shayaryn

I've been seeing people bitching about the power outages in Kentucky, going on about how Obama needs to get down there and handle it. Please. Were you up in arms when an ice storm knocked out power for 350,000 people in Massachusetts this past December? Some of us only lost power for a few days, but Fitchburg residents had no electricity and no heat from December 12th and some never even got it back before Christmas. What about us? What about the the nurse with four feet of water in her basement? What about the family next door with a newborn baby who lost power and heat during a winter storm? These are actual people I'm talking about, not random situations I made up.

I'm a Bush-hating liberal, yet I never blamed him for the property damage and the misery I suffered without power. Actually, he did the right thing. He sent us national guardsmen to clear broken trees and live wires from the roads. We had volunteers helping us from all over the country. And that's the same thing Obama did for KY.

And comparing a mass power outage to Katrina is insane. People have access to water and food during power outages. There's also shelters available. I don't know about KY, but no one in MA froze to death when we lost power. Did you know supermarkets have back-up generators? Having no power can not be compared to having one's home washed away. The only valid comparison is the lack of action on Unitil's behalf, the power company that took two weeks to get power back to Fitchburg. I live in the next town over, and our power company, National Grid, got our power back within 48 hours. Governor Patrick actually forced Unitil to let National Grid help them. The city of Fitchburg is working on a class-action lawsuit against Unitil. That, I believe, can almost be compared to FEMA's pitiful response to the victims of hurricane Katrina. Almost. No one in Fitchburg died from that ice storm.

What's the big deal with KY? When MA lost power, it was about 40 degrees colder, and during the two weeks Fitchburg went without power, it snowed nearly every day. There was over a foot of snow on the ground. Obama-hating Republicans, why do we not matter to you? Why didn't you care when people in MA had no power for weeks? Because we're liberals? Why the double standard?

Like I said, I hate Bush, but he helped my state swiftly and proportionately. Obama did the exact same thing with KY. Major power outages do not require presidential fly-bys. The people in MA without power were far worse off than those in KY; it's nowhere near as cold here. It's a bit odd looking at Yahoo! Weather and seeing a zero degree temperature. "Oh look, no temperature today-- wait WHAT?!"

It's hypocritical to criticize Obama for not visiting KY while not caring about what happened to MA. Explain this double standard to me, please. Did you even know we lost power here for days, even weeks?