As Paul notes below, Barack Obama stuck his foot in his mouth in talking about the tornado that struck Greensburg, Kansas. Not only did Obama retail the myth that the Iraq war had depleted the state’s ability to respond to the disaster, he also asserted that 10,000 people had been killed by the tornado. The actual number is 12. It is this second point that I think deserves additional comment.
I know Obama is a city boy, but he seems to be woefully ignorant of tornadoes. A tornado is extremely violent, but also relatively small. No tornado in American history has killed anywhere near 10,000 people; the highest fatality count is 689. The idea that a tornado would wipe out all 10,000 residents of a small town, as suggested by Obama (the actual population of Greensburg is 1,600) would strike anyone who knows anything about weather as ludicrous.
This is just one of a series of gaffes by Obama that raise serious questions about his ability to compete at a high political level. The lack of common sense suggested by his gullibility in regard to the Greensburg tornado can perhaps be chalked up to lack of experience; but that’s the point.
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