Staggering Tornado Damage in the South Low On President Obama's Priority List

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WHEN IT COMES TO CHOOSING THE KIND OF MASSIVE DISASTER YOU'D rather confront if you must and pray to live through---hurricane, earthquake, horrendous flooding like the ones we had in Nashville May 1 of last year--- few devastation's can compare to a killer tornado. When a swarm of killer Ts strike, it's even more frightening, devastating as it moves through the land seemingly randomly.

Just ask the City of Tuscaloosa which has suffered a gargantuan event they will be long in completely recovering from. These people need our prayers and kindest generous thoughts and actions in the wake of this.

Now for the political part: There was a time when presidents clearly struggled to feel a community's pain and suffering in the aftermath of these kind of events, would call an impromptu press conference, drop everything and plan a personal visit to assess the damage. If the president was too busy with another crisis, he would send someone in his stead. For better or worse we've come to expect these kind of gestures.

So far it's not the case here. Conveying sympathy---which President Obama did briefly yesterday however sincerely---is clearly low on his to do list. Higher priorities call.

It's unfortunate. It's a scandal of shameless self-promotion. And while, there's nothing wrong with a degree of self-promotion, it's definitely has it's time and place. Yesterday, the president flew off to Chicago to appear on Oprah, then went full tilt with three fund raisers back in Manhattan for his re-election campaign. According to WSJ:

The night began with the smallest event and the biggest donors, and ended with Mr. Obama’s most partisan and most passionate call to action, delivered to a larger, younger crowd that paid less to get in the door.

He argued that the budget debate ongoing in Washington was fundamentally a clash of values, implying that Republicans have a “vision of a small America.” The Democratic vision is an America where citizens care for one another, he said.

What can be said here is that, while conservatives in Washington struggle to cut back on federal spending because they don't want a vision of a bankrupt America, Mr. Obama characterizes the GOP vision as small.

What a terrible shame and myth of the grandest proportion.

Let me get to the point: Mr. Obama is running very fast and hard for a second term in an office he has very little time and interest assuming. He knows his strengths lie more in running and self-promotion than leading and governing in the office to which he's been elected. So that's what he's doing---come hell or killing tornados.

Mr. Obama is on a roll running as The Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.

As such, in my book, he doesn't deserve another term in office using his position to non-stop self-promote a year-and-a-half before his re-election bid.