A Hurricane: Obama's First Term

Hurricane Sandy is a microcosm of Obama's first term.

In his response to crises, we see a stark difference between the competence of Obama and the malfeasance of his predecessor, whose contempt for government doomed everything from the start.

The damage from the storm is visible and widespread, and no one questions it will take years to fully restore everything, much less take the steps necessary to prevent the next storm from doing as much damage.

Yet the damage done by the financial crisis was far worse and more widespread. It destroyed more wealth and its effects were global--but since it wasn't a literal storm, people somehow expected everything to be patched up by now.

We are far more patient with damage that is physical. In 1989 part of the San Francisco Bay Bridge fell from an earthquake. Today, 23 years later, the new bridge is almost finished. It may take an equally long time to build storm surge protections for New York. But a global financial disaster that destroyed over a trillion dollars and financially wrecked untold homes? Hey, Obama, you've had four years!

At the end of the day we have to ask ourselves: Do we really want to put another guy who hates government in charge of government? Do we want to go backward? Or do we realize that we haven't even begun to give Obama enough time to clean up the mess, much less take the necessary steps to prevent the next crisis from doing as much damage.