Obama: Snowy Washington Needs 'Chicago Toughness'

Source: Washington Post

By Daniel de Vise and Michael Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 28, 2009; 2:53 PM

... President Obama, who poked fun this morning at his daughters' school -- Sidwell Friends -- and others in the region for declaring a snow day. "Because of what?" he asked. "Some ice?"

Many suburban school systems were closed today, and District schools delayed opening because of last night's freezing rain, which coated cars and roads with a thick gloss of ice. Private schools, including Sidwell, tend to follow the lead of public schools in school delays or closures. Sidwell has campuses in Bethesda and Northwest Washington ...

"No question, the president is right. The next time it snows, we would like to invite him to help us make the decision. His involvement will make it much easier to explain to our students why they won't be able to spend the day sleeping and sledding."

<Ellis Turner, associate head of school at Sidwell> added, in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the president's school-age years in the Pacific islands: "Or, I suppose Sidwell Friends could merge with Punahou, move our classrooms to Hawaii and never worry about the weather again" ...

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I'd personally try to stay off DC streets in the snow. The town is full of hyperactive lunatics from other places who regularly drive 20 or 30 mph over the limit, tailgate, and have lots of money and access to good lawyers: if I ever get slammed from behind in a 55 zone, I'll expect to be sued into poverty by some jackass who argued that I should have been going 80 instead of 65 and that anyway the fact I was going 60 in a 55 zone showed my reckless disregard for the law. DC traffic is a nightmare on the best days: imagine the Beltway with a layer of ice and a hundred fender-benders, most caused by out-of-towners who don't know squat about driving on snow or ice

close because its difficult for students and faculty, many of whom live outside DC, to make it through rush hour bad weather chaos; its a practical, safety decision. AND of course snow/weather days are accounted for in the school year's schedule.

Good to see Sidwell's head of school comment!

He should have seen DC in early 2003, an unusually nasty winter obviously designed by the Baby Jebus to torment the thieves who stole the White House.

You couldn't walk fifty yards without finding a wet-behind-the-ears Texan reefed on a curb or in a ditch, or facing the wrong way in the road. I got the distinct impression that many of the newcomers had a particular disdain for the Metro and for buses (perhaps because they were de-segregated?). But the Baby Jebus changed that attitude in one hell of a hurry.

and reflected on how wussified the transplanted Californians were when they were intimidated by Pacific Northwest weather. But Washington D. C. is in the South, and they may not have the snow removal budget that Chicago has.

It's just a bit of cultural shock, I've had the same in the last couple of years since I moved to NY!

And with ice? But then it would have already been a solid 4 lanes of bumper-to-bumper cars and trucks like it often is in sunny weather. :banghead:

We get snow regularly and there hasn't been one where I didn't get to work anyway and wonder what all the fuss was about. This winter we have had some good snow, but I am still biking into work. But I know some of the people in our district administration and I know some bus drivers, and that's where the decision here gets made. If the bus drivers have trouble getting the kids home after school because of road conditions and then there's more in the forecast overnight its probably going to be a snow day. Not because someone might not be able to drive in the snow, but because a full bus full of kids may get stuck somewhere.