Obama to Washingtonians: Toughen up, pansies
posted at 1:30 pm on January 28, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Here in the frozen wasteland of the Upper Midwest, we know how to clear streets even during blizzards to ensure that traffic continues and schools can stay open. In Chicago, where the lake effect creates huge dumps of snow in cold winters, they have the same expertise. However, ice storms are another matter entirely. Schools close as people want to keep children off the roads and traffic to a minimum while the streets remain dangerous. That’s one of the few appropriate times we can say that it’s all about the children.
Or at least it used to be. Barack Obama today told Washingtonians they needed to toughen up and send their kids to school when the roads ice over:
The suburban schools systems and many private schools in the region were closed today and the District public schools opted for a delayed opening because of the sleet and freezing rain that made some roads and many sidewalks treacherous.
“Because of what? Because of some ice?” Obama said to laughter around the table. He said Sasha, his 7-year-old, pointed out that in Chicago, not only is school never canceled for snow, “you’d go outside for recess. You wouldn’t even stay indoors.”
He concluded by saying: “We’re going to have to apply some flinty Chicago toughness to this town. I’m saying that when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don’t seem to be able to handle things.”
Spoken like a true Hawaiian. Schools don’t close for snow in Chicago and Minneapolis because we have large infrastructures to deal with the reliably heavy snowfalls in our communities. That’s not the case in many areas socked in this week by snowstorms stretching from St. Louis to Schenectady and beyond. An unplowed inch or two of snow on the ground means a lot of accidents in areas unused to that kind of weather, and for that matter here as well.
An ice storm, with a sheet of tractionless ice on the road, practically guarantees accidents by the scores, if not by the hundreds. It would close schools here and in Chicago as well.
And this is the man who wants to tell us what the weather means and why we have to completely revamp our energy production because some years are hotter than others?
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
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Well, considering how Obama feels about abortion (partial-birth, live-birth, etc.), that’s pretty much self-evident. Maybe he’s hoping to thin the herd a bit by making them go to school even when the roads are thick with ice?
Makes you wonder if he’ll send his own children on those days as well. Unless that’s also “above his pay grade.”
jedijson on January 28, 2009 at 2:59 PM
Being a native New Yorker and currently living in Maryland I can tell you first hand.
People in Maryand and DC are complete PANSIES about the weather. Yesterday half the schools in Maryland and almost all the schools in DC were either delayed or closed because there was a threat of “2-4″ inches of snow.
I can understand today because everything is covered in ice (it took me 10 minutes just to get into my car…the ice was an inch and a half thick)
But these people close down schools when there is even just a HINT of snow.
Unfortunately, i agree with Barry on this one.
RedBurns on January 28, 2009 at 3:13 PM
He must not drive for himself very much. The rest of us know that even the best driving skills have no hope of defeating ice.
obladioblada on January 28, 2009 at 3:16 PM
Hey, there is a recession going on! Nanny Pelosi said children are a “cost” that needs to be reigned in.
jgapinoy on January 28, 2009 at 3:18 PM
It’s only a joke if people think it is a joke. The filthy bastard isn’t trusted enough by Americans yet to be making jokes without them coming off sounding like he thinks running the DC public incubator of socialism (i.e. DC public schools) is part of his job.
highhopes on January 28, 2009 at 3:19 PM
And NY like Chicago has the equipment to handle the cold weather better than the Mid-Atlantic. By the same token, every time we have extended heat waves in July, those pansies in Chicago drop like flys.
highhopes on January 28, 2009 at 3:23 PM
The Federal Gov’t has lots of resources available to get HIS kids to school…
Wyznowski on January 28, 2009 at 3:24 PM
Get this: According to a powerlineblog thread, Al Gore is supposed to testify today about global warming–er, climate change– before John Kerry’s Senate Foreign Relations committee. Huh? What, dear Gaia, do the two issues have to do with each other? Between these two doofuses, is there a half-brain somewhere?
onlineanalyst on January 28, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Yes, he does and here’s the proof: a picture’s worth 1000 words.
NightmareOnKStreet on January 28, 2009 at 3:29 PM
I just read this, and I live in Alexandria, I was quite glad they cancelled school today. I walked to the grocery store around noon, and the side-roads were still pretty icy. So the 0ne is either an idiot or an A-hole. Sorry, but his comment burned my butt.
4shoes on January 28, 2009 at 3:32 PM
I agree with 4shoes. I live in Falls Church, and Obama needs to ride a school bus along the hills of suburban counties outside of D.C. during or after an ice storm to experience what terror really is. Get off my back, Sir!
jintrabar on January 28, 2009 at 3:43 PM
The Socialists and their media allies won the WH by screaming on a daily basis that EVERYTHNG Bush did, or the weather did, or God did, or anyone else did, was Bush’s fault. It never mattered whether it was good or bad.
Sometimes Barry might say and do the right thing. It’s difficult being a POS 24/7. Our job is to get him out of office as quickly as possible before we lose all that’s remaining of the country as we know it. That’s why Bambi is wrong about the storm. If he had said stay home, he’d be wrong too.
JiangxiDad on January 28, 2009 at 3:47 PM
I lived in the DC area for most of the 70’s and 80’s. The DC snow is different from the northern snows. It is a wet snow that turns into ice if you drive on it. We would always clear our driveway before we would drive on it. We knew Northers who would laugh at us until they had the first DC snow.
jeannie on January 28, 2009 at 4:00 PM
His kids aren’t going to make a lot of friends by making fun of local life. Maybe he shouldn’t advertise the things that they say. It’s not easy being a president’s kid as it is. Sheesh. =/
herrevery on January 28, 2009 at 4:08 PM
and you kids in New Orleans better go to school during that hurricane
UNREPENTANT CONSERVATIVE CAPITOLIST on January 28, 2009 at 4:17 PM
Um, I’ve driven during an ice storm… once.
Watching a 4WD Pickup lose control and spin off a highway at < 10 MPH … that wasn’t fun. I got home, my 30 minute drive only took me 4.5 hours or so; with more luck than I care to imagine.
I don’t give a damn what names I might be called by any effete liberal pantywaist; if he wants to go drive on a solid sheet of ice to show us how; fine.
Put him in a bus, let him drive that bus’ normal route and see how long he’s leaving kids outside in freezing weather waiting for him.
Dead frozen kids alongside the road; we are the change you were waiting for?
gekkobear on January 28, 2009 at 4:32 PM
The schools in Chicago do close when the weather gets bad. That’s what snow days are for.
Mulligan on January 28, 2009 at 4:41 PM
That’s like a Floridian telling some one in the Michigan U.P. that they are pusses for not wearing short year round.
TheSitRep on January 28, 2009 at 4:43 PM
He does have that Chicago sarcastic sense of humor. I’m from Chi Town, and that’s okay with me. Let’s not get too upset with these bon mots, like “I won.”
PattyJ on January 28, 2009 at 4:46 PM
Mr. Obama’s right the democrat Administration of Wash DC are a bunch of incompetent whiny pansies just like the Mayor of New Orleans. Glad he’s finally recognizing what he’s dealing with.
eaglewingz08 on January 28, 2009 at 4:49 PM
North Carolina closes schools if it is snowing in Virginia on the fear that a snowflake may actually cross the boarder. That coupled with 24 hour coverage of every grocery store and Lowe’s to see how people are stocking up for the impending disaster. To tell you the truth, if I am going to be stuck in the house for 2-3 days I don’t want bread and milk, get me a carton of cigs and a 24 pack of beer. Yep, that’s how I roll!!! ;)
milwife88 on January 28, 2009 at 4:51 PM
So, according to Hussein’s logic, Chocolate City should have sucked it up during Katrina. We here in Texas should have stuck out Ike, which the feds are still dragging their feet on.
I hope Hussein tries to take Air Force One up in an ice storm. Then we’ll see how much “flinty Chicago toughness” he has.
madmonkphotog on January 28, 2009 at 5:07 PM
So why didn’t he just go outside, raise his hands to the sky to part the clouds and then shout LLET THERE BE WARMTH!?
I mean, is he not The One?
pilamaye on January 28, 2009 at 5:09 PM
Here we go. Now we begin to see the tone of the BO administration. Boorish arrogance. Isn’t he just the smartest guy in the room.
ronsfi on January 28, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Buck Farry. He just didn’t want the girls running around the White House gym, distracting his work out.
anniekc on January 28, 2009 at 5:22 PM
The drive bys have a new word to attribute to the Oneness. I hope Rush has a montage of them using it to describe everything from 0’s voice to the soles of his shoes.
Brat on January 28, 2009 at 5:23 PM
It depends on how often there’s snow or freezing rain in an area to determine how well people are adapted to it, and whether there are the means to clear snow and ice from the roads.
I grew up in northern NJ, moved to Houston TX for four years, and am now in CT. While I was in Houston, one day we had two inches of snow, and even though it wasn’t my turn, the other members of my car-pool asked Yankee to drive. As I tooled along at 25 mph on I-10, the others were egging me on to drive faster, like the SUV’s blazing past on the left. Until a few miles down the road, those same SUV’s were in the ditch, and I trundled on past them, telling my passengers that the Yankee way is to GET THERE, slowly but surely and patiently. Those talkative Texans didn’t say much.
Barry O knows snow, if he’s lived in Chicago, but ICE is another story. If Sasha gets thrown from the bus careening down an icy hill, Barry O will change his tune, unless he adds an earmark to the “stimulus” bill for road salt in DC.
Oh, but wait!!! Road salt could get into the reflecting pool on the Mall, or pollute the Potomac and poison all the freshwater fish down there! Oh, dear, what a quandary! What’s a poor lil’ ol’ community organizer to DO?
Steve Z on January 28, 2009 at 5:24 PM
Screw you Barry.
I’ll take Global Warming over this cold any day.
Close Gitmo and put up condos. I’ll buy one.
Sapwolf on January 28, 2009 at 5:37 PM
No matter what Obama says or does – Biden should apologize. Gets Barry off the hook & gives Joe something to do.
BHO Jonestown on January 28, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Have a chance for your comment to be read on a DC TV station later tonight. Submit HERE
News2Use on January 28, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Yes, Barry, because of some ICE.
Southern cities (which, for all intents and purposes, DC is) are notoriously ill-equipped for road preparation in case of ice. Snow is easy enough to remove – but, speaking as someone who was raised in New York and North Dakota, but lived the past 25 years in North Carolina, I can tell you that snow melts during the day, refreezes at night, and then all he!! breaks loose the next morning. We had a freak snow storm here last week – and my daughter totaled her SUV, not 500 yards from my house, AFTER the roads had been cleared of all snow – but not all ice.
uncivilized on January 28, 2009 at 7:08 PM
I spent one hour driving 20MPH on the highways of Dallas this morning because I’m in a training class this week that my company is paying for and it was not cancelled today. Good news – the few people on the roads this morning (most everything else was closed, so not a lot of traffic) seemed to keep their wits about them and I made it where I was going with both self and car in one piece. On the other hand – that was the most nerve wracking experience of my life and Hell will freeze over before I do it again. Ice is not snow (my family is from Erie and we spent much of my childhood in Alaska, so we know snow) and you do not drive on it the same way. And when you’re not used to driving in that kind of weather, it’s best you stay off the road. It has nothing to do with being pansies, and everything to do with exhibiting some “not so common” common sense.
Alia on January 28, 2009 at 7:13 PM
I live in MD and park my car and ride a commuter bus. Last night when I got to my car, it was covered in snow. No big deal, but when I started on the road, it was rain. I was going at a snail’s pace, but the other cars weren’t. I saw one car that had driven up onto a median, and another that had spun around into the woods.
Early this morning (or I guess last night), the snow in our yard had turned into ice. I watched the news and saw all sorts of accidents. We also live down two back roads. I would not want my niece trying to go to school in that.
His joke was lame, and the brown-nosing driveby’s in the room are disgusting.
Dubn8tr on January 28, 2009 at 7:36 PM
You poor soul, do you actually think that the Obama princesses ride a plebian BUS to school, down an icy hill??? No, no, no, they are most certainly escorted to school in one of the three Presidential limos, complete with Secret Service, like you saw on Inauguration Day.
We taxpayers have provided not one but three of these ” James Bond 007 secure” behemoths, in case Obama needs a decoy for security or a nice secure ride for his girls.
If I were you, I wouldn’t worry my precious little head about the Obama girls. As the First Daughters, they are duly protected, far more protected, I am sure, than your progeny.
marybel on January 28, 2009 at 7:41 PM
Heh, I just thought about last year when I was driving to church in DC during a snow/rain/ice storm. I was going superslow, but skidded anyway, and was pretty much asking for God to welcome me into His arms.
Once again, Barry can bite me.
Dubn8tr on January 28, 2009 at 7:43 PM
I grew up in Missouri, where the winters are not exactly harsh, but there’s definitely some snow and ice. We were used to driving on snow and through snow storms. A heavy enough snow would close the schools for a day or so while they cleared the snow and ice off the roads.
Now living in the deep South, the slightest little dusting of snow means all the schools immediately close. It seems shocking at first, but I was smart enough to realize that no one around here is used to driving on snow and ice. Keeping the schools open wouldn’t be hanging tough, it would be just causing a lot of unnecessary accidents.
Was Obama joking? I don’t know. It wasn’t exactly funny, though.
tom on January 28, 2009 at 7:46 PM
I taught at an inner city high school in Erie, PA. Like a lot of the schools in Chicago, it served mostly low income and minority households. The city schools were NEVER closed… no matter how bad the weather.
Why? Some of the kids came from homes with no heat. Some kids got their best meal at school. (that’s sad) When the weather was bad (in Erie that means more than a foot of snow or an ice storm), the school district would declare a “parental discretion” day. The school would be open but students wouldn’t be expected to show up.
On these days I would have three or four kids in each class. Their home lives were so bad, they were happy to go to school, be warm, and eat something.
I don’t think Obama’s girls will have classmates like that in their private school.
Paul the American on January 28, 2009 at 7:53 PM
OK, so if a bus slides through an interesection because of ice, and kills a few kids–do the parents get to sue the Enlightened One? Man is this guy a lightweight. He can’t see past his own nose.
smellthecoffee on January 28, 2009 at 8:55 PM
Apparently Obama hasn’t been watching the news. There is a big storm out there and many people are having a rough time because of it. I thought liberals were sensitive to the feelings of others. Here in Ky many people are without power and we pansies have also canceled school. Something about the 2 inches of ice on the roads and power lines that makes us a little nervous about having bus loads of kids out there.
I really could care less about what Obama says, but the hypocrisy of the media in how they covered this in comparison with how the same statement would have been covered if Bush would have it said is staggering.
conservativemama on January 28, 2009 at 9:21 PM
As a Chicagoan myself, I comeptely concur with you, Ed! I can’t count how many times this winter alone my local news has reported on school closings. And not just the private schools, public as well. And that’s with the infrascruture Ed mentions and the fact that we know how to drive in this stuff.
Nice to know that Obama consults his seven-yr-old on important matters. /sarc.
His quote about applying Chicago policies to Washington, is one of the most honest things he’s said b/c that’s just what he’s brining to the country — Chicago style tactics and filth (oops, did he say “flint”, I thought he said filth, lol!).
-Aslan’s Girl
Aslans Girl on January 28, 2009 at 9:45 PM
23 people were killed in the storm. why is it ok for Obama to make fun of these snow storms? is that the way he treats every threat to Americans?
Phoenician on January 29, 2009 at 2:39 AM
If Da Bama wants to risk his childrens lives then so be it, but if my kids were at risk I would keep them home.
Either he is getting STOOOPID, or he is trying to provide AlGorebal Warming cover.
DannoJyd on January 29, 2009 at 4:23 AM
Yes, they close down at the HINT of snow. It takes time to mobilize the buses and drivers, notify the parents, the radio stations, and so forth. Imagine the parental angst and anger if schools waited until the snow actually hit, and the kids wind up taking four hours to get home.
They can’t handle snow and they know it. I grew up in Wisconsin and, believe me, I know a lot of folks there who can’t handle snow and DON’T know it.
ss396 on January 29, 2009 at 8:55 AM
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