While listening to congressional Republicans preen and prance over the conditions they demand for disaster aid to California fire victims, I am reminded of a speech delivered in 2004 by a young upstart politician from Illinois.
State Sen. Barack Obama delivered the Democratic Party convention keynote speech in Boston. He told conventioneers that this nation doesn’t comprise “red states or blue states,” but said “we are the United States of America.”
So it should always be, particularly when Americans are in dire peril recovering from disasters such as those wildfires that have ravaged southern California. Recall, too, that when hurricanes destroyed much of North and South Carolina, and Florida — all regions that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 — Democratic President Joe Biden didn’t hesitate in sending disaster aid to those states.
Such magnanimity isn’t on display these days as Republicans led by Donald Trump attach conditions to disaster aid aimed at helping Californians who live in a state that voted heavily for Biden in 2020 and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
Is this a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats seemingly put partisanship aside when the call goes out for aid to all Americans regardless of whom they support at the ballot box. Republicans, though, seemingly make up conditions for aid to deliver to those Americans who vote the other way at election time.
Barack Obama had it right in 2004. We’re supposed to all live within the United States of America.