I wrote a few days ago about where McCain was when Katrina hit, and the GOP's plans to postpone their convention because they didn't want to appear to be partying during a disaster. I said that it was a shame that they were doing this out of appearances, and not because the staffers who would be at the convention are needed elsewhere to manage what was happening in the Gulf of Mexico.
Since I wrote that I've learned that several people have canceled their plans to attend the convention in order to be on hand to help if the need arises. One person of note is Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, who was a keynote speaker at the convention, and had several other events to lead as the head of the Texas delegation. Once Gustav appeared certain to hit Texas he affirmed he would stay in Texas. So I applaud him.
News has also come out that McCain and Palin are headed to Jackson, Mississippi at the invitation of Gov. Barbour to review disaster preparations and track the storm's progress.
In an interview taped on Saturday, McCain confirmed that the GOP is changing convention plans based on Gustav. He said:
"It just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster...So we're monitoring it from day to day, and I'm saying a few prayers, too."
None of that jives with what I wrote about before, when he stood for a photo-op with Bush and cake to celebrate his 69th birthday and they had a laughing good time.
But in this case, McCain went, more likely on Barbour's invitation than anything else. Beyond receiving a briefing about the hurricane, it's not clear what McCain's presence offers, but at least he's not standing around with icing on his face.
In the meantime, Obama's preparing to solicit volunteers and donations from his database of supporters:
Sen. Obama gathered the pool outside after services at St. Luke's Lutheran Church. He told us that his camapaign plans to mobilize its huge e-mail list of supporters to volunteer or send money once the impact of Gustav becomes apparent and authorities know better what kind of help is needed. He said his campaign is coordinating with local authorities."We can activate an e-mail list of a couple million people who want to give back," he said. "I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary."
(Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0808/Obama_will_mobilize_volunteers_for_Gustav.html?showall)
That's a definite contrast in leadership.
Oh and while I'm talking about this subject, I wanted to point out one other thing:
McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, went after Obama saying:
"So he attacks us while there's a hurricane going on and John McCain suspends his convention basically. What bigger contrast can you have about putting your country first?"...
"It's pretty for him to set politics behind his country," Davis stated. "He does it all the time. Believe me, it's not the easiest way in the world to run a campaign. But this is business as usual in McCainworld."
..."I thought Barack Obama said the other night that everybody puts their country first," he said with a touch of sarcasm. "Really?"
So other than travel to Jackson on Sunday, what else was McCain doing this weekend? Filling sandbags to shore up levies? Dialing up his rich contributors to solicit donations to help those in need after Gustav? Taking a few days rest to really get to know his VP choice? Nope, he was at a campaign even with Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, amongst others. Apparently Rick Davis believes that's setting politics aside for the sake of the country.
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