"Right-wing Mad Libs: [Insert event] is Obama's [insert catastrophe]"

Right-wing Mad Libs: (Insert event) is Obama's (insert catastrophe)

Media figures have advanced a long line of inane historical analogies to attack the Obama administration, characterizing the Gulf oil spill -- and a wide range of other events -- as Obama's Katrina and searching for Obama's Watergate, Obama's 9-11, and Obama's Waterloo, among others.

Limbaugh: BP oil spill in Gulf is Obama's Katrina. During the April 30 edition of his radio show, Rush Limbaugh referred to the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as "Obama's Katrina," absurdly comparing the Obama administration's response to the spill to the Bush administration's botched response after Hurricane Katrina, a hurricane that left more than 1,500 dead. Limbaugh added, "That damn oil slick just got in the way. So he had to give some lip service to the oil slick. 'It's all British Petroleum's fault. They gotta clean it up. I'm sending some czars down there.' "


H1N1 flu is Obama's Katrina. On his November 3, 2009, radio show, Limbaugh stated that the H1N1 vaccine shortage "ought to be Obama's Katrina," but won't because "they have to protect the little man-child." An August 25 op-ed by Martin Schram for the Scripps-Howard News Service was headlined "Schram: Swine flu could be Obama's Katrina." Kansas City Star blogger Bill Dalton wrote an October 15, 2009, post under the headline "H1N1: Obama's Katrina?" On the May 3, 2009, edition of Washington, D.C., television station WJLA's Inside Washington, host Gordon Peterson and Newsweek's Evan Thomas discussed whether the H1N1 flu was "Obama's Katrina" (retrieved from the Nexis database).


Earthquake in Haiti is Obama's Katrina. In a January 25 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal titled "Haiti: Obama's Katrina," Soumitra R. Eachempati, Dean Lorich, and David Helfet wrote: "Four years ago the initial medical response to Hurricane Katrina was ill equipped, understaffed, poorly coordinated and delayed. Criticism of the paltry federal efforts was immediate and fierce. Unfortunately, the response to the latest international disaster in Haiti has been no better, compounding the catastrophe." Similarly, in a January 17 post titled "Obama's Katrina," the blog Flopping Aces mentioned the criticisms of President Bush for his Katrina response and asked: "Does Obama Hate the People of Haiti?"

GM bankruptcy is Obama's Katrina. A June 8, 2009, Politico article was headlined: "Republicans hope General Motors is President Obama's Hurricane Katrina."

Christmas Day underwear bomber is Obama's Katrina. In a December 29, 2009, Pajamas Media blog post titled "Is the Undiebomber Obama's Katrina?" Ed Driscoll asserted: "No doubt, Obama's poll numbers aren't going to be helped by this Jan-caused disaster. But I doubt if the fallout they'll face will be as severe as what the Bush administration went through due to Katrina, simply because the media will never gin up a news storm against the man they helped to elect that's anywhere near as powerful as the one they created to accompany Katrina." Similarly, as Comedy Central's Jon Stewart noted, on the January 7 edition of Fox News' Hannity, Republican strategist Karen Hanretty referred to the attempted bombing as the Obama administration's " 'heck of a job, Brownie' moment."

Chicago housing policies are Obama's Katrina. In a June 30, 2008, post, Slate.com blogger Mickey Kaus linked to a Boston Globe article about Obama's Chicago housing policies as a state senator, headlining his post "Obama's Katrina." Kaus later updated, concluding: "After all, Obama's career has been unusually limited for a presidential contender. Housing and 'community development' has been a big part of it. If the result has been a disaster in which Obama's friends made lots of money while his poor constituents lived in dangerous squalor, that seems like a big warning sign, no? At least an expectations-lowerer! George W. Bush, in contrast, hadn't dedicated a large chunk of his life to FEMA."

and more....

"Obama's Watergate" .... "Obama's Harriet Miers" .... "Obama's 9-11, Iraq, Iranian hostage crisis, Enron, " 'My Pet Goat' moment"

http://mediamatters.org/research/201006070004