After Sandy

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I was scheduled to go into New York City last night to meet with an author whose upcoming book the Post is going to print in 2013. That did not happen. Train travel into the city from New Jersey is still suspended. The first subway left Penn Station going north this morning. Many lines are still out. I can imagine the stench in the sections flooded by the storm. There must be debris in some of them from the Grant Administration. You may need a gas mask to ride the lines in the days to come.

I see that areas below 39th Street are largely without power, phone and internet service. I spoke finally yesterday with my author who lived in the dark half of the city. He phoned me from a place uptown where he went to take a shower. Unlike the Katrina debacle, most elected officials seem to be on their game addressing the crises. Pictures of Hoboken, Breezy Point and barrier islands are heart-breaking, the long gas lines reminiscent of the 1970’s. This will take some time to repair. And some doing on the part of elected officials

We obviously have a bright, capable, compassionate leader in the White House who works across party lines when they also extend the arm of cooperation.  I would also point out that it has been some time since we had a Chief Executive who did not endure some major scandal during his term of office. We will need a leader like that to address the Financial Game of Chicken going on in Congress after November 6. We will need a President like that to make the other tough calls that lie ahead. A spineless politician who makes up facts to fit his position of the moment will never do.

I hope the president will reconsider plunging back into the campaign. I’d like to see him go to New York City to look and learn and comfort the afflicted, and direct assistance where it is most needed. That is his day job. That great city needs him to do with Mayor Bloomberg what he did yesterday with Governor Christie. We are all saturated with the endless politicking, as well as with ubiquitous water here in the east. The moment cries for effective leadership and truth-telling, and you will not find that shaking hands and delivering canned talks on the campaign trail.

Tom Godfrey

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