Obama dismissed such criticism, saying: “This is not a photo-op issue”. “I need all Americans to stay focused on this”, said Obama, after he had spent a week focused instead on golfing on Martha’s Vineyard and attending a campaign fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. Will you generously give to begin rebuilding homes and lives in Louisiana? The timing, amid a heated presidential campaign, drew barbs from some local officials and Republican political opponents, including GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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Gausman said the donations will go to the Baton Rouge Area Foundation Flood Relief Fund. Donations will be accepted for the next two weeks, and Gausman will personally donate $15,000 in addition to the funds that are raised.
Too little too late, Mona Gaspard said of Obamas visit. “Even my fiancée’s cousin, they have a newborn baby, and she woke up in the middle of the night and put her feet down and there was standing water in their bedroom”. I saw him play golf, not helping out over here.
She said that this strength in community mirrors that of her home in Saskatchewan.
Others were far less critical.
Piles of debris stretched for miles in some parishes, with the inside of homes torn up and deposited on their front lawns, the mildewed stench wafting through neighborhood streets. Her husband is staying with his mother and the family’s two dogs.
Going door-to-door and trailed by cameras, he offered sympathy to residents as they took a break from the cleanup to talk about the damage. “I’m just glad he’s here”, Nungesser told MSNBC in an interview. In 2005, then-President George W. Bush was faulted by critics for flying over but not touching down in Louisiana in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, a decision he years later described as a mistake.
President Obama speaks during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday, July 27, 2016.
“One of the benefits of being five months short of leaving here is that I don’t think much about politics”, he said.
The president praised the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its efforts coordinating a federal response, which he said has already reached $127 million in assistance.
Louisiana officials aimed for bipartisan support and unity as they turned to the task of rounding up federal money for their state.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards cleared up any miscommunication between himself and the president. David Vitter and Bill Cassidy, U.S. Reps.
During the visit, Governor Edwards asked the President for additional help, like reducing the state’s share of the damage costs.
Obama has been under pressure for days to visit after flooding killed at least 13 people and displaced thousands from their homes this month. “I’m looking for every option where we can keep everybody here, keep our community together as much as we possibly can”.
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“Very close friends and people who have become family to me have literally lost everything”. He also was criticized for not coming to the city after Sterling’s shooting, which was followed by demonstrations and the killing of police officers in the Baton Rouge area.
