get home as fast as possible

Karen Bass the Mayor of Los Angeles found out what many a political leader has discovered. When there is a disaster in your jurisdiction, run, don’t walk to get back home as soon as possible. Check out this Politico article, Wildfire response threatens to end Karen Bass’ extended honeymoon

President Bush had the same issue during Hurricane Katrina and he was only one state away in Texas. In these cases perception is everything. The worst thing you can do is be on vacation, or in Bass’ case in far away Ghana when disaster strikes. It automatically makes you look out of touch and more concerned about your personal desires and perhaps entertainment.

With the Mayor being out of town, it automatically puts her on the defensive and any vultures in the area will immediately descend and start pecking at the absent body of the unlucky politician.

In reality, the first responders and other civic leaders were likely functioning just fine, but citizens expect their chief elected officials to be present and taking an interest in their welfare.

I also noted in the article about how quickly misinformation can take root, be it the extent that the water reservoirs being full or the budget proposals for the fire department.