President Barack Obama yesterday afternoon went to the headquarters of the Red Cross to thank them for their efforts in the face of the largest hurricane the East Coast has ever seen: Hurricane Sandy. As the president was thanking the Red Cross workers, Mitt Romney and his campaign were accepting donations of canned goods, blankets, an bottled water — those they hadn’t already purchased as photo op props — and forcing the Red Cross to violate their own rules and regulations, printed right on their website, that state:
Unfortunately, due to logistical constraints the Red Cross does not accept or solicit individual donations or collections of items. Items such as collected food, used clothing and shoes must be sorted, cleaned, repackaged and transported which impedes the valuable resources of money, time, and personnel.
“There are places like Newark, New Jersey, for example, where you’ve got 80, 90 percent of the people without power,” Obama added. “We can’t have a situation where that lasts for days on end. And so my instructions to the federal agency has been, do not figure out why we can’t do something; I want you to figure out how we do something. I want you to cut through red tape. I want you to cut through bureaucracy. There’s no excuse for inaction at this point. I want every agency to lean forward and to make sure that we are getting the resources where they need — where they’re needed as quickly as possible.”
READ: Photo Op: Romney Campaign Bought Supplies To Give To Red Cross Which Only Accepts Money
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney yesterday held a World War II styled “relief effort,” complete with a canned goods drive. Romney told people to donate supplies, and then told the Red Cross to accept them, despite the logistical constraints.
Initially, the Romney campaign was only going to give donations of supplies to GOP swing states, and ignore the two areas hardest hit: New Jersey and the New York City area.
The Red Cross changed Romney’s plans, and accepted supplies in to their New Jersey warehouse. The Red Cross was mum on who would be the recipients of those supplies.
Related:
Photo Op: Romney Campaign Bought Supplies To Give To Red Cross Which Only Accepts Money
Michael ‘Doing A Heck Of A Job Brownie’ Brown Berates Obama For ‘Jumping On’ Sandy Too Quickly
Chris Christie: President Obama ‘Has Been Great’ And ‘All Over’ Hurricane
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{ 9 comments }
So basically this article is praising Obama for telling people to be strong and telling other people to fix the problem, and saying that Romney sucks because he actually is trying to help? Dat political bias.
Exactly, this is evidence that liberals are incapable of reading. Romney is ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING, UNLIKE THE IDIOT IN CHEIF.
Using your own logic then, that makes you a liberal because you obviously didn't read the article. . What a dumbass you are pierrenten.
Romney is campaigning. The rest is just a photo op. Taking donations that an agency doesn't want and can't use without expending personnel to handle it, is asinine. Romney isn't DOING anything except grinning that snake oil, used car salesman grin.
Actually, Obama is doing MORE than Romney if you actually READ and THINK. GOP Sheeples need to learn to do both! Just to make it easier for your mind to actually COMPREHEND what is being done:
"… I want you to cut through red tape. I want you to cut through bureaucracy. There’s no excuse for inaction at this point. I want every agency to lean forward and to make sure that we are getting the resources where they need — where they’re needed as quickly as possible.”
He's TELLING the agencies to cut the crap with delay and move things forward to get people where they need to be and to do what needs to be done to get things DONE.
SEE THIS ONE too.
ROMNEY likens hurricane relief to cleaning up "rubbish and paper products" from a football field.
Is he joking? http://tinyurl.com/9ouqwrp
President Obama done his job; he came, he spoke and we got this post as an example of his job. I ask all the critics what would have happen if he wouldn't show up and speak?
President Obama had FEMA and other federal agencies be ready before the storm hit so that they could mobilize as soon as possible. He stopped campaigning so he could monitor the situation, he has been on the job and ready to respond to whatever needs the governors and mayors of the affected states and towns needed. He even gave out his personal number so they could get in touch with him so he could help to expedite what they needed. Because President Obama has a immensely qualified individual (no Heckofajob Brownie's here!) in charge of FEMA- one that knows disasters and how to manage them, one who had crews of various sorts identified in advance, from all around the country and who were on standby, packed and ready ready to go as soon as they got the word, help was on the way before the storm even finished doing its damage. When the man who was the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention praised the president for his work, his compassion and leadership, I would say the president did a lot of somethings right.
Anyone who has ever paid real attention to the disasters we have had in the past would know that the Red Cross and other organizations have said time after time- donate money and not goods because the logistics for goods creates a nightmare and rarely gets where it needs to be. They do much better when they are able to coordinate their own purchases and arrange to get them where they are needed. Romney should have known that if he had paid attention to even his own state when they had disasters.
Plus also, I am pretty damned sure that the Red Cross gets a hell of a discount on products they purchase for relief aid.
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