Sandy and the President

It remains in the media’s interest to continue reporting on the Sandy storm in the most alarming way possible.  This keeps us reading, watching and listening.

Many people enjoy the sensationalism because it makes their personal ‘survival’ stories more dramatic. Drama queens (and kings) absolutely want these news stories to be as sensational as possible. In fact, if a story read that the tropical storm caused the predictable flooding in subways, tunnels, and construction sites because of the new discovery of gravity, people would be offended. Of course low areas, tunnels, subways and the gigantic hole in the ground near Ground Zero flooded. When the water runs uphill; that is news. Trees fell down and boats were lifted out of the water. This is also routine during a hurricane. However, we want our sensational stories.

The deaths are terrible tragedies and we all mourn the loss of life. However, more people died on our highways the weekend before the storm. More will die on our highways in a single day. Yet, there is no hue and cry for people to stop driving. In fact, people demand that speeders and those running red lights should not be punished if caught on camera.

Comparing the news stories with the warning issued by the National Weather Service clearly shows how hard the media tried to sensationalize every NWS warning and prediction.

Watching the news last night was laughable. A newswoman stood across the street from a single parked car. The water level was not even high enough to reach the bottom of the car doors. She breathlessly reported that when they first arrived the water was higher. She went on to say, "It is like that other shot. When we arrived, things were much worse. That car was completely under water. The water was up to the trunk."  What kind of vehicle can have water 'up to the trunk' and also be completely submerged?

Another newswoman breathlessly reported that the hurricane Sandy had ripped off these awnings. Still another newsman was standing on the street to tell us that when he first arrived, the street was covered with water and now it had subsided. Although he street was muddy, there was no water. If this is the best that the media could find they should have reported that the damage was light and that the storm water quickly subsided or they should have ran an episode of M.A.S.H.

The print media can run the same few photos of the storm and continue to simply provide the doom and gloom stories But here is the thing.

An unintended consequence is that these stories can be the tie breaker at election time. The president and his staff had a lot of time to focus on the national response. Governors and power companies across the nation worked out plans before the storm made landfall. Both candidates were forced to shut down campaigning during the storm. Mr. Romney was left with nothing to do. Mr. Obama was presented with an opportunity to be presidential. Barring any missteps be President Obama, this could be the tie-breaker for the election. His actions will be compared with Republican President George Bush’s actions during Hurricane Katrina. In a sense, Mr. Bush’s actions will be tagged with Mr. Romney since they are both Republicans. (“This is how Republicans help people in a national emergency and this is how Democrats help people in a national emergency").

This election will be one that is analyzed in political science classes for decades to come, regardless of the outcome. Sandy presented the President with an opportunity.