Superstorm Sandy: Election Catalyst for Obama in an Act of God

I grew increasingly worried as I watched the approach of Superstorm Sandy toward the Eastern Seaboard last week--and not just for the safety of those in its path. Until the hurricane started monopolizing the newswaves, serious accusations about the president's role dealing with the Libya embassy terror attacks were gaining huge traction, but with the storm, God flipped the course of the election.

Fox news had previously featured nearly continuous coverage of serious issues calling into question the president's handling and spinning of a premeditated 9-11 Anniversary terrorist attack that left four Americans dead. Hillary Clinton's insistence immediately that the attack was a spontaneous protest of a YouTube video quickly was discredited as information surfaced about real-time viewing of the hours-long terrorist assault in the White House situation room. The executive deception aimed to squelch evidence of the president's incompetence in the embassy incident (and by implication any urgent foreign affairs). The truth of a premeditated, organized attack would destroy Obama's oft-asserted campaign boast that "al Qaeda is on the run!"  Its revelation could have Watergate-like effects, showing him complicit in concealing a major, deadly event. And as many note, nobody died in Watergate, the cover-up of a break-in to steal documents that led to the resignation of President Nixon in 1974.

But with Sandy's threat, the demise of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others was swept aside. As the swirls on the weather map moved closer, the evacuation of thousands in the most populated areas of New York and New Jersey naturally overtook the airwaves.
With the touchdown of the hurricane and its attendant death and destruction, as well as the loss of utilities for cities that inconvenienced and even imperiled many additional thousands, the president gained the opportunity to step forward into the limelight non-stop. I don't own a TV, but imagined ceaseless coverage of a savior-president lifting muck-encrusted children from car rooftops and rescue rowboats.

Even my fantasies were surpassed by the over-the-top praise Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey lavished on Pres. Obama during his near-immediate damage-viewing excursion: “the President has been all over this and he deserves great credit.” He said Obama's response had been "outstanding," despite the fact that half a million citizens remain without power and gasoline is rationed a week following the governor's kudos.

After viewing tonight's results, my husband told me of exit polls that asked the role President Obama's handling of Superstorm Sandy had in voter's decisions: "About four voters in 10 say Obama's response to Hurricane Sandy was important in their vote (42 percent,)" notes Fox News, "and they backed the president by a better than two-to-one margin. Fifteen percent said it was the 'most important' factor in their vote."

The storm was an Act of God. No political strategist planned it, and yet none could have invented a better boost for Obama's reputation and aid to his success. It was as if God was speaking in favor of Barack Obama's re-election, or perhaps commenting on the behavior of those involved in the campaign.

It's a Jewish belief that God helps those go in the direction they truly want to pursue. If one wishes to pursue good, he receives help from Heaven; if his desire is toward evil, his path that way is smoothed.  I don't really know what God had in mind in bringing Superstorm Sandy at that very time and place, but I know it conveys a message, and last night's election results spur our urgent need to decipher its content.

Nervous about the Election

Everywhere I go, people are confiding that they're losing sleep over the election. I didn't hear that four or eight or twelve years ago; in fact, I've never heard so many people blurt immediately that they're frightened about voting outcomes.

People I know, most of them conservatives, have a real fear of the implementation of Obamacare and its attendant tax and premium increases. They genuinely recoil at the thought of the fiscal cliff, which would devalue homes, cause businesses to go under, cost huge numbers of jobs and put our nation in jeopardy due to burdensome debt to such "frenemies" as China.

Many of my friends are religious Christians, who see the values on which our nation was founded--God-centric concepts that honor biblical direction--in peril. Foremost among these is the primacy of traditional marriage. I keep hearing in radio ads the term "homophobia" as a code for anyone who wants traditional man-woman marriage to stand as the norm. It would be an oxymoron for a gay person in my state of Washington, therefore, to reject the ballot measure approving gay marriage and dissolving all current Domestic Partnerships. Already, these partnerships are the legal equivalent of marriage, just by a different name, ie "everything but marriage." But should this measure pass, existing Domestic Partnerships cease, forcing presently registered gay couples to either marry or have no official status. What's a believing Christian or Jew or Muslim to do?

Many tell me that though they're not Mormon, they're fervently praying for the candidate who's dedicated 40 years' time and 20% of his money to furthering his good-neighbor-making faith.

Sleepless nights leading up to November 6. It's not just finances, it's values. It's not just style, it's competence. The conservatives I know see such a clear difference in principles and ability between the presidential candidates that they can't accept a loss.

I was disheartened about the Superstorm, not only feeling for the losses and hardships of those directly affected, but fearing its impact on the presidential outcome. I imagined copious views of a sympathetic president lifting photogenic children from the muck, with attention removed from his challenges in the campaign, especially questions about the handling of the Libya embassy terrorism. But now, a week after Sandy left its devastating mark on the East, there appears far more difficulty in rebounding from the storm, and so less savior-worship than expected (though a Libya coverup seems the exclusive purview of Fox News).

Democrats Are Different. I don't see the same kind of fretful reaction to this election among my Democratic friends. They're sleeping fine. In fact, some are so disenchanted with the present administration (for whom they voted last time) that they're sitting out the process all together. I predict a much-reduced Democratic turnout from four years ago. Many of these friends can't bring themselves to support Romney, but they also can't abide endorsing the disappointing Obama. That leaves the default of "skipping" this election, and feeling sanguine should others' balloting bring a change. The die-hard Democrats I know are mostly confident that they'll succeed, which leads them to relaxed nights, as well.

Still, most I know remain jumpy. My husband wrote The Odds Against Obama, a historical and logical look at election indicators that add up to a likely Romney victory. But even he is nervous, piqued by conflicting polls and signs. Until Wednesday, we suffer an undercurrent of uncertainty, the result of a heavy intuition that the results forthcoming will make more difference in our lives than any election outcomes before.

Mitt Romney, Up Close and In Person

Yes, today I got to stand right in the front, at the barricade, when Mitt Romney made a campaign stop in Bellevue, Washington.  My husband was on the program (he introduced the woman who introduced Mitt) and he had some private moments with the candidate. I didn't, but was the first he happened to approach when he jumped down from the stage to engage with the wildly enthused overflow crowd.

Dressed in blue jeans and a rolled-sleeve, striped shirt, he impressed an already dedicated audience with his casual genuine-ness, first speaking off-the-cuff first about his wife, Ann. They met when he was in 4th and she in 2nd grade; he paid no attention until she was a sophomore and he stole her mid-date away from another guy: "I said, 'I live much closer to her than you do...and I did take her home that night, and we've been going steady ever since." That's five sons and 16 grandchildren later, he mentioned.

What surprised me was how articulate he was. I was used to his halting responses to TV debate questions, seeming a bit too timid to take on others without a slight stammer, but today, his speaking style seemed charged; he came across as the eager jolt of energy who can't wait to take on the job of undoing fetters in free enterprise's way. "I can tell you this: I won't be playing 90 rounds of golf when there's so much to get done!"  The crowd screamed and stomped.

He talked a lot about jump-starting the economy, by protecting intellectual property, by aligning with other nations in an ethical agreement to promote greater trade, by overhauling the tax code to lower burdens on small businesses.  He spoke in support of the military, saying he'd replace Obama's pledge to reduce our forces by 50-100,000 with purchases of ships and planes and an increase of 100,000 additional soldiers.  He was strong and inspiring, and lept from his platform to shake hands with pumped supporters.

Then he did something unexpected. My husband was asked to go into an adjacent auditorium, where another thousand supporters who by fire law couldn't fit into the main hall heard Romney's talk.  State congresswoman and state Romney chair Kathy McMorris Rodgers was speaking to the attentive crowd; my husband was ushered onto the stage and introduced. He didn't know what was coming, so started praising Mitt's remarks--when suddenly the candidate himself burst into the room, took the microphone from my startled husband, and launched into another talk, punctuated by detailed and moving anecdotes, including one about a young skater, who'd risen from nothing, who was honored at an event to carry a corner of the flag that flew on the Trade Towers on 9-11.  Romney described the young man's emotion when relating the experience: "suddenly a gust of wind lifted that flag up into the air, and I felt it was the spirit of the men and women we lost on that day."  Most of the audience lost it, too, because of the way Romney told the story.

This was no well-rehearsed performer, but a man clearly touched by his encounters with Americans, and staunchly driven by a vision of the values our nation represents.  I don't care for his theology, but I do respect the years he gave to communal leadership, as well as the impact of a church that insists on industry, service, and above all, family.  Other religions send out evangelists, but only the Mormons consider it a rite of passage to devote two years in a foreign country at an age normally considered party-time.  The messages this imparts at a crucial time of life are selflessness, obligation and responsibility, which may produce straight-laced, nerdy achievers far removed from the pop culture loop, but with well-ingrained practice in the kinds of traits I'd want in a neighbor...or a President.

After his second improvised talk, he again leapt down from the stage to grasp the hands of admirers--and I was the first he clutched.  Most politicians who encounter hundreds of palms daily have learned a half-handed grip and a two-second shake-and-pull, but I was struck that Romney looked at me full-face, grasped my hand completely and shook up and down several times.  I watched him move through the group along the metal barricade, engaging with his fans in personal moments rather than dutiful swipes.

I didn't get the feeling from his presence he was Presidential. I was convinced of his fitness for the highest office from his ideas, his words, his determination. His presence, however seemed more humble, a guy who wants to make a good impression on everyone he meets because he doesn't assume his own greatness.  I find that a contrast with the incumbent.

Tomorrow are the Washington State caucuses.  That means that Sabbath-observant Jews will be walking to our precincts and voting verbally. My husband and I will be hosting a Shabbat lunch table of 12 afterward.  I think using caucuses to determine candidate-loyal delegates to a larger convention that then chooses GOP delegates to the main event discourages participation.  Hardly anyone I know is aware of the caucuses, much less where and when; they'd rather get a ballot with nominees names, and mail it in.  Washington's process tomorrow is an aside on the path to Super Tuesday, which diminishes involvement further.

Too bad more voters couldn't attend the 8 am rally this morning.  They would have been reassurred that when Romney is eventually selected, which he will be, Republicans will be represented by a candidate unlike his press image.  This is a self-starter, not a rich guy buying his election; a sincere patriot, willing to make personal sacrifices for noble values, and, important to me, a devoted husband and father whose personal life is aligned with his lofty pronouncements.

After viewing and watching Mitt Romney, I'm actually enthused to get into this campaign. The contrast between Barack Obama and Mitt is stark, and I'm confident that the American people--jaded with the "hope and change" that has our nation in its deepest debt ever--will affirm their faith in their own abilities to produce, if only the government would get out of the way.