Obama's "Tinkle-Stop Tour" of NOLA by: Louisiana 1976 Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 01:59:25 AM CDT Today Obama will be making an extremely short stop in New Orleans. Or what my favorite NOLA blogger calls a "tinkle-stop tour." In New Orleans, he'll be visiting a charter school and participating in a town hall meeting in the Lower 9th Ward. In contrast, his next stop will be San Francisco, where he'll be spending four times as much time--16 hours. This has caused Harry Shearer to say, Total elapsed time in SF: sixteen hours.  They must have experienced a hell of a federal disaster there.  Four times worse, you figure? Louisiana 1976 :: Obama's "Tinkle-Stop Tour" of NOLA But the four hours Obama is spending in New Orleans means he won't: *Be seeing any of the rest of of New Orleans' devastated areas--more of that city was damaged by the Federal Flood than merely the Lower 9th; *Be checking out the work on New Orleans' levees--considered vitally important by New Orleanians and anyone else concerned about New Orleans' safety from future flooding. This is something he should keep abreast of as the Commander-in-Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers; *Be flying over Louisiana's disappearing coast, which has been washing away at a rate of a football field every half hour; *Be visiting Mississippi and the Louisiana areas still struggling to recover from Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike--an omission which has been one of the most controversial things about the briefness of Obama's visit. Stan Tiner even goes so far as to ask, Is the Mississippi Coast invisible? Indeed, Obama's "Tinkle-Stop Tour" is being compared to Bush's "fly-over" trip when he couldn't be bothered with visiting the disaster zone. Some may blow what I have to say off by saying Obama as a Senator and a candidate made five visits to New Orleans--but nothing can match the prestige of a meaningful presidential visit with its symbolism of a presidential commitment to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. It is a shame that while Bush of that first fly-over and his empty promises managed to visit Louisiana and Mississippi 13 times and made it to all three 8/29 anniversaries in both states, Obama is just making this "Tinkle-Stop Tour" after not having made it to the anniversary of Katrina and the federal flood. And the fact that Teddy Kennedy's funeral happened to take place on that day is immaterial--the point is that even had it not taken place, Obama had made no plans at all to visit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, instead planning to stay at Martha's Vineyard where he was on vacation. So, he owes New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Region one--and it's time for him to get some skin in the game and live up to his promises there Tags: New Orleans, louisiana, Mississippi, Hurricane Katrina, Federal Flood, Barack Obama, (All Tags) Print Friendly View Send As Email Obama's "Tinkle-Stop Tour" of NOLA | 3 comments by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment A comment (0.00 / 0) If not for NO/Katrina, Obama might not be visiting the state at all. Although I haven't researched this, my impression is, Obama has spent very little time in the deep South states that voted for McCain in 2008. If this is true; it is probably because: - The White House doesn't see that spending time there is a good political investment - ConservaDems in those states have not been asking Obama to make an appearance; and may even be asking that he NOT make an appearance in their states. That's just conjecture, but it wouldn't surprise me if all of that is true. by: EarthTone @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 02:04:46 AM UTC by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment All we deserve is a tinkle stop (0.00 / 0) What I thought most interesting about The President's visit and his comments was how he treated the people of the region with kid gloves. He never once said we had to do anything. He never mentioned that we voted time after time for commissioners, Congressmen, Governors, Mayors and "Stewards", who have been asleep for decades when it comes to our ecology, infrastructure and accountability. He never once challenged the populace of this region to wake up, learn more and become more active in their own best interest at the ballot and at the public meeting. I hear over and over how the rest of the country has forgotten us and neglected us. The rest of the country knew more about Louisiana's wetlands and coasts than the people here did. Why is that, because they were interested and informed than the people in this region. In the Nineties, while I was still living in California, I was aware of Bob Livingston and his abysmal record on land management and ecology. He also fought to hold back the rest of the states who wanted remedy. Perhaps when Louisiana stops sending Vitters, Livingstons, Bushes, Scalises (is that a word) to Washington, and spends a little more time themselves cleaning up their own act, we can then ask others to join us and spend a little more time here. by: ljblinddog @ Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 22:00:59 PM UTC [ Parent ] by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment A follow-up to that... (0.00 / 0) I said the following in a comment on DailyKos: • Obama noted in his speech that: "Over the last nine months, we've sent more Cabinet members to this region than almost anywhere else in the country - not just to make appearances, but to listen, learn, and help you move forward." So even if the Commander in Chief hasn't been there, the troops have been on the ground. That's much more important than the time Obama spends there. • To echo an earlier comment: it's not about Obama's face time in NOLA, it's about, has he improved things for the area, either (a) relative to the previous administration, or (b) in general. The White House is saying they've done better, and the overall impression seems to be, more and beeter progress is being made... but not as much as people would like. If true: Obama overall needs to get credit. FYI, a PDF from the White House on its Katrina and NOLA efforts is here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/asse... • Despite what Obama is or is not doing: there is a belief - perhaps widespread, perhaps not - that issues at the state and local level are huge, even over-arching problems, in getting things fixed. If that's true: perhaps state and local officials need more face to face time with each other, than face time with Obama. IF that's true. by: EarthTone @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 23:47:01 PM UTC [ Parent ] by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment Obama's "Tinkle-Stop Tour" of NOLA | 3 comments

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