Beating Obama

Yesterday morning I woke to the news that President Obama would be on Staten Island to tour the storm damage, meet with families and officials, in short, the usual post-tragic storm show and tell. He would be touching down at JFK at 11:30 a.m. Expect street closures. Imagining conditions on the Gowanus and BQE with the Verrazano shut down or restricted to one lane for the presidential motorcade, I jumped out of bed, shoved a piece of toast in my mouth, swigged a cup of coffee, and hit the road. I threw in the double-CD reissue of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass--but that's just a good idea for any situation.

(Photo: Getty Images)

In the end, traffic moved along at a normal Thursday morning crawl. Obama's helicopter (duh!), Marine One, landed at Miller Field near New Dorp Beach at 1:15 p.m.

In the picture at right, Obama meets with residents in nearby neighborhoods devastated by the storm. Inexplicably, one man carries a "No standing-Bus Stop" sign under his arm. For the best and worst of Staten Islanders' response to the visit, check out the comments to this Staten Island Advance story.