WI Obama's "10,000 died" gaffe wan't a gaffe?

Spin-off from my thread re: Obama's "57 states" gaffe:

In OTL, on May 8, 2007, Obama made the following comment (in reference to a tornado that killed 12 people in Kansas):

“In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. 10,000 people died — an entire town destroyed.”

(He went on to blame the alleged lack of sufficient National Guard resources on Iraq).

WI Obama's statement was accurate, and 10,000 people really had died in a disaster in Kansas that week? What effect does this have on the presidential campaign, etc?

Note: The deadliest tornado in history was one that killed 1.300 in Bangladesh, the deadliest in US history killed 747 people.

Maybe in this ATL the tornado causes a deadly chemical spill or something?

Altho, since Obama didn't actually say "tornado", in this ATL it could have been something else- a meteor strike, perhaps.
 
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What with the economic crash, this is really shaping up to be an annus horribilis.

I suspect this favors Obama, at least if its a tornado or some other natural disaster. It brings back Katrina memories; plus there's a vestigial human impulse to blame the party in power for mishaps like this.
 
What with the economic crash, this is really shaping up to be an annus horribilis.

Obama made this comment in 2007. Oddly tho, he made his "57 states" comment exactly one year later, to the day. Maybe he'll make another AH-ish gaffe on May 8 of this year.

I suspect this favors Obama, at least if its a tornado or some other natural disaster. It brings back Katrina memories; plus there's a vestigial human impulse to blame the party in power for mishaps like this.
This could also offer Bush a chance at redemption for Katrina tho, if he's seen as handling it well. After all, this would completely overshadow Katrina in its scale- ten times as many dead, very possibly the worst natural disaster in US history, rivaled only by the Galveston hurricane of 1900.
 
True. Also, when you're afraid of outside events, things like experience and a military record may matter more. Guess that's why I'm not a professional psephologist.
 
Also don't forget the whole anti global warming movement as well. If weather gets extreme enough that we have a tornado capable of killing 10000 people I think we're talking about the most extreme tornado in human history, I mean that is one BIG tornado.
 
Since he said it doesn't have to be a terrorist attack maybe the avian flu mutated becoming lethal and the government had to quarentine this Kansas town.
 
What with the economic crash, this is really shaping up to be an annus horribilis.

Seriously people...stop looking at the economic crash like it is the bubonic plague of the flu outbreak of 1918... Yes the crash caused damage, but I am not exactly seeing thousands displaced after their homes were (and I will be oh so very literal before it is analyzed) vaporized by a tidal wave of water...Thousand aren't sweltering in a superdome in their own filth.

In short:
  1. Economic Crisis =/= Natural disaster
  2. Economic Crisis = Financial/Business/human made error
 
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