Obama Plays President During Hurricane

President Obama has been far more publicly active about Hurricane Sandy than virtually any other issue of his presidency. That’s no coincidence, considering that we’re one week from an election. But today, Obama has “convened another massive teleconference … to get updates and give directives on storm response,” according to Politico. The White House then issued a statement about the meeting:

During the briefing the President expressed his concern for those impacted by the storm, as well as the heroic first responders who are selflessly putting themselves in harm’s way to protect members of their communities. He also noted his sadness over the loss of life associated with the storm so far.

That’s not exactly political leadership, but at least it’s not blaming the Hurricane on a YouTube video. Even Politico cynically observed:

The president has snapped up the opportunity to put on his commander-in-chief hat in the final week of a bitter reelection battle. He quickly canceled events in Orlando, Fla., and Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday before the storm had made landfall on the East Coast, so he could return to the White House and oversee preparation and response efforts. He made a statement in the briefing room Monday, and the White House has issued repeated statements about his ongoing briefings, including overnight into the morning hours on Tuesday.

The White House also made sure to let the media know that Obama was updated “throughout the night.” That might have been nice for the Americans who died in Benghazi, considering that President Obama reportedly went to sleep while Americans were under fire in Benghazi, and awoke the next morning to the news that they’d been killed.