For years, pundits have routinely argued that President Obama doesn't "feel your pain" as well as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush did. I've never fully understood the criticism, but pundits have said Obama has a "professorial" demeanor that makes emotional connections more difficult. It's a style that's launched a thousand "Mr. Spock" columns.
Getty Images
But if Obama's cerebral qualities are evidence of emotional distance, I wonder what those same pundits will say about Mitt Romney, who was in Louisiana over the weekend, visiting communities flooded by Hurricane Isaac.
Romney and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) spent close to an hour meeting with first responders and local officials. Romney shook hands with National Guardsmen outside the U.S. Post Office and talked with a local resident, Jodie Chiarello, 42, who lost her home in Isaac's flooding.
"He just told me to, um, there's assistance out there," Chiarello said of her conversation with Romney. "He said, go home and call 211." That's a public service number offered in many states.
Of course, if someone has lost their home, telling them to "go home and call 211" isn't exactly a compelling suggestion since most of us don't have multiple homes. Then again, given Romney's general worldview, what Chiarello should have done is pick wealthier parents.
But there was something else that seemed relevant about Romney's New Orleans visit. Jindal told reporters late last week that he's hoping for federal aid to bolster the state's levee system. Are those investments a Romney administration is prepared to make?
The candidate didn't say.
Romney was silent on whether, as president, he would support paying for such an expansion. Romney's running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, has proposed eliminating $10 billion a year in disaster spending and requiring Congress to pay for emergencies by cutting from elsewhere in the budget.
This may not matter too much as an electoral matter -- Romney will win nearly all of the Gulf Coast states without any trouble -- but since natural disasters can happen just about anywhere, it's worth getting an answer from the Republican nominee as to where he stands on federal emergency aid.
Leave a Comment:
Romney of course would not spend money on such trivial pursuits when he has a war in Syria and Iran to start. No Mitt would tell them to hire Evangelists to pray the storms away!
You peons must learn that the USA is now a private enterprise and a right to fire nation!So go flip them burgers and pay your taxes while the rich play with your young ones on their yachts and get tax exemptions.
(Why are there still working stiffs in the republican party? Well now let's delve into just who they are. They are religious zealots who desire to force there religion upon us all far more that they care about ensuring everyone has health care or food on the table. They "believe" it is better to bow to an invisible god than to act upon a visible threat to their own well being.They have united with the Koch brother's tea party that has bought into the idea that government is too big and taxes too high even though they worship Reagan who had higher tax rates during his term. These two factions have been taken over by wealthy scum and racist freaks who use the fear and superstition that the kooks are historically guided by.
Take us back to the days when the Church forced tithes AKA taxes upon everyone and killed non-believers. Those good old days when wealthy aristocrats and royalty were allowed to party down and ignore the very laws they invoked at the Churches request. Ahhh, the good old days of yore when the masses were kept in their place!
"No Mitt would tell them to hire Evangelists to pray the storms away!"
Would those be government jobs?
Ought to be a way to offshore them!
You can tell by the picture that he is a bit confused. Scratching his head, he muses, who are these people, and what peculiar clothes they wear? Where am I, you people need to call this phoney number I made up to send you off on a wild goose chase. I'm not really supposed to be talking to you anyway. Just think about how he would handle other emergencys....first he would piss you off and then he will threaten war against you. His inexperence alone concerning foreign issues should bring down his poll numbers. Now especially when there is such transformation happening throughout the world,is no time to put an amateur in charge who is only interested in putting another knotch on his belt. He should focus on other ways to releive his boredom why doesn't he just build another mansion.
Since 211 is supported and staffed by taxpayer money Mitt suggested asking the government for help. There is nowhere Mitt can go and that includes his wealthy neighborhood, protected by taxpayer fire and police departments, where he does not benefit by the government. What Mitt has built is an egocentric ideal of how wonderful he is. Oh yeah, he also built a mountain of lies to feed his hubris.
Well then if Govt is all that's required for success, why isn't everyone as successful as he is?
Shooter.
Because everyone doesn't define success as you and Romney?you know infinite accumulation of material stuff,money because of greed.
The Question should be,why is Shooter not as successful as Romney?
Nobody is saying " Govt is all that's required for success.",what they imply is,and if you're honest you'd acknowledge-- Gov't is a necessary ingredient in everybody's success.Romney couldn't be this wealthy had it been he was in Afghanistan, Somalia given the what we now know how he made his money.
I hope you understand what Gov't is.
Shooter's just mad because we have government institutions -- the military, the courts, the police, etc. -- protecting his freedom. Keeps him in a perpetually bad and trollsome mood.
Nobody is saying " Govt is all that's required for success".
That's true but certainly not what Shooter has chosen to believe. His world revolves around creating an invisible enemy he can sit in a chair and yell at.
It's ALL or NOTHING with his crowd, so saying that government is an ingredient in everyone's success doesn't fit his narrative therefore, it must be ignored.
People ike The Blank are not merely anarchistic, they are dangerously close to nihilism.
WOW This Shooter Troll is really really stupid and really lame.
Better TROLLS please!
From what we have heard about Mitt, he's the go-to neighbor when you have lost your dog. He'll drop everything, organize the neighborhood kids to join the hunt, and get some posters at Staples for the telephone phone poles.
On the on the other hand, if your state is underwater, he's the go-to guy for a phone number.
a rising sea will raise all luxury yachts
Yes, I still don't get why the rising water comment was funny. That's all nice and good to help families but what he said was like putting the cart in front of the horse.Families all over the globe are very concerned about global warming and it concerns many as to why elected officials are turning a deaf ear to this very serious issue. Anyone that takes so lightly the state of our air, water and Earth shouldn't be in any position of authority.
Romney cannot think off the cuff, he must analyze every thought or he blurt's out something like go home and call 211 when the woman had no home.It's a wonder he did'nt tell her,if your looking for a handout you've come to the wrong guy. Just how would he be in a real chrisis when he does'nt have week's to analyze it?My guess is he would make the wrong decision.While at Bain he had all the time in the world as to what to invest in,not so much in the dangerous world that we live in.His so called economic prowess is not the only thing we should expect in a President, we need someone that can think on his/her feet and make the right decision's.Romney is clearly not that man.
As president, RMoney will NOT have a need to think on his feet. All needed of Mittens is to keep smiling/smirking and sign the papers that others place in front of him.
His campaign would not allow him to just fly over the place in his jet and look out the window , maybe that would have worked out better?
Presidential candidate Dullard Romney attempts manual prefrontal lobe stimulation as non-wealthy human asks for advice. Film at 11.
As any graduate of the Harvard Business School will tell you, the CEO's duty of any company is not to the employees or the customers, it is to the shareholders. In Romney's world view the little people are America's customers or maybe it's employees. Its shareholders are the people who donate 7 figures to Republican superpacs. We have discovered that Romney sucks at retail sales, but a CEO doesn't have to produce for the customer if the shareholders continue receiving large dividend checks.
Re: #8
Absolutely agree.
The other thing to remember is that if the company fails, the CEO just moves on to a different company - having lost nothing.
@maphi...
With a 'golden parachute'. Why are you insulting Carli Fiorini? She has accomplished nothing to deserve what she has gotten.
From the Huffington Post:
and...
Please stick to the whole thing. One thing I can't stand about the media is when things are left out (intentionally) that piece the story together.
I don't like Romney, and the comment to call 211 rather shows his disconnect, but on the same token, he did show a little compassion by being somewhat reassuring. Something else had to have been said to her to come to her impression and conclusion about the visit.
Unfortunately, Romney can't do anything for her, and he should have known that. He's spewing the standard line given to anyone involved in a disaster.
What Jindal didn't do, is properly brief Romney on what to say. Romney needs supervision wherever he goes, you'd think they'd learn by now.
You have a duty to tell "the rest of the story." You clearly missed it, here.
Isn't the point that his advice to her was absolutely useless? Once she's out of the glare of the public spotlight, she's going to come to realize that telling her to go to her non-existent home and call 211 from her non-working phone is about as useful as advice to pick better parents.
For all the feel good glow she got in that first 5 minutes she's going to be hitting a wall of reality in less than 24 hours. Mitt will have forgotten all about the encounter.
And I thought the free market was the solution to all this ? and that mitt is the representative of exactly that philosophy , yet he had nothing , he could have dipped into one of his cayman accounts and opened a soup kitchen as an example , wtf mit? Or is his CHARITY not allowed for those sinners outside his religion?
What is he going to do for her, he is not the President and has no say in anything. Did he write her a personal check? Why was this woman so impressed, did he help her, I would think she know who to call for assistance Captain Obvious.
They are just so disingenuous.
what the full quote shows is that Southern whites are MORONS. She actually believes that baloney???
That 211 thing is standard procedure for those types of disasters (stupid, yes cause the lines are down, but a process still). All coastal communites have hurricane prepardness plans and recovery procedures. They also constantly remind their residents to have personal plans in place (usually to cover X days). what is stupid is to live there and NOT heed these warnings and then run to the nearest politician for help.
Romney has no more power than a common citizen in this situation.
I'm sure the president will do better with his photo-op this afternoon.
Wouldn't any reasonable competent person, when planning a visit to a disaster area where there will be person-to-person photo-ops, get some basic information so that they could speak to the crisis.
If nothing else, when confronted with a person who has lost their home say, "You are not alone. We will help you recover. Your governor standing right here is heading up recovery and he and his staff people will provide all the information and help you need."
"Call 211" is sooooooooooo far below lame!
He should have come up with better - or his campaign staff should have come up with better and prepared him!!
Idiot.
This is what I was thinking also. A competent administrator is going to be asking questions like crazy, and picking the brains of every resource person they can find. With Jindal standing right there, there should have been more information given to the lady as to what to do immediately. Where are the first responders? Disaster plan? How competent is Jindal?
Good to know that if my house is ever destroyed by a natural disaster, and my home and cellphone are not working, I can go on the journey to find a working payphone, and dial 211. My prayers have been answered!! Thanks Mitt!!
"And you say you are out of food? - no problem, head to nearest bakery and buy some cake"
And Jindal angling for federal funds for levees is even more offensive, given that he was the guy who wanted to cut federal volcano-related funding.
Although Chiarello seems to have been satisfied with Romney (per comment #9), she doesn't seem to be the best word-of-mouth advertisement and it does seem that Romney missed an opportunity.
Here was his chance to say that he understood this devastating loss and that under his presidency, they would help people like her who would re-"build" it. For someone who is reluctant to acknowledge the role of government, it seems ironic that Romney just referred her to 211. It would be interesting to see if there was an improvement between how he responded at the beginning and end of his visit.
I haven't paid that much attention to Obama's reserve, since I perceive him as someone who cares about the obstacles facing working Americans. Although, to be honest, I think Biden, despite his gaffes, excels in responding to people with warmth in the face of adversity. After losing his family, I think he's probably the one who can really understand if someone tells them they lost everything.