“The President today directed his team to coordinate with Louisiana officials to determine an appropriate time for him to visit, and together they have determined that the President will visit Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Tuesday, August 23rd”, a statement Friday afternoon from White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest reads.
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Obama opted to stay on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of MA, for the second of two weeks of vacation with his family as he did two years ago, when riots erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, during his annual trip.
Bonnie Nastasi, a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans specializing in school psychology, said addressing the disruption of children’s lives is as important as helping them with the initial trauma they experienced during the flooding.
Phinney, who said he was not always on the Trump Train, was impressed Mr. Trump genuinely “wanted to know percentages of homes damaged in the area, around about how many would have flood insurance”.
President Barack Obama announced plans to visit flood victims in Baton Rouge, Louisiana just hours after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited the state on Friday.
The White House also says the president, while in Martha’s Vineyard, received updates on Louisiana’s flood devastation from U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate, both of whom made separate trips to Louisiana.
Aides to Obama brushed off comparisons, arguing that a presidential visit too soon after the floods would take up the time and energy of local officials while they were still in rescue mode.
“Disasters don’t have political boundaries”, Landrieu said.
Earlier this week, Louisiana Governor Bel Edwards indicated he was receiving sufficient federal support and suggested that fellow Democrat Obama should wait until the situation stabilized before visiting.
The newspaper did give credit to the president for quickly responding when the state requested a federal disaster designation for much of its southern areas. It also came after Friday’s visit to the region by Republican nominee Donald Trump, who called for a more robust national response.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards’ office said Trump had not called to discuss plans for his visit, but that the NY businessman was welcome to volunteer or make a sizable donation towards helping victims. He said 102,000 people have registered for federal help. He said, “Instead, we hope he’ll consider volunteering or making a sizable donation … to help the victims of this storm”.
“Sometimes, presidential visits can get in the way of emergency response, doing more harm than good”.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton called Edwards to get a briefing on the damage, and posted shortly afterward on Facebook about their call.
“Right now, the relief effort can t afford any distractions”, Clinton said. “We welcome him to LA but not for a photo-op”.
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“Any great leader’s going to want to put his feet on the ground”, Stermer said.
