Hurricane Gustav forces changes to republican convention

In the wake of Hurricane Gustav, the now category 4 storm that threatens Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, the GOP convention has to make some major “adjustments”. They are talking about either canceling the first two days or pushing the convention back because of the state of emergency the country is now in.

President Bush will not be attending the convention live since he has to deal with hurricane issues but he will address the convention via live satellite feed. Several delegates have also gone back to their home states and McCain himself wants to get to a hurricane-affected place as soon as possible.

President Bush and V.P. Dick Cheney are pulling out all the stops to respond to his hurricane as they do not want to be criticized the way they were for Hurricane Katrina.

As bad as this may sound, this may turn out to be good for the GOP as they could use this event to score some major PR points. By responding quickly and efficiently an leading the country out of disaster effectively, it would up presidential approval ratings and help their election in November. Remember that approval ratings were at an all-time high after the 9/11 incident. Since the convention is in Minnesota and the disaster is somewhere far away, they could have proceeded but instead decided to postpone the convention or cancel a few days to show their concern for the country at large. I think if they do this right, they can indeed get to the heart of many Americans and score some major votes. It’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out.