September 2, 2005:
WASHINGTON —A political storm gathered force on Thursday over President George W. Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina, as Democrats accused him of a sluggish response to the catastrophic flood that submerged New Orleans, and Bush, in a rare morning television interview, fought back.
"I hope people don't play politics during this period of time," Bush told Diane Sawyer of ABC's "Good Morning America" in an interview in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. "This is a natural disaster, the likes of which our country may have never seen before."
But the politics of natural disaster were close to the surface as Democrats, seizing on a president weakened by the war in Iraq and approval ratings at an all-time low, intensified their criticism of Bush's management of the crisis. Democrats said that Bush, in not returning to Washington from his Texas vacation until Wednesday afternoon, was days late for the Monday hurricane.
They also cast his first survey of the damage from Air Force One as it headed toward Washington as an imperial act removed from the suffering of the people below.
"It was not enough for the president to bank his plane and look at the window and say, 'Oh, what a devastating sight,"' said Senator Frank Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, in a statement on Thursday. "Instead of looking out the window of an airplane, he should have been on the ground giving the people devastated by this hurricane hope."
On Thursday, the White House moved swiftly on many fronts to respond. Scott McClellan, Bush's press secretary, announced that the president would spend Friday touring - in the air and on the ground - the devastated areas of the Gulf Coast, including New Orleans....
Katrina made landfall on Monday; Bush was there five days later, on Friday.
Now fast-forward to Saturday June 23, 2012:
Saturday, June 23: The fire began in a remote area near Pikes Peak called Waldo Canyon, and burned vigorously. As a precaution, 11,000 residents of Manitou Springs, Cascade, Chipita Park and Green Mountain Falls were evacuated.
On Sunday, the Waldo Canyon fire burned down the slope toward Fountain Creek and U.S. Highway 24, threatening buildings in the town of Cascade at the foot of Pikes Peak.
President Obama had no public schedule over the weekend.
On Monday, fire burned in a narrow path northward toward Rampart Reservoir. But on its southeast flank, it also moved toward a gated community near the Garden of the Gods, and 6,000 people are evacuated.
On Monday, Obama attended four (4) campaign events.
On Tuesday, another four (4) campaign events.
On Tuesday, the Waldo Canyon fire doubled in size to 24 square miles, and raced east toward Colorado Springs. The entire northwest section of the city was evacuated, some 32,000 residents. Dozens of homes were destroyed in Mountain Shadows. The Flying W Ranch, a historic banquet hall, burned to the ground.
"This is the worst fire season in the history of Colorado," Governor John Hickenlooper told a news conference on Tuesday, after he flew into Colorado Springs to tour the fire zone.
Yesterday, Wednesday, the President met with a crown prince of Abu Dhabi, attended one campaign event in DC and then "delivered remarks" at a picnic for members of Congress. I assume the Colorado delegation was absent.
Meanwhile, the fire was burning on the southwest corner of the Air Force Academy. Rain began to fall in the residential areas, but with it also come some stronger winds and lightning that hampered firefighters.
President Barack Obama plans to travel to the area on Friday to view the damage.
Posted by: Mannie Sherberg | Thursday, 28 June 2012 at 10:11 AM
Posted by: Tiffany Jewellery | Friday, 10 August 2012 at 03:55 AM
Posted by: world trade center | Friday, 05 October 2012 at 08:15 AM