Obama’s inaction seems to contradict what he promised people in Joplin in late May 2011, after touring the damaged areas with Nixon.
“The main thing I just want to communicate to the people of Joplin is this is just not your tragedy,” Obama said on May 29, 2011. ”This is a national tragedy and that means there will be a national response. Craig Fugate, who has probably been the busiest man in the federal government over this last bit of months, has been on the ground since just the day after this happened, and he’s helping to coordinate with an outstanding team of state and local officials. We’re going to do everything we can to continue whatever search-and-rescue remains. We are doing everything we can to make sure that folks get the shelter that they need, the support that they need.”
Obama had even promised to “cut through any red tape that’s necessary with respect to rebuilding here,” and that he’d be helping the tragedy’s victims “long after the cameras leave.”
TheDC’s requests for comment from the U.S. Department of Justice and Carnahan’s office went unanswered.
UPDATE 2 p.m. Sunday:
Jasper County clerk Bonnie Earl told The Daily Caller there’s no way at all any voters will not be allowed to vote. “I am the Election Authority in Jasper County and there is absolutely, positively no possibility of any voters not being allowed to vote,” Earl said in an email. “Missouri law states that the EA shall send new Voter ID cards every two years. Those cards were recently mailed and we had a higher number returned to us due to the horrific tornado that occurred here last year. Many people have been displaced. It is the voter’s responsibility to change his or her address when they move. There are several forms of identification that the voter can lawfully use in the state of Missouri to vote. So, not having a current voter ID does not exclude them from voting.”
U.S. Rep. Billy Long, a freshman Republican whose district includes Joplin, told TheDC he doesn’t expect problems either.
