Now that the flood waters ravaging Louisiana are receding, it's time for President Barack Obama to visit the most anguished state in the union.
Last week, as torrential rains brought death, destruction and misery to Louisiana, the president continued his vacation at Martha’s Vineyard, a playground for the posh and well-connected.
We’ve seen this story before in Louisiana, and we don’t deserve a sequel. In 2005, a fly-over by a vacationing President George W. Bush became a symbol of official neglect for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The current president was among those making political hay out of Bush’s aloofness.
[Flashback, 1964: Listen to phone conversation between Sen. Russell Long and President Johnson as the senator begs for the president's help.]
Sometimes, presidential visits can get in the way of emergency response, doing more harm than good. But we don’t see that as a factor now that flood waters are subsiding, even if at an agonizing pace. It’s past time for the president to pay a personal visit, showing his solidarity with suffering Americans.
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Like his predecessors, Obama has no doubt discovered that crises keep their own calendar, even when commanders-in-chief are trying to take some time off the clock. It’s an inconvenience of the presidency, but it’s what chief executives sign up for when they take the oath of office.
And if the president can interrupt his vacation for a swanky fundraiser for fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, as he did on Monday, then surely he can make time to show up for a catastrophe that’s displaced thousands.
It’s a familiar sight to Louisianians: flooring, furniture and drywall heaped next to street…
The optics of Obama golfing while Louisiana residents languished in flood waters was striking. It evoked the precedent of the passive federal response to the state’s agony in 2005, a chapter of history no one should ever repeat.
The president acted prudently in officially declaring a disaster for the flooded part of the state, a key step in advancing federal aid. We’ve been heartened so far by the active involvement of Craig Fugate, head of Federal Emergency Management Agency, a far cry from FEMA’s hapless Michael Brown in the days after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was slated to visit Louisiana today to assess the damage.
But a disaster this big begs for the personal presence of the president at ground zero. In coming here, the president can decisively demonstrate that Louisiana’s recovery is a priority for his administration – and the United States of America.
The president’s vacation is scheduled to wrap up on Sunday. But he should pack his bags now, and pay a call on communities who need to know that in a national catastrophe, they are not alone.
The president’s presence is already late to this crisis, but it’s better later than never.
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Photos: Friends, family, neighbors lend helping hands -- and hugs too -- after Louisiana flood
As Louisiana begins to rebuild after the 2016 flood, scenes of friends, family and neighbors helping one another have become bright spots amid tragic loss.
Families displaced by flooding are unloaded on dry ground after being rescued from the Hebron Baptist Church by the Louisiana Army National Guard in Walker, La., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. About 200 people were taken to the church by the fire department on Friday and Saturday then became stranded as flood waters continued to rise. (AP Photo/Max Becherer) ORG XMIT: LAMB120
Raymond Lieteau takes photos his flood damaged home in Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Lieteau had more than five feet of water in his home. At least 40,000 homes were damaged and eight people killed in the historic Louisiana floods, the governor said Tuesday, giving a stark assessment of the widespread disaster.(AP Photo/Max Becherer) ORG XMIT: LAMB118
David Key looks at water out of his master bedroom windows in his flooded home in Prairieville, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Key, an insurance adjuster, fled his home as the flood water was rising with his wife and three children and returned today to assess the damage. (AP Photo/Max Becherer) ORG XMIT: LAMB105
Danny Lemoine, 48, helps clean the home of his friend, Raymond Lieteau, in Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. The home had more than five feet of water in his home. At least 40,000 homes were damaged and eight people killed in the historic Louisiana floods, the governor said Tuesday, giving a stark assessment of the widespread disaster. (AP Photo/Max Becherer) ORG XMIT: LAMB122
Danielle Blount carries her 3-month-old baby Ember to a truck from the Louisiana Army National Guard as they evacuate the area near Walker, La., after heavy rains inundated the region, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Max Becherer) ORG XMIT: LAMB130
Members of the Louisiana Army National Guard load 3-month-old baby Ember Blount onto a truck as they rescue people from rising floodwater near Walker, La., after heavy rains inundated the region, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)
Daniella Letelier puts wet family photos out to dry as she cleans her flood damaged home in Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Letelier had more than five feet of water in her home. At least 40,000 homes were damaged and eight people killed in the historic Louisiana floods, the governor said Tuesday, giving a stark assessment of the widespread disaster. (AP Photo/Max Becherer) ORG XMIT: LAMB127
Christine Morris, 19, a volunteer organized by a local Baton Rouge church, helps throw out waterlogged boards from the home of Rhonda Brewer in Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Around 100 students from LSU and local high schools also helped residents clean up in the area. At least 40,000 homes were damaged and eight people killed in the historic Louisiana floods, the governor said Tuesday, giving a stark assessment of the widespread disaster. (AP Photo/Max Becherer) ORG XMIT: LAMB130
Hannah McLain, 22, a volunteer organized by a local Baton Rouge church, helps throw out waterlogged items from the home of Rhonda Brewer in Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Around 100 students from LSU and local high schools also helped residents clean up in the area. At least 40,000 homes were damaged and eight people killed in the historic Louisiana floods, the governor said Tuesday, giving a stark assessment of the widespread disaster. (AP Photo/Max Becherer) ORG XMIT: LAMB129
From left, rescuer Ernie LeBlanc of Plaquemine helps Melissa Alphonso, and Lake Settlement's Camryn Moore, 10, and mom Camie Moore, aided disembarking from floodwaters onto La. 431 in St. Amant by rescuers Jarrod Troxclair and Michael Berry, a nearby resident, during flooding Monday, Aug. 15, 2016 in Ascension Parish. Alphonso, who had come to stay with the Moores, said she had actually been rescued several times in the past days, because of flooding in other parishes.
Eric Broussard, left, thanks a volunteers boatsman, whose name he believed was 'Jim,' after Broussard got a ride to check on his cars, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016 in the Brittany area of south Gonzales near Sorrento, off Airline Highway at La. 30 in Ascension Parish.
From left, Dwayne Mayers helps Wickliff Mayers work large bricks under Wickliff's refrigerator to raise it above the water in his kitchen, as friend Tama Tullier and Wickliff's wife Cathy Mayers secure the Lake Ridge Ave. house as best they can, in the Lake Park subdivision in south Gonzales near Sorrento, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016 as a result of flooding in Ascension Parish.
From left, Ronnie Garlepied, his wife Kim Garlepied with 'Emma,' Tiffany Schloer with 'Jassy Mae,' son Anthony Garlepied and Russell Williams maneuver their boat in a ditch and past obstructions, in a front yard along Harry Savoy Road in St. Amant, Monday Aug. 15, 2016 in Ascension Parish. The Garliepieds and Schloer are from the Lake Settlement neighborhood.