When Hurricane Sandy hit, President Obama knew what he had to do. Just days before the presidential election, the president handed his campaign banner over to Vice President Joe Biden on Monday, with help from the man he has dubbed his 'Secretary of Explaining Stuff,' former President Bill Clinton.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Biden and Clinton teamed up at a campaign rally in the battleground state of Ohio this week, where they pushed for Democratic voters to get to the polls ahead of the November 6 election.
When faced with the intensifying storm, Obama cut short a planned campaign trip to Florida to deal with Hurricane Sandy instead.
'We went to Florida last night and he got up this morning and called me and said, 'I gotta go back right now. This storm is getting out of hand, I gotta handle it,' Clinton told the crowd of thousands at the Covelli Centre, an ice rink in Youngstown, Ohio. 'And I said 'Mr. President that is the right call.'
Clinton then took the opportunity to deliver a lengthy list of arguments against voting for Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Clinton joked that the audience was 'stuck' with him because his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 'has one of the two jobs in the government that doesn't permit you to be in politics.'
Ohio is a key state in the math that will decide the election and both Obama and Romney are blanketing the state in the final days leading up to the election.
'If we win Ohio, we win this election,' Biden told supporters, asking them to get out to vote.
According to Gallup, 15 percent of Obama's supporters have already voted and 33 percent intend to vote early, compared with 17 percent of Romney voters who have voted and 34 percent planning to vote.
Marilyn Ettinger, an Ohio woman standing inside the Covelli Centre as hail pounded outside, told the Tribune she had already voted, but was worried that the storm would prevent others from doing the same. She had driven an hour for the event.
Ettinger said she had already missed seeing Obama at another event in Cleveland due to weather and was disappointed he would not be in Youngstown. 'But the last time I saw Clinton was the last day before he won his second term, so I'm hoping that today I bring good luck to Obama.'
Meanwhile, as Hurricane Sandy came ashore on Monday night, the president placed calls to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Newark Mayor Corey Booker to offer his support and assistance according to ABC News.
'Obama called me last night around midnight to ask what else could be done and offered any other assets that we need,' Christie, a Republican, said on Good Morning America. 'I have to say the administration, the president himself and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate have been outstanding with us so far. We have a great partnership with them, and I want to thank the president personally for his personal attention to this.'
Christie's enthusiasm for Obama's leadership could put him at odds with members of his own party but he scoffed at the suggestion, saying anyone who expected him to put the party before the disaster in his home state did not know him.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelb | Nov 04, 2012, 06:02 PM EST
I suppose they pray to God on Sunday in some extreme evangelical church. I fail to understand how a fire service would allow a house to burn because the inhabitants were to poor to pay insurance or possibly burn to death for the same reason.My!! what good Christians they are. In Victoria(my state)a levy is added on building insurance policies and given to the FD in the case that a home owner has no insurance the FD would not know before dousing the fire and the property covered anyway.
EphraimKibbey | Nov 03, 2012, 07:29 PM EDT
seanomelb - Sean I know that living where you live and being a man of rational though patterns this is going to be mind-blowing for you but there are counties in the United States of America where the Fire Department is by subscription only. If you can afford to subscribe to it and your house catches fire a big red truck arrives with a bunch of guys to put out the fire. If you are too poor to subscribe, the truck arrives to make sure that your subscriber neighbors are not threatened but the guys just stand around watching your place burn. Need I add that these are counties run by the GOP with their aversion to taxes? So, sadly, your scenario could be all too real here.
seanomelb | Nov 02, 2012, 07:13 PM EDT
Would that mean Ephraim that Bain disaster would go door to door and ask for money before the rescue you?? Ya gotta laugh at poor old etch a sketch.
EphraimKibbey | Nov 01, 2012, 01:24 AM EDT
FastEddy - that was "badges." "We don't need no stinin' "badges!" My favorite quote was "Hey Hombre, You shoot hole in me!"
EphraimKibbey | Nov 01, 2012, 01:17 AM EDT
wjb1tex - Magical Mitt the Mendacious continues his bid for Liar in Chief. His very first ad here in Ohio was a Lie and he continues to Lie with the GM and Jeep ads. His staff said that they would not be restrained by the "fact-checkers" and they prove it with every thing they put out here in Ohio. I loved the GM CEO's comment about Romney living in an Alternate Universe. The Republican's haven't caught on to the idea that everything you do or say is now in cyberspace forever and can be fact checked by anyone with the internet in a few minutes. The truth will set us free!
EphraimKibbey | Nov 01, 2012, 01:03 AM EDT
seanomelb - Don't worry about FEMA, Romney has it covered with Bain Disaster Management, Inc. which he has based on the Cheney/Haliburton model. I especially liked the $5000 the Romney crew spent on "contributions" at Walmart and then handed out to his supporters so that they could hand it back to him for his "Non-Political" rally/photo op in Dayton, Ohio. Then there are REAL public servants really doing the jobs they were hired to do. Democrats, Republicans and BIG GOVERNMENT all working to help the people of America during a crisis that no State could handle alone. I'm feeling very nostalgic right now.
aloistmartin | Oct 31, 2012, 08:08 PM EDT
Bill Clinton needs to find some more ethical way of managing his Guilt !
seanomelb | Oct 31, 2012, 05:11 PM EDT
If Romney were president there'd be no FEMA. Obama is leading the disaster on the ground and was congratulated by Gov.Christie and Romney hides somewhere in Ohio.
FastEddy | Oct 31, 2012, 12:13 PM EDT
Biased? We not biased! We don' need no stinkin' bias!
Murph46 | Oct 31, 2012, 10:37 AM EDT
Wow! The convicted liar,and the dufus!
wjb1tex | Oct 31, 2012, 10:31 AM EDT
As I understand it Chrysler now exports Jeeps from the USA to other countries including China. Chrysler plans to produce Jeeps in China for sale in China. While they may not lose jobs if they make up the difference in sales lost to the China manufacturing they surely will not expand as quickly if they retained the manufacturing in the USA.
Frosty38 | Oct 31, 2012, 09:44 AM EDT
He is classy compared to the other guy. Which btw in 'THE VILLAGE SUN NEWSPAPER' today it is a great piece from the CEO of Chrysler tells workers Jeep production won't leave. Will not go to CHINA like the "Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney repeated a false report