Political Disconnect
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Today, Wednesday, the 4th of May, I watched President Obama dress down to his shirt sleeves to tell an auditorium full of Flint, Michigan citizens that he’d come to help fix that city’s poisonous public water system. He’d come to Flint, he explained, in response to a letter from an eight-year-old girl who’d affectionately been dubbed “Little Miss Flint.”
She’s been given a tiara; she’s too cute for words. And it’s a shame to see a child become a political device. Another political device, intentional or not, was his throat irritation, and a repeated request for some water to drink: “a glass of water.” The implication was clear. “I’ll drink your water.” That’s a bizarre form of “solidarity,” but so be it.
President Obama’s remarks boiled down to this:
“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”
And we all know how well that works.
I think Michael Moore, the Flint native and award-winning documentary film maker, said it best: “I love Obama, he’s done many great things. But he came too late with too little. If he was really serious, he’d have brought five hundred Army Corps of Engineers and a backhoe with him.”
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder made his first appearance in Flint since the water system disaster became known. Ostensibly he was there to apologize. The Flint people didn’t buy it; he was soundly boo’ed off the stage.
Moore said on CNN following their coverage of the President’s appearance that he’d seen Gov. Snyder greet Pres. Obama at the bottom of the ramp as Obama exited Air Force One.
“Obama should have clocked him,” Moore commented.
“I don’t believe Snyder deliberately chose to poison anybody,” Moore said. “But if I saw somebody pour arsenic into your coffee cup, and I didn’t say anything, would I be culpable?
“Governor Snyder knew for nine months that the people of Flint were drinking poisoned water, and he said nothing!” Moore charged. “That’s culpable, and he should be arrested and serve time in prison.”
President Obama and the federal government acknowledged the Flint, Michigan water crisis in January. Today, the 4th of May, he showed up to tell the people of Flint that the government feels their pain and is there to help them.
Words To Live By:
Plan to drink bottled water
for a good while longer in Flint.
Graybyrd © 2015