President Obama Unlikely To Halt Vacation To Visit Flooded Louisiana

Members of the Louisiana Army National Guard help place sandbags to protect the city hall in Lake Arthur, La., Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016. (Scott Clause/The Daily Advertiser via AP)
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EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — President Barack Obama is unlikely to break from a New England vacation to survey flood damage in Louisiana, despite calls for him to visit and meet with responders and victims.

The White House insists Obama is not indifferent to the suffering of thousands who were washed out of their homes in the Baton Rouge and Lafayette areas of the state. At least 13 people have died as a result of the flooding, and at one point 11,000 were in shelters. That number has dropped as water levels have receded.

In an editorial published Wednesday, The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge called on Obama to visit “the most anguished state in the union.” The newspaper noted that Obama interrupted his two-week vacation on Martha’s Vineyard earlier this week to attend a fundraiser for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on the Massachusetts island.

The newspaper said Obama can and should visit now that the once-raging floodwaters are receding.

“The president’s vacation is scheduled to wrap up on Sunday. But he should pack his bags now, and pay a call on communities who need to know that in a national catastrophe, they are not alone,” the editorial said. “The president’s presence is already late to this crisis, but it’s better later than never.”

Obama has issued no public or written statements about the flooding. The White House said he has been receiving regular updates and briefings on the situation throughout the vacation, including from Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. Obama also approved a federal disaster declaration for affected areas of the state.

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate visited Louisiana on Wednesday, and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was visiting Thursday.

“As the president told Gov. Edwards over the weekend, the community of Baton Rouge has faced a difficult, even tragic, summer but can count on the ongoing prayers and unwavering support of the president and their fellow Americans in their time of need,” White House spokeswoman Jennifer Friedman said.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Notable Replies

  1. So now trump can call the floods “Obama’s Katrina!”

  2. This seems like an odd choice for the president. Why wouldn’t he visit the state?

  3. Speaking as former Coast Guard…

    What do they expect him to do exactly? It’s not like him visiting is going to make the situation better or cause peoples’ homes to be undamaged or the dead to come back to life.

    It’s basically a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

    He either cuts his vacation short and conservative assholes say “He’s using people’s suffering as a photo op, he doesn’t care!”, or “See he doesn’t care he’s just playing golf! Wake up America!!!”

    Now when Bush sat on his ass and the Commandant of the Coast Guard had to make the command decision to mobilize, while it was nearly a week before Bush finally admitted he was bungling it… That was leadership and showing that “people are not forgotten”

    Oh yeah where was Bush when Katrina made landfall… 27 days into a vacation in Texas.

  4. As with all things political, it’s about the optics. Now with Trump and Pence going there and the president still on vacation it only looks worse.

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