Between August 10th and August 17th, Louisiana saw 30 inches of rain and thousands of homes were destroyed and people were killed. The public was angered that President Barack Obama chose to not interrupt his two week vacation to go visit the disaster scene. In addition, the storm was more powerful than anything scientists have seen and there was a lack of media coverage around the event. People were angered that the storm was something that has never been seen before, Obama chose to play golf instead of playing president, he made a late visit to Louisiana, and there was little media coverage.
Scientists believe that climate change was the cause of the storm. A storm of that size has a less than 3% chance to occur, although, due to climate change, the odds of a storm with such magnitude are ever increasing. The storm was caused by a low pressure system in The Gulf along with unusually warm temperatures. In addition, global warming is helping to increase the chances of a similar storm by half.
President Obama has a tendency to play golf when the nation is in need of leadership. For instance, Obama chose to play another round of golf after receiving information of the flooding in Louisiana. This is because Obama was playing his eighth round of golf at Martha’s Vineyard. Obama was on a two week vacation at the time of the flooding, and this is not the first time he has played golf at a time where the nation needs a response from the president.
In September of 2014, Obama went golfing again at Martha’s Vineyard after the American Journalist James Foley was beheaded by ISIS. Obama may be getting ready for his post presidency life of retirement after playing a reported 250 rounds in 2015. That is 211 more rounds than Tiger Woods played that year before having to stop and recover from his injuries. In addition, other big name PGA stars such as Bubba Watson, played less than 100 official rounds in the 2015 season. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump even invited Obama to play at one of his courses if Obama agreed to leave the Oval Office early. Despite how much time Obama spent on the course, he did eventually make it to Baton Rouge.
President Obama eventually made it to Louisiana, but not without some criticism. Some argue that the president waited too long to visit Baton Rouge, over a week after the initial flooding. This is because Presidential Candidate Donald Trump mocked the president on Twitter for being late during his visit four days earlier. This is because Obama being in his last year of office often referred to as the “lame duck” period, has been very lackadaisical on presidential duties. As a result some feel that Obama’s visit was unnecessary and “too little, too late.”
Some are also frustrated with the lack of media attention surrounding the flood. The summer Olympics took most of the media spotlight in the month of August for more than just the Olympic events. For instance, the three U.S. swimmers took media headlines after reporting that they were robbed by a taxi driver in Rio. Later on, it was reported that their reports were deemed “tainted” by Rio Officials after admitting to consuming alcohol the night of the robbery. Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton also made headlines with people questioning if she is healthy enough to be president. This appeared to be an issue when some medical records surfaced claiming that Clinton had early signs of dementia and suffered from seizures. In addition, Clinton has fainted during campaign events. As a result, the flooding in Louisiana did not receive the media attention that victims wanted.
As a result, the public was not very pleased with the responses to the storm. People were angered that the storm was something that has never been seen before, Obama chose to play golf instead of playing president, he made a late visit to Louisiana, and there was little media coverage.
Works Cited
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@francesmartel. “Rio Officials Turn on Ryan Lochte After Robbery Embarrasses Olympic Security — Breitbart.” Breitbart News. N.p., 16 Aug. 2016. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
“How Climate Change Helped Cause Massive Floods in Louisiana.” Time. Time, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
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“President Obama Tours Flood Destruction In Louisiana.” NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
Robertson, Campbell, and Michael. “Obama Visits Louisiana Flood Victims, but Some Are Busy Just Hanging On.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Aug. 2016. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
Subject, By. “Who Took More Vacation — George W. Bush or Barack Obama?” PolitiFact. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
Tani, Amanda Macias and Maxwell. “Obama Has Played More than 1,100 Hours of Golf as President — Here’s What That Looks like.” Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 24 Aug. 2015. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
“Washington Post: Obama Is Golfing during Louisiana Flooding Because He ‘detests’ Theatrical Politics — Hot Air.” HotAir.com. N.p., 19 Aug. 2016. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.
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