by WorldTribune Staff, August 19, 2016
GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump on Aug. 19 visited Louisiana to lend his support to citizens of a state that has been devastated by recent flooding.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the same party that savaged President George W. Bush for his response to hurricane Katrina had no plans to alter their schedules. President Barack Obama is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard. Clinton was said to be “resting.”

Record flooding across Louisiana has killed at least 13 people. Over 85,000 people have registered for federal disaster assistance, more than 30,000 have been rescued, and an estimated 40,000 homes have been damaged.
“Though words cannot express the sadness one feels at times like this,” Trump said, “I hope everyone in Louisiana knows that our country is praying for them, and standing with them to help them in these difficult hours.”
Vice Presidential candidate Governor Mike Pence traveled with Trump to visit flood-damaged areas of Baton Rouge.
Trump addressed the flooding at a rally in Charlotte, N.C. on Aug. 18, calling Louisiana “a state that is very, very special to me.”
Baton Rouge newspaper The Advocate called Obama out for not interrupting his vacation for the flood crisis in Louisiana:
“Now that the flood waters ravaging Louisiana are receding, it’s time for President Barack Obama to visit the most anguished state in the union … as torrential rains brought death, destruction and misery to Louisiana, the president continued his vacation at Martha’s Vineyard, a playground for the posh and well-connected.
“We’ve seen this story before in Louisiana, and we don’t deserve a sequel. In 2005, a fly-over by a vacationing President George W. Bush became a symbol of official neglect for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The current president was among those making political hay out of Bush’s aloofness.
“Sometimes, presidential visits can get in the way of emergency response, doing more harm than good. But we don’t see that as a factor now that flood waters are subsiding, even if at an agonizing pace. It’s past time for the president to pay a personal visit, showing his solidarity with suffering Americans.
“Like his predecessors, Obama has no doubt discovered that crises keep their own calendar, even when commanders-in-chief are trying to take some time off the clock. It’s an inconvenience of the presidency, but it’s what chief executives sign up for when they take the oath of office.
“And if the president can interrupt his vacation for a swanky fundraiser for fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, as he did on Monday, then surely he can make time to show up for a catastrophe that’s displaced thousands.”