For presidents, snow has become a reliable catastrophe
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is notorious for his advice: "don't waste a good crisis." The National Journal (subscription required) recounts how presidents have evolved in their appreciation that blizzards are national emergencies in the magazine's current article "For presidents, snow has become a reliable catastrophe. It used to be something that you just had to live with ."
President Obama has declared a disaster to facilitate a federal bailout of DC area snowfighters. Last year, he was joking about how well Chicago handled snow and ice. Now he lives in Washington, DC and can appreciate that failed snowfighting is no joke. The article continues:
Where snow falls, disaster follows. Legally, that is. Presidents have turned increasingly to disaster designations over the past 60 years, and snow has become an ever-more-popular entry. But they ignored it at first. It wasn't until January 1977 that snow, by itself, made the disaster cut. That was in Buffalo, N.Y. (no winter wimps there).
Carter started something, and since then snow has become a reliable catastrophe. Last year alone, there were 17 disaster declarations linked to severe winter storms.
It used to be something you just had to live with. When Eva Clark of Pittsfield, Mass., sent Grover Cleveland views of her city after the Blizzard of 1888, along with pictures of the same streets in summer, the president replied, helpfully, "The storm must have been severe to have so filled the streets of Pittsfield with snow, but the views in summer show so delightful a change that you will soon be enjoying the pleasures of your shady home."
Even in the face of real disaster, presidents shrugged. After 98 people died when the roof of Washington's Knickerbocker Theater collapsed in 1922, Warren Harding said, "The terrible tragedy, staged in the midst of a great storm, has deeply depressed all of us and left us wondering about the revolving fates."
Fortunately, we don't have to accept that snowfall equals disaster. Ask your local professional snowfighter!
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