Obama and Romney and Hurricane Sandy Relief

The response to the Hurricane Sandy victims by both presidential candidates has been measured and as good as can be expected. 

From a local blog I read on Wednesday:

The President moved immediately to provide support from FEMA and to lessen the burden of providing federal support. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey responded gratefully to the President and thanked him and his team for their prompt attention and support. As we know, the President is a Democrat and the Governor of New Jersey is a Republican.
 

OK. President Obama did his job. Maybe this is so praiseworthy because he has been on the campaign trail for months now and not so much looking presidential, especially with the negativity in his campaign. 

It was of note that President Obama stressed the importance of his message to relief agencies and the federal government - remove any red tape that may get in the way of helping our fellow Americans out.  Yes.  The president who has signed into law the most regulations - ever - is now asking for the red tape to ratchet down a bit.

Then the critique on Mitt Romney:

Governor Romney has mostly remained classy during this crisis as well. He has been using his campaign rallies to raise funds and collect food for the Red Cross. But alas, a national crisis has shifted focus off of the campaign.
 

"Mostly classy"?  Mitt Romney was scheduled to campaign in Ohio.  Instead of the planned rally, his campaign arranged to turn it into a food drive and the campaign encouraged everyone who was able to make a  financial donation to the Red Cross.  His campaign sent out emails all day long and into the evening - I received several - encouraging those that could to send a donation to Red Cross.

Why the qualifier? 

It is a sad fact that liberals across the Internet actually criticized Romney for the food drive.  Red Cross prefers financial donations and that is understandable.  They, however, said they were working with the Romney campaign.  Also, the Red Cross is not the only charity involved in assisting victims of disasters.  No doubt that the others would be grateful for help, too. 

When the top of the ticket leads with a strategy of negative personal attacks on his opponent because he has no good record to run on for re-election, as the president has done, this is to be expected from his supporters.  I learned long ago as a new parent, we adults lead by example. Too bad President Obama never learned that lesson.

Only one candidate is actually the sitting president.  The other was respectful of his role and didn't try to head to the disaster zone to clog things up.  You may have heard that NYC Mayor Bloomberg asked President Obama to not come to NYC as the city tries to get back on its feet.  Presidential entourages and security details create havoc anywhere they go and disaster scenes don't need the added confusion.  Bloomberg agreed that going to New Jersey and touring whereever Governor Christie took him was a better move.

Real leadership is not a photo op.  Real leadership is knowing the best decision to make, using common sense judgement and having the best interests of America at heart.  Mitt Romney remained far more than "mostly" classy.