President Obama said during a White House press briefing Monday that he was not worried about the impact Hurricane Sandy could have on the Nov. 6 election.
“I’m not worried about the impact on the election,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “I’m worried about the impact on families and first responders, the impact on our economy and transportation. The election will take care of itself next week.”
Both the Obama and Romney campaigns have suspended activities Monday in light of Hurricane Sandy.
President Obama cancelled a planned rally in Florida to fly back to the White House, where he convened a meeting in the Situation Room to get updated on the latest storm forecast and the federal efforts underway.
“Right now, the number one priority is making sure we’re saving lives and [that] search and rescue teams are in place,” the president said during the briefing in which he warned Americans to follow evacuation instructions. “And that we respond as quickly as possible to get economy back running.”
The storm does disrupt both politicians’ campaigning plans with just eight days until the election. “The campaigns could be functionally over as we know it,” commented msnbc’s Lawrence O’Donnell on NOW with Alex Wagner. “The aftermath could easily go on into Saturday. The political argument season may have closed.” msnbc Cycle co-host Steve Kornacki added that the hurricane could make it more difficult for Mitt Romney to make his case to the public. “If Romney is not going to be able to press his case for the next week, and instead President Obama is being ‘the president’ in a time of crisis,” he said. “I don’t know what Mitt Romney could pro-actively do… between now and election day.”
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