In Times of unprecedented regional disasters our absentee president takes multple vacations.

[Borg warner]

Catching Rays as Maui Burns: Biden’s Katrina Moment?
The Messenger online news  08/16/23 
Joe Concha

It was the moment when everything went south permanently for the 43rd president: George W. Bush, who once had an approval rating of 90% after 9/11 and above 70% at the onset of the Iraq War in 2003, was suddenly seen by many Americans as an apathetic, aloof leader at a time of immense tragedy following an unprecedented disaster. 

Hurricane Katrina killed nearly 1,400 Americans when it hit New Orleans in August 2005. Americans watched on television as people clung to their rooftops, hoping to be rescued. Footage shot from helicopters showed the devastation after several levees failed to hold. The Superdome, home of the NFL's Saints, had become a grotesque shelter, with no plumbing, temperatures soaring into the 90s, and food rotting after the power went out with no backup generators to speak of. 

Bush had been re-elected — narrowly — just 10 months prior. His approval rating had begun to nosedive as the Iraq War dragged on with no end in sight, falling 26 points from where it had been at the start of the war to 45%. IEDs were either killing or maiming American soldiers daily, and Iraq itself was in an unofficial civil war as Sunnis and Shiites jockeyed for power. Bush had been seen as a down-to-earth, compassionate conservative, especially after 9/11. But one photo changed everything — a photo from which his presidency never really recovered. 

Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Texas when Katrina struck. As the reports and images came pouring out of New Orleans, Bush decided to return to Washington, D.C. — but not before Air Force One did a flyover of the battered Louisiana.

The photo of Bush peering out the plane window down at the ruin Katrina had inflicted — combined with his administration’s ham-handed response to the emergency —dropped like a bomb.  USA TODAY declared: “A compassionate Bush was absent right after Katrina.”The New York Times said Bush critics characterized the fly-over as “an imperial act removed from the suffering of the people below.” CBS News asked bluntly: “What if They Were White?”   You get the point. 

Fast forward to August 2023: Wildfires engulf the island of Maui, causing mass devastation that has led to nearly 100 dead, making it one of the deadliest fires the U.S. has experienced in over a century. Sirens that were supposed to be triggered never went off. Officials sent text message warnings that never got to many who needed them because power and cell towers were down. 

President Biden, having just returned to the White House from a 10-day vacation at his beach house in Delaware on Aug. 7, was back in Rehoboth this past weekend on Aug. 11 for more rest and relaxation. The reports of profoundly grim news continued out of Maui: 96 confirmed dead, but close to 1,000 people still missing. The commander in chief had not made any public comments since returning to his beach house on Friday afternoon. But on Sunday, Bloomberg reporter Justin Sink posted the following on X, the newly-branded version of Twitter: 

"After a couple hours on the Rehoboth beach, @potus was asked about the rising death toll in Hawaii. ‘No comment,’ he said before heading home.” (For his afternoon nap?) Wait... no comment? 

Nothing about “thoughts and prayers” being with the residents of Maui? Nothing about the federal government providing all the resources it can in the search for the missing? No updates on what the Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing on the ground? Nothing about asking Americans to donate in this time of need? 

No comment? Sink's post, which has been viewed more than 7 million times, included a photo of Biden sitting on the beach with the first lady and others. Later on Sunday, when reporters asked again about the rising death toll on Maui, Biden stared for a moment at the press pool before again responding, "No comment," then smiling as he got into his motorcade.  Rest assured — as we saw with George W. Bush, who left his vacation to go back to Washington — if this were a Republican president acting this way, cable news personalities would be losing their minds in outrage and condemnation. 

According to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D), 2,200 structures in Maui have been destroyed as a result of the wildfires, with 86% of those structures being residential. 

This is precisely the role Joe Biden is supposed to be good at: playing the comforter in chief, the man who knows how to show empathy, given the family tragedies he himself has endured. Instead, for nearly a week, the only comments Biden made was through his social media feeds. 

"We're laser-focused on getting aid to survivors, including Critical Needs Assistance: a one-time $700 payment per household offering relief during an unimaginably difficult time," the POTUS account on X reads. "We have staff on the ground dedicated to helping survivors navigate the registration process." But was this the president himself speaking or jsut some staffer? And at Monday’s daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre botched the names of both Democratic U.S. senators from Hawaii and misgendered one of them. When asked about the president's response, Jean-Pierre attempted to explain that Biden had spoken with Sen. Mazie Hirono and Sen. Brian Schatz about the situation:

"Sen. Harino (sic), who I've said the president spoke to just last night," Jean-Pierre said. "He thanked the president for the immediate support the federal agencies have delivered for residents of Hawaii. ... And so has Sen. Schwartz, Scharts — Schatz."  After that, Jean-Pierre shared the news that Biden will be traveling to Lake Tahoe for ANOTHER vacation at the end of the week, scheduled to last six days. Finally, on Tuesday — after six days of silence on the topic — Biden addressed the Maui disaster during a visit to Wisconsin to tout his economic record: “My wife Jill and I are going to travel to Hawaii as soon as we can. That's what I've been talking to the governor about,” he said. “I don't want to get in the way, I've been to too many disaster areas, but I want to go and make sure they get everything they need. I want to be sure we don't disrupt the ongoing recovery efforts.”

Earlier this year, Biden promised to visit East Palestine, Ohio, after a toxic train derailment impacted drinking water and air in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Residents are still expressing deep concerns about the health risks. And to this day, the president has yet to visit. 

Needless to say, the optics here are horrible, arguably worse than those involving Bush and Katrina.  The president, hanging out on the beach, has never looked so detached, so impersonal, so uncaring. These are the kind of moments that could sink a presidency. (If the news media were covering it instead of covering it up)

And as Bush 43 will tell you, once that impression is made, (of an uncaring President) it's impossible to un-ring that bell.

 

[Mrs.Cicero]

He doesn't say anything because he is too demented to remember that the fires on Maui have killed a bunch of citizens at best, or to understand the question at all, at worst.

[El Spicoli]

For Allah's sake, leave Corn Pop alone!  This guy has dementia and is best btw 3p-5p, ice cream time.  Heck he probably doesn't even remember the 20 million in bribes from the Chinese.   CornPop economics is working or at least that is what he whispers.

[El Spicoli]

Borg, you are assuming the left cares.  They do not.  You think the left is gonna turn on their party?  There may be a few detractors (like RFK) but they would all tell you to pipe down and stop spewing misinformation.

[Valmet]

It may be better than having him actually involved 🤷‍♂️

[Batesmotel]

Send him to Southern California.

Hillary is coming!

[LostinTexas]

42 minutes ago, Batesmotel said:

Send him to Southern California.

Hillary is coming!

Yea, the old windbag,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, wait hurricane,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, wait, lots of hype and ends in disaster.

I'm out.