April 29th, 2011
01:25 PM ET
12 years ago
President Obama visits storm-damaged Tuscaloosa
(CNN) - President Barack Obama toured tornado damage in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Friday, saying the federal government would "do everything we can to help these communities rebuild." Obama, who also met with families affected by the storms, told reporters that "I've never seen devastation like this."
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Stay out of the way, dude. Your presence means fewer people performing search and rescue. I would have given the search and rescue phase more time before I started walking around the hardest hit areas. You could have gone there, done a fly-over where you can actually see something, and land outside of hard hit areas. Make a speech and promise to return when this critical phase is complete and recovery begins. Anyone with brains can understand that approach?
Yeah, I know that sounds like Bush and Katrina. Bush's mistake was to not announce the intent of his actions ahead of time.
we need to help our neighors.... just like 911 .... i know many dont like the south but they are americans...
I"t good to a president that care about the people in alabama whether black or white he cares for all people may god keep on blessing you though these trying times.
Please note that President Obama went to Alabama within 36-48 hours of the tragedy while "W" waited over a week to go to New Orleans after Katrina – and then he did a fly-by. Of course, "W" then announced that he couldn't wait to come back and visit Trent Lott's Gulf Coast mansion after it was rebuilt – which he did but never passed a comment on the rest of the folks down there.
The GOP – looking out for the "right" people, eh?!
Let me guess – the extreme right are somehow going to brand this visit as un-American, or say that he's wasting taxpayer money on Air Force One, fuel and security expenses for this trip.
OMG...he's on vacation in Alabama? Does this guy ever do any work garble garble derp derp derp!!!???
Thanks for visiting the destruction regardless of party.
Twisters are scary. I looked up inside of one passing overhead once, maybe 100-200 feet off the ground. It had just hit a church about 1/2 mile away. The inside was rotating cylinders inside of rotating cynlinders. Think of an old telescoping car antenna. It had withdrawn up inside of itself, but you could see an inner-most "cylinder stack" already extended way up inside of it, ready to drop back down to the ground.
The cross section of what I saw would like like a giant letter "M", with me looking up at it from the bottom. The cylinders were turning at different speeds, with the inner most one turning the fastest. It also reminded me of a giant suction cup, too. The interior volume seemed like it could change very quickly at any moment, as the cylinders, both interior and exterior, moved up and down. I snapped a picture and sold it to my neighbor who worked for the USGS.