governors mostly. The White House and the governors release money. That’s about all that they do. And he’s really good at releasing money and pretending it’s not about politics.

Of course it's likely some on the left will say Krauthammer is politicizing the situation for simply stating an opinion about the facts.

See the video and read the rest of the transcript here.


In my opinion it is worth contrasting the reaction to this storm and the reaction to Katrina in 2006, specifically noting the difference in behavior between representatives of the two parties.

Most specifically, as the storm clears and the need for damage control is assessed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, is acting as a team player and offering nothing but cooperation with President Obama. In fact, he specifically shot down a question about the possibility of a partisan divide between the two parties in wake of this tragedy.

Contrast that with the reaction of the Democrat Mayor of New Orleans and Governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco, who were immediate in their blame for George W. Bush and the federal government, before a true evaluation of the events took place.

Bush was practically accused of having created the storm and bringing it on shore, and of course it was for raaaaacist reasons that the feds were unable to respond as quickly and thoroughly as Democrats desired.

In the aftermath of both storms, we know now that Governor Christie was adamant in his message that New Jersey residents evacuate, and that insistence likely saved many lives. Contrarily, local officials in New Orleans and Louisiana had days of warning including statements from federal officials, yet after Katrina had passed we learned there were parking lots full of school buses that were left unused.

Those buses could have evacuated and saved hundreds if not thousands of lives, yet the Democrats in this instance instantly pointed the finger of blame – at George W. Bush.

Sounds all too familiar…