Like most Americans, my eyes were fixed on the television Tuesday night while ground and aerial images of Moore, Oklahoma – the suburban community ripped apart by a devastating EF4 tornado – were broadcast on the evening news. And like most Americans, I felt heartache with each survivor’s account of the storm; and from the photos of homes and buildings leveled in only a matter of minutes; and the news of at least 24 dead, nine of whom were kids.
But my heartache was replaced by revulsion on Wednesday, when politics was candidly thrown in the mix of turmoil and anguish suffered by victims of the storm. It seems like that’s how it always goes with natural diasters. From Hurricane Katrina to Superstorm Sandy, it seems there’s hardly ever a traumatic situation where politics as usual doesn’t come into play, even when it’s clear that political bantering should temporarily be put on the back burner.
In the case of Moore, the monster that is politics reared its ugly head when journalists noted that Oklahoma senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe are both active critics of FEMA (the very definition of irony in my book). Both are consistent naysayers of federal emergency aid – and both voted against FEMA assistance for victims of Superstorm Sandy last fall.