Louisiana floods expose bad behavior by Obama, media

For many days now, I’ve been looking for a couple of apologies.

First, I’ve tried to find real expression of regret from President Barack Obama for his unjust criticism of his predecessor.

Obama said George W. Bush “only saw the people (Katrina victims) from the window of an airplane instead of down here on the ground,” and that was a lie.

Two days after the former president viewed the devastation from Air Force One, he was on the ground there comforting victims, thanking first responders, meeting with governors and local officials and overseeing the coordination of federal and state relief efforts.

Recent floods, which began on Aug. 12, encompassed most of southern Louisiana, destroyed or damaged more than 110,000 homes, wrought unimaginable human suffering and caused an estimated $20 billion in losses. Total rainfall was three times as much as fell on the state from Katrina.

Obama finally showed up there 11 days later after the flooding started.

It seems that interrupting his posh Martha’s Vineyard vacation, golfing with celebrities and NBA players, attending a fundraising event for Hillary Clinton and, according to the White House press office, catching up on summer reading meant he just couldn’t make it to the disaster area.

After that many days had passed in the Katrina response, Bush had taken responsibility for all of it, good and bad, and was daily leading and prioritizing the recovery efforts of the entire executive branch of government.

But there has been no retraction from Obama for his outrageous political denigration of Bush — at least as far as I can find.

The second apology I’ve been looking for is any such expression from the mainstream national media that thoroughly castigated Bush, even declaring his “failures” as ruining his presidency.

Instead, we have seen scant criticism of the president from the likes of the television news networks and leading newspapers across the country.

But, of course, they’ve spent the last eight years defending him at almost every turn, so why would we expect this to be any different?

Two things finally got their attention.

First, Louisiana’s largest newspaper called on Obama, regardless of any offer from the governor for a delay, to come to the state and show some leadership.

“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,” reads the Aug. 17 editorial from The Advocate in Baton Rouge.

“And if the president can interrupt his vacation for a swanky fundraiser for fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton … then surely he can make time to show up for a catastrophe that’s displaced thousands.”

Then there’s the 18-wheeler full of relief supplies, along with a $100,000 check that Donald Trump brought to help Louisiana’s suffering residents.

The media derided the delivery of children’s toys among the crates of essentials as a way of ridiculing his good will.

That was until the state’s chief Democrat expressed appreciation for what Trump did.

“We welcome him here,” declared Gov. John Edwards in a CNN interview. “It helped to shine a spotlight on Louisiana and the dire situation we have here.”

But the greater response came from the people there. Emotional expression of gratefulness for what Trump did was their overwhelming reaction.

People crowded around him, gathered in front of destroyed homes cheering, “We knew you’d be here.”

So, I’m still looking for some admission from the president and his adoring media that they both are guilty of practicing a double standard in a natural disaster.

If Republicans are in office, they are failures. If Democrats, the same conduct is either ignored or becomes managed to make them look good.

This story was originally published August 26, 2016 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Louisiana floods expose bad behavior by Obama, media."