Storm Provides Obama with Commander-in-Chief Moment

Washington Post: “For a day at least, Hurricane Sandy appears to have done for President Obama what he has not been able to do for himself.”

“In a campaign notable mostly for its negativity, the historic storm provided Obama with a commander-in-chief moment a week before Election Day. The president gained a rare moment of bipartisan praise, with Democratic and Republican governors alike commending the performance of the federal government. And the storm put on pause, for now, the sense that rival Mitt Romney had all the momentum in the home stretch.”

AP: “The politics of Obama’s storm response are not overt. The point is to
go the other direction and just be presidential. So gone, for three days
and counting, are the rallies in which Obama expressly asks people to
re-elect him. Instead, voters see images of Obama in charge in the
Situation Room, or addressing the country from the White House briefing
room, or assuring the hurting while visiting the American Red Cross that
‘America is with you.’ To the independent and undecided voters sick of
the mess in Washington, Obama appears bipartisan and positively
unconcerned about his own political fate.”