President Obama: We’re Ready For Hurricane Sandy
President Barack Obama said on Monday that the government was prepared to deal with Hurricane Sandy but urged people living along the east coast to be cautious over the next few days.
“When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate. Do not delay, don’t pause, don’t question the instruction that are being given because this is a serious storm and it could potentially have fatal consequences.”
The President said that he was confident that the government was ready to deal with the aftermath of the storm but acknowledged that it could take a while to “clean up” after Hurricane Sandy sweeps over the east coast.
Obama said:
“I’m confident that we’re ready, but I think the public needs to prepare for the fact that this is going to take a long time for us to clean up … The good news is we will clean up and we will get through this.
Obama cancelled a campaign appearance in Florida today but said that he wasn’t concerned about the storm’s effect on the election.
Obama said:
“I’m not worried at this point about the impact on the election, I’m worried about the impact on families and I’m worried about the impact on our first responders; I’m worried about the impact on our economy… The election will take care of itself next week.”
Obama also cancelled an appearance in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Tuesday. White House spokesman Jay Carney said that it was important for the president to be in Washington during the hurricane so that he could oversea the recovery effort.
Carney said:
“The president’s priority right now is the safety and security of Americans who are in the path of the storm and who will be affected by it. It’s essential in his view that he be in Washington, one of the areas that will be affected, and where his team is to oversee that effort.”
Here’s a video of Obama’s statement on Hurricane Sandy.
