Presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz has a different approach to problems than the country’s current commander-in-chief.
That was quite evident this week in Michigan, where his campaign staffers worked tirelessly to hand out bottled water by the gallons to Flint residents struggling with lead-laced water in a debacle that’s becoming a prime example of government incompetence.
The president’s Environmental Protection Agency and local officials reportedly did little to prevent the dangerous situation and local residents are now paying the price, but that doesn’t seem to bother Obama.
While the Cruz campaign was hauling water to the needy on Monday, the president was visiting the Detroit Auto Show and swigging brews with patrons at the Jolly Pumpkin Pizzeria and Brewery in Detroit, where he met Mayor Mike Duggan for lunch.
The establishment’s proprietor, Tony Grant, posted about the experience on Facebook.
Thanks for the Jolly Pumpkin Detroit Love Mr. President! So cool!!!
Posted by Tony Grant on Wednesday, January 20, 2016
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“You’ve been asking! The official President Obama order was … a JP Cheddar Burger and Truffle fries!” read a post on the business’ Facebook page. “We will be running the Presidential Cheddar Burger Special all night! Join us tonight and sit in the President’s seat. #potus #detroit #greatdayfordetroit”
About 60 miles north, the Cruz campaign was doing something that actually matters.
“As our volunteers were handing out gallons of water to people in Flint, President Obama was busy hanging out in a bar in Detroit,” Cruz’s Michigan director Wendy Day told The American Mirror. “It is shocking that he would come so close to Flint and not actually make an appearance in this city that is suffering.
“Flint deserves better.”
Cruz staffers spent Wednesday delivering 600 gallons and cases of water to expectant mothers who’ve been forced into crisis centers because of the public health scare. Day said they wanted to help out, simply because it’s the right thing to do.
“Senator Cruz has already made a very strong statement on this issue in support of the people of Flint, in acknowledging what’s happened with the government failure on basically every level. And we believe it’s our civic duty to reach out,” Day told ABC 12.
“We have to be willing to step up. And here we are putting our money and time where our mouth is,” she said.
Obama gave lip service to the Flint crisis at the auto show, but avoided the city during his Michigan stop.
“I know that if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself that my kid’s health could be at risk,” he said, according to The Huffington Post.
Yet despite allegations Obama’s EPA should have released Flint water test results long before it did, Obama deputy press secretary Eric Schultz told The Washington Post the president is “deeply engaged” in “marshaling all the resources of the federal government” to make things right.
“What I can say is clearly the notification process is part of the problem here and the president is absolutely determined to figure out what went wrong, generally speaking,” Schultz said.
Schultz made the comments aboard Air Force One Wednesday in enroute to the presidential Cheddar Burger.
Obama met with Flint Mayor Karen Weaver on Tuesday, and has declared a federal emergency for Flint that comes with $5 million in aid.
The city’s residents are undoubtedly grateful for the cash, but it’s clean water they need most, and accountability for the public officials who let them down, Cruz said recently told the audience at a New Hampshire campaign stop.
“What has happened in Flint, Michigan is absolutely a travesty. The men and women have been betrayed. Every one of us is entitled to have clean water,” Cruz said, according to ABC 12.
“And to all the children who have been poisoned…by government officials, by their negligence, their ineptitude, there needs to be accountability as to why dirty water, poisoned water was given to a community that did not deserve this,” he said. We “need to ensure there is accountability, clean water and clean air. Prayers for people of Flint, Michigan that health affects aren’t as long-lasting as many think they will be. Needs to be accountability from the city government all the way up.”
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