Tim Skubick: Hurricane Sandy scenes of frustration surely won't help Obama

“Where’s FEMA?” the visibly angry Staten Island mother looked into the network TV camera and cried out. She and others wondered where was the food and shelter relief promised by the president’s emergency disaster agency.

Wonder if Barack Obama heard the plea seven states over in Wisconsin where he was back on the campaign trail trying to cement his own re-election?

The network coverage of day three of the Sandy aftermath was not nearly as glamorous for the president who days before basked in the after glow of appearing to be on top of the rescue relief effort and having praise lavished on him by GOP New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie no less.

Nope. As the shock wore off of getting blasted by the hurricane’s high winds and even higher water, frustration set in, bringing some of the citizenry to a fever pitch. They wondered where they would sleep, how they would clothe their kids not to mention finding what little bit of petrol there was to pump into their cars.

Can you imagine standing in line for two hours to do that?

A hurricane on the East Coast where millions of persons are packed in like a bunch of sardines spawns an emotional reaction that could hurt the president.

The NBC one-hour special the other night was interesting in that they never used any sound bytes of anyone griping about the president and asking where he was. The conservatives will surely point to that as yet another example of the pro-Obama network bias.

However the pictures of the disgruntled citizens standing in front of their battered homes pleading for help produced a strong visual contrast with the president standing at a podium in the Cheese state asking everyone to pitch in to help.

Suffice it to say, it was not the visual message the campaign wanted digested on the eve of the election. And if that kind of coverage continues, votes could be lost along with all the personal possessions. Talk about your spoiler alert.

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