Louisiana’s largest daily newspaper is calling on President Obama to cut his vacation in Martha’s Vineyard short so he can address the flooding that’s devastated the state in the worst natural disaster since Superstorm Sandy.
“Now that the flood waters ravaging Louisiana are receding, it’s time for President Barack Obama to visit the most anguished state in the union,” read the editorial published in The Advocate on Thursday. “Last week, as torrential rains brought death, destruction and misery to Louisiana, the president continued his vacation at Martha’s Vineyard, a playground for the posh and well-connected.”
President George W. Bush cut his vacation short by two days after Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of Louisiana. His assessing the flooding from above on Air Force One, however, was largely viewed as inadequate, CNN reported.
The Advocate warned Mr. Obama against repeating his predecessor’s mistakes.
“We’ve seen this story before in Louisiana, and we don’t deserve a sequel,” the paper wrote. “In 2005, a flyover by a vacationing President George W. Bush became a symbol of official neglect for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The current president was among those making political hay out of Bush’s aloofness.
“Like his predecessors, Obama has no doubt discovered that crises keep their own calendar, even when commanders in chief are trying to take some time off the clock,” it continued. “It’s an inconvenience of the presidency, but it’s what chief executives sign up for when they take the oath of office.”
Mr. Obama has been briefed on the response and recovery in Louisiana, but as of Thursday morning, there were no announced plans for the president to cut his vacation short.
The president said during a Monday night fundraiser for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton that first lady Michelle Obama “is very strict” about him not working while on vacation.
The Advocate argued that if the president could take time out of his trip to attend a “swanky” fundraiser, then he certainly could make time to show up for “a catastrophe that’s displaced thousands.”
“The optics of Obama golfing while Louisiana residents languished in flood waters was striking. It evoked the precedent of the passive federal response to the state’s agony in 2005, a chapter of history no one should ever repeat,” the paper said, adding that “a disaster this big begs for the personal presence of the president at ground zero.”
“The president’s vacation is scheduled to wrap up on Sunday. But he should pack his bags now, and pay a call on communities who need to know that in a national catastrophe, they are not alone,” the editorial concluded. “The president’s presence is already late to this crisis, but it’s better later than never.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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