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As the Gulf Coast awaits Hurricane Gustav, John McCain and Sarah Palin are traveling together in Mississippi for "briefings" and photo opportunities while Barack Obama chooses instead to mobilize his vast grassroots network of volunteers and contributors in the hope of actually doing something to help. It isn't clear what McCain and Palin hope to accomplish on their trip beyond making speeches and appearing before news cameras with their shirtsleeves rolled up, which as we know doesn't really help anyone. Indeed, some number of local officials and public safety personnel who could be helping with storm preparations will instead have to babysit McCain and Palin while they "assess the situation" and pose for photos. Obama chose not to openly criticize McCain for the trip, but did suggest that organizing aid rather than making a personal appearance might be a more useful allocation of everyone's resources: "The thing that I always am concerned about in the middle of a storm is whether we're drawing resources away from folks on the ground because the secret service and various security requirements sometimes it pulls police, fire and other departments away from concentrating on the job," Obama told the New York Times Sunday. In addition to its call on the Obama website for volunteers and contributors to help storm victims, the campaign also plans to mobilize its mammoth e-mail and cell-phone network of volunteers, contributors, and supporters both in the hurricane zone and around the United States to solicit aid. "What we want to do is we want to find out first from folks on the ground what is going to be most helpful...." Obama told CNN,"...I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary." The Obama website also includes emergency information for residents of affected areas which can be sent to others by e-mail. The 3:00 a.m. phone call came, and Obama answered it.
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
