WASHINGTON — The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.
“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”
Meanwhile, in Kentucky…
Gov. Steve Beshear called up his entire Army National Guard on Saturday, tripling his troops with his state still reeling from a deadly ice storm that knocked out power from the Midwest to the East Coast.
More than half a million homes and businesses, most of them in Kentucky, remained with out electricity from the Ozarks through Appalachia, though temperatures creeping into the 40s helped a swarm of utility workers make headway. Finding fuel – heating oil along with gas for cars and generators – was another struggle for those trying to tough it out at home, with hospitals and other essential services getting priority over members of the public.
The addition of 3,000 soldiers and airmen makes 4,600 Guardsmen pressed into service. It’s the largest call-up in Kentucky history, which Beshear called an appropriate response to a storm that cut power to more than 600,000 people, the state’s largest outage on record. Many people in rural areas cannot get out of their driveways due to debris and have no phone service, the governor said.“With the length of this disaster and what we’re expecting to be a multi-day process here, we’re concerned about the lives and the safety of our people in their own homes,” Beshear said, “and we need the manpower in some of the rural areas to go door-to-door and do a door-to-door canvass … and make sure they’re OK.”
And it’s not like this “let them eat cake” attitude is new. It’s been going on for a while.
Sidwell Friends, the private school his daughters attend, was among area schools that closed or started late Wednesday after a 2-inch snowfall and freezing rain overnight. D.C. schools opened two hours late.
…
When it comes to winter, “Folks in Washington don’t seem to be able to handle things,” he joked. Maybe, he suggested, they need some “flinty Chicago toughness.”
Obama’s heated Hawaiian attitude goes beyond mocking those who are reluctant to cast send little girls out into the cold, and his deliberate ignorance at and silence at the suffering of the million people in Kentucky who have been without power or heat for days. No, in times of “national economic crisis” [Obama’s own words], he’s called upon us all to sacrifice (while he turns the Oval Office into a greenhouse). Yet, even the far left greeniacs like Al Gore are somehow too self-conscious to point out the new President’s hypocrisy. There was no mention of a new style of green-living at the White House when Al Gore was on Capitol Hill (down the street from The White House) testifying about Global Warming. Even he didn’t want to point out the snuggle-buggle factor at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Sad. Since the media at large is silent on the arrogant duplicity, one might wonder about the reaction if President Bush had done this?
Author of “Reparations and America’s 2nd Civil War
Reparations and America’s 2nd Civil War: Malensek, Scott: 9798864028674: Amazon.com: Books
Isn’t this the same circus clown that kept bashing Bush over Katrina?? Guess this just points out one more time what an empty suit this guy is!
I guess Obama won’t make any promises to the people of Kentucky that he can be credited with breaking, except that he see only One America. Kentucky is a red state .. remember.
I guess he can afford to write off Kentucky .. there are 56 others.
First things first and that would be Rush Limbaugh and steak dinners.
A storm similar to this happened last year in Missouri, we didn’t have the loss of life then like they’ve had with this one. They don’t even know if they will find more death until they go door to door, the loss of life alone should get his attention, he foolishly mocked the DC ice storm and completely ignored the rest of it. This has gone on for seven days, these people needed immediate help, last week. Food, water, gas and generators would go along way, he could have stepped up and made sure those things got there as soon as the governor asked for help. Everything shuts down, no groceries, no gas stations, their wells don’t work, no heat unless they burn wood, no phone service. Some families can get out and go somewhere else, but with the ice on the rural roads, many can’t. It’s a terrible thing to go through.
Did you guys catch this no doubt global warming-fueled legislation in the “stimulus”?
Stimulus Includes Government Plan to Crush New Cars
I guess Obama doesn’t care about black people and poor people! He’s too busy eating $100 per pound steak at the taxpayers expense.
@ Mike
Well, bless your heart. You do try so hard.
Obama doesn’t care about white people! Hey Kanye, where are you
now?
The empty suit may be from Hawaii, but he has called Chicago home for how long now ?
Long enough to dismiss Hawaii as an excuse.
Just how much higher is the thermostat set there ?
It speaks of his indifference that he has said Nothing about Kentucky, or anywhere else the ice storm has caused problems.
A week going by with the situation in Kentucky with nothing from the White House…..unacceptable.
That SEMA idea needs to fall on its face.
Yep, and in the summer when the Obama girls are playing in the pool, it will be an insult to those facing drought in the southwest.
What would it say about how much he cares for hurricane victims when he turns on the fan in the Oval Office? The nerve of the guy. I mean, to actually actually wear sun glasses when there are millions going blind across this nation.
And what insensitivity will be on display when the spring storms knocks power out in the northeast and he and his girls are watching “That’s So Raven” in the White House. MY GOD! What kind of sick individual did we elect.
Barack Obama Hates White People!
/done in my best Kanya West impression
@james manning:
One who chooses to not practice what he preaches. In other words a hyprocrite and, I did not elect him.
Some leader:
“Pitching his message to Oregon’s environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to “lead by example” on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.
“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added.”
More than half a million homes and businesses, most of them in Kentucky, remained with out electricity from the Ozarks through Appalachia, though temperatures creeping into the 40s helped a swarm of utility workers make headway. Finding fuel – heating oil along with gas for cars and generators – was another struggle for those trying to tough it out at home, with hospitals and other essential services getting priority over members of the public.
_________________________________________________-
And let us not forget The One’s Super Bowl party.
@james manning:
If you have a point to make, do it. Offering unrelated comparisons in an attempt at sarcasm does not make your point for you. The crux of the post is Obama’s rank hypocrisy. He insists we need to sacrifice, while at the same time turning up the heat in the WH. If he wants the heat at 76, fine. Don’t tell me I need to have mine at 68. As for Katrina, Bush was lambasted in the media as soon as the winds died down. I don’t know for sure, but I’d wager you were one of those blaming Bush for a slow response while giving Nagin and Blanco a pass. It’s been a week since these storms have hit, and our dear leader has still not even addressed those affected, and not a word from the media.
@Shawn:
One small correction.
Bush was lambasted BEFORE the winds died down.
I remember the split screens of President Bush playing the guitar or having birthday cake combined with the other half of the screen showing New Orleans and the people who stupidly remained behind.
Yep. That template was drawn really early on.
Manning is just another obamabot looking to defend his God.
Don’t expect rational posts from him. It upsets him that we dare
to hold the obomination to any standard let alone the one
they held Bush to.
@hard right,
i happen to find my comment quite humorous.
And, folks in Kentucky are in freezing temperatures so aren’t able to sit on top of their roofs waiting for help to come.
I found an article I still had from Popular Mechanics back in the aftermath of Katrina, with a different perspective than the media had at the time regarding the emergency response:
Debunking the Myths of Hurricane Katrina: Special Report
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sweeping assertions and rumors swirled as violently as the storm. PM heads to New Orleans to investigate what went wrong, what went right and what we can do better next time.
By The Editors
Photograph by Benjamin Chertoff
Published in the March 2006 issue.
GOVERNMENT RESPONDED RAPIDLY
MYTH: “The aftermath of Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history.”–Aaron Broussard, president, Jefferson Parish, La., Meet the Press, NBC, Sept. 4, 2005
REALITY: Bumbling by top disaster-management officials fueled a perception of general inaction, one that was compounded by impassioned news anchors. In fact, the response to Hurricane Katrina was by far the largest–and fastest-rescue effort in U.S. history, with nearly 100,000 emergency personnel arriving on the scene within three days of the storm’s landfall.
Dozens of National Guard and Coast Guard helicopters flew rescue operations that first day–some just 2 hours after Katrina hit the coast. Hoistless Army helicopters improvised rescues, carefully hovering on rooftops to pick up survivors. On the ground, “guardsmen had to chop their way through, moving trees and recreating roadways,” says Jack Harrison of the National Guard. By the end of the week, 50,000 National Guard troops in the Gulf Coast region had saved 17,000 people; 4000 Coast Guard personnel saved more than 33,000.
These units had help from local, state and national responders, including five helicopters from the Navy ship Bataan and choppers from the Air Force and police. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries dispatched 250 agents in boats. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state police and sheriffs’ departments launched rescue flotillas. By Wednesday morning, volunteers and national teams joined the effort, including eight units from California’s Swift Water Rescue. By Sept. 8, the waterborne operation had rescued 20,000.
While the press focused on FEMA’s shortcomings, this broad array of local, state and national responders pulled off an extraordinary success–especially given the huge area devastated by the storm. Computer simulations of a Katrina-strength hurricane had estimated a worst-case-scenario death toll of more than 60,000 people in Louisiana. The actual number was 1077 in that state.
NEXT TIME: Any fatalities are too many. Improvements hinge on building more robust communications networks and stepping up predisaster planning to better coordinate local and national resources.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/2315076.html?page=2
This is KatrinaSue the incestuous Dem daughter of the Katrina that counts. None of Obama’s television networks find this death toll of any importance. I guess a Republican’s death is only important when it’s in a compromising situation.
@james manning:
He told everyone else not to keep the thermostat turned up, but he’s doing it. Your analogies are totally off point, utter crap, so naturally you think they are insightful and important. Typical Lefty. Everything they know is wrong. Thanks for the excellent illustration of that law of nature.
@SoCal Chris
That article debunking Katrina Myths is awesome. I use it often myself.
And I still want to know what happened to O’Biden’s hair! Years ago he was bald, then he had hair, even through the campaign, so did he have the plugs surgically removed? Were they cutting off circulation to his brain? Or does he just wear a rug? Inquiring minds want to know.
Scott
Are you and Mike both NIT PICKING on this??? I believe that is so.. do you have anything relevant to say??
@Real American Patriot:
That’s the same EXACT question we’ve been asking you for a year or more now.
@Real American Patriot:
Pehaps the misery that Scott and others have pointed out isn’t relevant to you. Perhaps you see the plight of those in the midst of this storm, those who had family members that did not survive and those still suffering because of it, irrelavant. Since the one you voted for seems to share your attitude, perhaps that’s why you are defending his neglect. What a guy.
Reckon why no conservative-web-types have put together a hit piece on obama showing him with the school kids talking about their fav superhero while Kentuckians froze? (ala M. Moore). (show scenes of devastation, despair from Kentucky) V.O. “….and where was our fearless leader? ” (cut to school kids…with Obama and Michele commenting that they just wanted to get out of the white house for the day).