November 3, 2012 by David K. Sutton
Mitt Romney’s FEMA Problem
Mitt Romney has a FEMA problem. Actually, Mitt Romney has more than just a FEMA problem, he has a compassion problem and he has an empathy problem.
Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. And if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better. —
We should take all of what we’re doing at the federal level, and say, “What are the things we’re doing that we don’t have to do?” And those things we’ve got to stop doing. Because we’re borrowing one point six trillion dollars more this year than we’re taking in.
– Mitt Romney, Republican debate — June 13, 2011
The problem with Mitt Romney’s critique of FEMA and federal government spending is that it only addresses the budget and not humanity. It’s cold and it’s calculated, but it ignores the human impact. On Up with Chris Hayes on MSNBC, John Nichols of The Nation said, “In a weird defense of Mitt Romney, he was answering a deficit question. He wasn’t thinking about FEMA at all.” And that’s the problem. Americans say they want a president who will make tough decisions and balance the budget but nobody is willing to accept any sacrifice on their part to make that happen. And everyone expects that the government will be there to help in a time of disaster.
This is the problem with current Republican politics. — They speak the tough language that many Americans want to hear, but their rhetoric is insulated from reality. Even Mitt Romney is likely to sing a different tune if he were to become president and faced the reality that federal spending is needed in times of national disaster.
States do not posses their own sovereign currency. If we sent FEMA back to the states and the poor states have no money to respond in a disaster, what are we supposed to tell Americans who live in those states? Oh well, that’s what you voted for? Obviously the federal government is going to step in, and that’s why Mitt Romney’s stance on FEMA and the federal government during that Republican debate in June 2011 is so out of touch with reality.
