Obama Uses Hurricane Sandy For Campaign Boost

The coming of Hurricane Sandy was the coming of a campaign bonus for Team Obama, as their reasoning went. Obama can score some points for appearing presidential as a natural disaster approached and reap some votes along the way.  Does that sound cynical?  No need to look any further than the photo op of President Obama sitting in the Situation Room in the White House, allegedly being briefed on the storm.

This is what Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News Channel Monday night:

It’s hard to look at this, playing the president, playing the Commander in Chief in what’s a natural disaster that really doesn’t require a lot of from the White House. It’s up to the governors mostly. The White House and the government release money. That’s all they do and he’s really good at releasing money.
 

That sums it up.

Team Obama is quite skilled in the posturing department.  We've seen the photos of them during the killing of bin Laden. "GM is alive and bin Laden is dead" is a nifty campaigning slogan for the president and vice president on the road.   No such photos are available, however, from the live feed of the murdering attacks by terrorists in Benghazi, Libya. 

"Well, he says he's not concerned about the impact on the elections," syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said about Obama and Hurricane Sandy on Monday's broadcast of "Special Report" on FOX News. "I'm sure he's very sincere on that. It is a little odd that he shows up in the briefing room, where he hasn't shown up in the briefing room for about, what, a month and a half? On Libya, or for everything else for that matter. Then you get the photo-ops of him in the Situation Room deploying, I guess, the utility crews who will restore power all over America. Whereas you would think he might want to use the Situation Room and had convene high level people during the nine hours our people were under attack in Benghazi."
 

This president and his administration invite cynicism. 

Both the Obama campaign and the Romney campaign have scaled back campaign events due to the storm and out of respect for its victims. The Romney campaign put a campaign bus to good use - gathering up emergency supplies and delivering them for those in need. Romney continues to ask those in attendance of his speeches to donate to recovery efforts.

Note this: Obama flew out of Washington, D.C. on Air Force One to Florida Sunday night as the storm approached. He then cancelled his campaign event with Bill Clinton in Tampa after landing there.  He decided it wouldn't look so good after all and returned to Washington. Not only was this a waste of taxpayer money but it invited the cynicism to build.

From the Romney campaign:

Today, Gov. Romney is scheduled to attend a storm relief event at the James S. Trent Arena in Kettering, Ohio, where he will be joined by Richard Petty and Randy Owen and help collect donations for storm-relief efforts:

Paul Ryan will be in Wisconsin to drop by the La Crosse Victory Center in La Crosse and the Hudson Victory Center in Hudson, where he will thank volunteers who are delivering or collecting items for storm relief efforts. All Wisconsin Victory Centers will collect donations for storm-relief efforts on Tuesday, Oct. 30 and Wednesday, Oct. 31:

Ann Romney will also attend events in Wisconsin and then travel to Iowa. She will visit the Green Bay Victory Office in Wisconsin, the Davenport Victory Center in Iowa as well as the Cedar Rapids Victory Office in Iowa, where she will participate in storm relief collection efforts. She will then attend a Victory Rally at the Temple for the Performing Arts in Des Moines, Iowa.
 

Seven days until Election Day.
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