Obama visits storm-battered New Jersey

"We are here for you," US president tells residents picking up the pieces in the wake of massive storm Sandy.



Barack Obama, the US president, is paying a visit to the state of New Jersey to see the damage done by superstorm Sandy, as the East Coast picks up the pieces in the wake of widespread destruction.

"Obama has won this news cycle and conversation by putting the lives of American people ahead of politics" - Edward Wyckoff Williams, Political analyst

Obama joined New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and other officials to inspect damage from the massive storm that struck the East Coast. He saw flooded neighbourhoods and sand-strewn streets during a tour that came less than a week before election day.
The president told people recovering from Sandy's devastation along New Jersey's coastline that "we are here for you, and we will not forget".
Obama, who visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters earlier in the day, said the federal government is "here for the long haul".
Christie, a supporter of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said he "can't thank the president enough" for his concern and compassion during the storm.
Sandy killed at last 18 people in New York, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while at least 64 storm-related deaths were reported nationwide to date.
Accompanied by the federal government's emergency relief director Craig Fugate, Obama appeared to re-start campaigning he said he had put off until Thursday ahead of Tuesday's national vote.
Christie has been effusive in his praise of Obama's handling of the devastating storm, raising eyebrows in his own party.

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Al Jazeera's John Terrett, reporting from Egg Harbor in New Jersey, said: "[Christie] is basically a Republican attack dog, they used him in the Tampa convention to go after Obama."
"It's an extraordinary situation [that he is praising the Democrat candidate]," he said, noting speculation that Christie may be considering his own presidential bid in the next election.
The governor greeted the president at the steps of Air Force One after his short flight from Washington and the two men boarded Obama's Marine One helicopter for an aerial tour of the disaster area.
Obama left the campaign trail on Monday to return to Washington to manage the federal relief effort.
Romney, who had also mostly suspended campaigning out of sensitivity to storm victims, was back stumping for voters, in Florida, on Wednesday, albeit on a muted level.
"Please, if you have an extra dollar or two, please, send them along and keep the people who have been in harm's way ... in your thoughts and prayers," he told about 2,000 people in a Florida airport hangar, as American Red Cross donation messages flashed on large video screens.
"We come together in times like this, and we want to make sure they have a speedy and quick recovery from their financial and, in many cases personal, loss," Romney added.
Edward Wyckoff Williams, a political analyst in Washington DC, told Al Jazeera that Romney is unable to match Obama's presidential imagery as commander in a crisis.
"Obama has won this news cycle and conversation by putting the lives of American people ahead of politics," he told Al Jazeera. "Romney has shown himself to be a joke by playing politics until the end."