President Obama ‘Economy is Like A Hurricane’ Comment While In New Orleans Did Not Go Over Well

President Barack Obama had a cringe-worthy moment while on a campaign stop in New Orleans recently. During an interview with local WWLTV Obama likened the struggling economy to a hurricane, a financial hurricane to be specific. The uncomfortable expression at the casual reference to a natural disaster which virtually crippled the Crescent City and killed approximately 1,833 residents was quiet evident on reporter Karen Swensen’s face. President Obama should be prepared to answer questions about the decrepit state of the economy without resorting to the “blame Bush” rhetoric (also employed during the interview) and callous metaphors.

A hurricane is a natural an unavoidable disaster; the continued American economic downfall is not. The conversation about the economy which prompted President Obama to put his foot in his mouth began when Swensen noted the increase in New Orleans unemployment since Obama took office.

Interview excerpt as republished on The Blaze:

“When you took office, in New Orleans the unemployment rate was 6.1 percent. It’s now at 7.2 percent. We’ve had 4,000 people lose their jobs just between April and May. What would you say to those constituents, to those voters who would say, ‘I’m not better off, with all due respect, than I was four years ago, I’m worse’?” – Swensen asked.

After wasting a few sentences blaming former President George W. Bush for the current economic woes, President Obama pivoted into the hurricane portion of his windy explanation.

Obama’s Response to WWLTV:

“Well, if you look at what’s happened, not just in Louisiana, but across the country, most of those job losses initially came in the first six months of me being in office, right as we were hitting the worst part of the crisis. And we’ve been doing clean-up ever sense. I mean, this is essentially like–it was a financial hurricane that hit, and we’ve been cleaning up ever since.”

If the economy is a hurricane, the nation had better hope that Obama does not fancy himself a clean-up guy from FEMA. Perhaps next week President Obama will head out west and compare the unhealthy economy to an out-of-control wildfire. Surely the folks who lost everything they owned during the summer blazes will not be offended by the casual reference to a deadly disaster.