October 29, 2012 -- Updated 2205 GMT (0605 HKT)
President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney revise their campaign schedules, mindful of unseemliness in the midst of a crisis.
Looking presidential: The optics of leadership during a disaster
October 29, 2012 -- Updated 2205 GMT (0605 HKT)
Obama hurricane warning: 'Please listen'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Hurricane Sandy will impact several states key to the 2012 presidential race
- Obama cancels several events to return to the White House
- Romney shifts his focus to campaigning in Ohio, and makes staff available for storm relief
The candidates are
seeking to balance the real threat of a killer storm against the need to
squeeze out any last-minute advantages on the campaign trail.
For the next few days,
routine campaigning may take a back seat. This week, it may all be about
who can behave the most presidential.
David Gergen, a professor
of public service at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said
President Obama did the right thing to return to Washington as the storm
approached.
"People will claim he did
it for political reasons, but I believe he deserves the benefit of any
doubts. He did exactly what he should be doing as president," said
Gergen, who is also a CNN contributor. "That is part of the job.
Presidents are expected to lead in a time of crisis."
The candidates are
treading carefully in dealing with the storm's political fallout. Both
the president and Romney canceled more than a dozen campaign events
since Saturday so as not to appear insensitive, chew up resources and
otherwise get in the way of storm preparations.
And early on, the optics may favor Obama, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
"The more people
affected by this storm by the end, the better the response the better
Obama is going to look," Sabato said. "The worse the response ... the
worse he's going to look. This presidential moment could help or hurt
him."
Romney: Storm will be a 'difficult time'
How Romney, Obama adjust to storm
Presidential politics and the storm
Obama: Take hurricane 'very seriously'
Axelrod: Storm makes campaigning harder
Obama administration
officials have stressed that they are being proactive in ensuring the
Federal Emergency Management Agency is ready to aid the millions of
people who will are likely to be affected by the huge storm bearing down
on the East Coast. On Sunday, the president was briefed by FEMA in
Washington on disaster preparations. And on Monday, he canceled a
campaign event in Orlando to return to the White House and address the
nation on the storm.
"This is going to be a
big storm, it's going to be a difficult storm," Obama said from the
briefing room Monday, with the blue oval seal of the White House just a
few feet behind him. "The great thing about America is that when we go
through tough times like this, we all pull together."
Romney, during a campaign event Monday in Ohio, was also turning his focus to the storm and those affected.
"I want to mention that
our hearts and prayers are with all the people in the storm's path," he
told an overflow crowd in Avon Lake, Ohio. "Sandy is another devastating
hurricane by all accounts, and a lot of people are going to be facing
some real tough times as a result of Sandy's fury."
Romney called off a
Monday night campaign event in Wisconsin, and sent vice presidential
nominee Paul Ryan in his place to another one in Florida. But his
continued campaigning in Ohio may not be seen as a issue.
"As long as he is in
states where weather is not a problem, I don't see any problem with him
campaigning," added Gergen, who is also the director of the Center for
Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. "He really has no role
in trying to deal with this storm."
Obama also canceled
trips Monday and Tuesday to the swing states of Florida and Colorado,
far beyond the reach of Hurricane Sandy.
A shrewd move, political experts say.
"As voters, particularly
those who are undecided, deliberate over whom they should support, they
will watch Obama as he navigates through the storm and the post-storm
clean-up," wrote Julian Zelizer,
a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. "The
crisis offers an opportunity for him to act presidential in a way for
which some voters are thirsting and to demonstrate the kind of command
that has often been lacking."
Obama's very visible posture is in stark contrast to his predecessor.
President George W. Bush's administration was widely criticized for failing to act in a timely manner during Hurricane Katrina.
"Presidents for a
generation or two will remember the Bush disaster with Katrina," Sabato
said. "Presidents and their staffs go out of their way to avoid another
Katrina happening to their president."
Similarly, when Sen.
John McCain rushed back to Washington in 2008 at the height of the
banking meltdown, effectively "suspending" his presidential campaign
against Obama because of the "historic crisis in our financial system,"
the move was seen as odd and impulsive at a time when steady leadership
was needed.
On the other hand,
Obama's handling of the financial crisis -- appearing masterful while
McCain appeared confused, marked a turning point in the 2008
presidential race, political experts say.
Both campaigns are keenly aware of how it looked.
Optics are tricky, said
one top Republican who added the schedule may change depending on what
the storm does. A disaster somewhere would make campaigning anywhere
difficult.
But at least one Republican found the president's quick return to D.C. interesting.
"You notice that he's
canceling his trips over the hurricane. He didn't cancel his trips over
Benghazi," former GOP presidential candidate and ex-House Speaker Newt
Gingrich said on ABC's "This Week."
Meanwhile Romney quickly dialed back heavy campaigning and steered clear of pontificating on recovery efforts.
"Romney can't do
anything but express concern," Sabato said, adding that the GOP
presidential hopeful would look callous otherwise.
The Romney campaign says it's mobilizing the campaign bus in Virginia to deliver storm relief supplies.
"I know that right now
some people in the country are a little nervous about a storm about to
hit the coast," Romney said. "And our thoughts and prayers are with the
people who will find themselves in harm's way."
Still, next week's
election is always there, even as heavy rain and winds begin to pound
New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and the Eastern Seaboard.
And experts disagree about whether it will ultimately have an impact on the outcome of the election.
"My sense is that it is
going to be a wash," said Gergen, who has taught a course on
presidential leadership at Harvard and served under four presidents from
both parties. "It won't change the outcome."
Back in the White House
briefing room, a reporter was able to get in one question about whether
Obama was worried about the storm's impact on the election.
"I am not worried at
this point on the impact on the election. I'm worried about the impact
on families, I'm worried about the impact on our first responders, I'm
worried about the impact on our economy," said the president. "The
election will take care of itself next week."
CNN's Kevin Bohn, Candy Crowley, Kevin
Liptak, Gregory Wallace, Ashley Killough, Rachel Streitfeld, Shannon
Travis, Jim Acosta and Steve Brusk contributed to this report. COPY http://edition.cnn.com
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