President’s visit follows those of DHS Secretary, FEMA Administrator.
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Back at the White House, Obama administration officials insisted that President Barack Obama was focused on the Louisiana flood victims while on vacation.
“They’ve got to find something to criticize the president about”, said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
President Obama will tour flood-ravaged neighborhoods in Baton Rouge, La., on Tuesday and try to avoid the political minefields that the visit presents.
The deadly flooding left more than 40,000 homes damaged and thousands of families struggling to recover after having been displaced.
“Survivors of flooding aren’t well served by political discussion”, Earnest told reporters.
Almost 11 years ago, Hurricane Katrina’s crippling of New Orleans and the coasts of MS and Alabama demonstrated how political leaders can not afford to underestimate the gravity of responding to natural disasters with force and immediacy.
In 2012, Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney wasted no time in heading to Louisiana to see the damage from Hurricane Isaac. “They’re well served by a competent, effective, strong, coordinated government response”. And it dismissed criticism of Obama’s decision to stay away during the first week-and-a-half after the flooding as politically motivated.
The president did not interrupt his 16 day vacation to visit Louisiana after it was hit by historic flooding but made phone calls to federal officials in between his golf outings. As the rains stopped, Obama was slammed for his decision last week to continue vacationing on the MA island resort of Martha’s Vineyard and instead dispatch Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate to Louisiana. Earnest said local officials there “have said very positive things about the federal response” to the floods.
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“I think the effectiveness of the response thus far speaks for itself”, he said.
