In an abrupt shift of tone, Barack Obama nixed his stump speech Monday and replaced it with a plea to his supporters to assist Gulf Coast residents who fled Hurricane Gustav.
“I had come here planning to talk about the contributions of the American worker,” Obama said at a Labor Day rally here, explaining the switch of plans. “My main goal today is to ask you to help. … I want everybody to remember there is a time for us to argue politics, but there is a time for us to come together as Americans.”
A day earlier, Obama was still ripping into Republican John McCain on the campaign trail. As late as Sunday night, in Battle Creek, Mich., Obama was giving his usual stump speech that includes digs at his rival.
The Republican National Committee, which had spent the day scaling back its convention schedule, quickly criticized Obama: “It’s unfortunate that Barack Obama is continuing to put politics first and attack John McCain and Sarah Palin. If a natural disaster is not enough to convince Obama to ease off the political attacks, then what is?”
The hurricane has forced the campaigns to weigh the political ramifications of natural disasters and to consider the appearances of remaining in full campaign mode while the Gulf Coast storm forces almost 2 million people to evacuate.Obama aides said the senator decided overnight to switch gears. He is keeping a full schedule Monday in Michigan and Wisconsin. But at each stop, he will ask supporters to contribute to the American Red Cross and other aid organizations.
At the rally here, he spoke for less than 10 minutes, about a quarter of the time he usually spends on stage. “Today is not a day for political speeches,” Obama said. Obama's campaign has been diligent about updating the press on his conversations with Louisiana and federal officials. He added another name to the list Monday: Herbie Johnson, deputy director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"Sen. Obama was told that evacuation efforts are going well, although officials are still concerned about flooding and will not know the exact extent of the damage for several more hours," the campaign said in a statement.
So how do you think that a natural disaster like this will help or hurt either party?
3 comments:
The controversy over Hurricane Gustav plays a major role with how each political party will handle natural disasters. The Republican Party, under President Bush, has proven to not have had working plan for natural disasters. Sen. Obama can take his opportunity as he has already done to help out his campaign by asking for donations for the Red Cross or the other organizations. This puts him in the spotlight in the eyes of Americans by declaring he will change policies for natrual disasters. Especially now by naming Herbie Johnson as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Even though he is down shifting gears to help the distressed in Louisiana, he is still full speed ahead on his campain. Smart Move by not letting off entirely!
I agree with what Oscar said, that Hurricane Gustav is definitely going to play a major role in how each political party will handle such disasters. This is a prime opportunity for Senator Obama and his Democratic party. This will prove that he is perfectly capable of dealing with such events, with great knowledge at hand. We have seen what the republican party is able to do, and now its time for the Democratic party to stand up and show how disasters should be handled. Senator Obama has already chosen Herbie Johnson as the director of FEMA. On the other hand, the Republicans have not shown the same amount of concern for the disaster. With his actions toward the Hurricane, Senator Obama has put his foot forward and allowed the people of US to be fully aware of his ideals and plans. The Hurricane has proved which major party is going to be able to achieve success. Also, Senator Obama did great when he spoke of the Hurricane while being on his campaign towards presidency.
Natural disasters will go either way for each party depends on how they react to them. Like in Katrina, Pres. Bush delaying the reponse to help out New Orleans definitely hurt the republican party. Sen. Obama attacking John McCain probably hurt him a tiny bit. Obama putting Herbie Johnson as director of FEMA is not a bad move for his case.
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