With Hurricane Sandy sprinting along the East Coast with fervor to rival Chariots of Fire, an interesting thrill is traveling up the leg of political strategists. They’re having litters of kittens worrying about a killer storm’s effect on early voting, election-day turn outs and the effects of storm damaged electrical circuits misfiring over a landscape covering thousands of square miles.
Sandy potentially is about to screw-up the life goals of either Obama or Romney.
The path of the storm skims the banks of already firmly entrenched “Blue States”. Romney would have normally had no hope of capturing sufficient voter turn-out for his cause but this has been a particularly close campaign. Obama’s been steadily lacerating himself with every razor sharp circumstance from his lousy track record to Fast and Furious and through Benghazi. Romney’s hopes should soar.
But there’s a fact few people really recognize when it comes to politics and its practice in the streets. It’s this: few riots occur on rainy days. Sound silly? It’s true. People will brave gunfire, a hail of bullets ripping through their lives more than they’ll endure getting wet in the rain.
Check this out: what breaks a riot faster-tear gas and rubber bullets or a water cannon knocking people down and inundating them with the inability to breathe when water gets up their nose? Think water-boarding with hundreds of foot pounds of pressure delivered from a two-inch water nozzle. Think about getting pushed away at 10 mph after being knocked down.
A rain storm powered by 65-75 mile per hour winds could keep people from early voting; a process proving to be more and more powerful with each election. Couple this with an aftermath of not being able to get to polling stations in areas with NO electricity and services and there’s the chance of lower than expected voter turn-outs.
What impact could this storm have on the election? Will it allow for greater voter numbers for Obama? How about Romney?
Voter apathy is a harbinger of doom for candidates in many elections. But what will be the effect when a storm the likes of none seen in the last ten years strikes with a fury few expected and fewer planned for in campaign strategies? How will this storm, an enigma happening along the East Coast, affect America from Maine to California?
Sure; places like Florida have become accustomed to hurricanes and their effects. But what about rural Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and other areas as much as three hundred miles inland never really understanding the reach of cyclonic rain bands whipping outward devastating that landscape.
It looks like they’ll soon take the test. I wonder how well they’ll do because the government can’t grade this one on a bell curve so everybody gets to look better than they really deserve.
Earlier I wrote of people’s need to take this storm seriously. I hope they’re listening. But I also warned of the politicians trying to ride the storm surge to garner votes and gather support for their platforms. It will be shameful to see them instead surfing on the tears of people devastated by circumstances they didn’t expect to overtake them.
Notice I didn’t say they “might” surf, I said they WILL surf on the people’s tears while trying to gain support for their programs and their political futures. This will be at the expense of victim’s feelings. So prepare for it. We got the royal treatment here in Louisiana after Katrina and again when BP spilled enough oil to assure problems for the Gulf Coast for the next century.
This storm is going to pull attention from the election and the campaigns and put the media in “bleeder” mode (“if it bleeds it leads”) and election coverage will be displaced. There’ll be less emphasis on Obama’s record, Romney’s stances and positions; Biden’s gaffes and Ryan’s economic platform planks. This will affect the campaign in areas away from the storm surge. It’ll impact in heretofore unknown ways.
Sandy is carrying more power than ever thought of because of its timing. We’ll soon find out what affect Sandy has on this election.
Thanks for listening
