In the middle of a storm, the US is adrift

HURRICANE Isaac had an elemental impact on the Republican National Convention last week. The ‘Grand Old Party’ (GOP) was gathered in Tampa, Florida, to select Mitt Romney as presidential candidate.

Holding the convention in Florida at the height of the hurricane season wasn’t bright, but, as always in American politics, there was method to the madness.

Florida is a swing state, one of a handful of states crucial in determining the final vote. So it requires some lovin’ from the candidates. Bringing the convention carnival to Florida was an act of wooing. In this game of harvesting votes, the bigger picture can be lost. So it turned out. Isaac made landfall in nearby Louisiana, with lashing winds and torrential rain battering the coastline as surely as circumstances are hammering away at a traditional American way of life. The convention was unaffected, but caution and anxiety displaced the celebratory mood of earlier in the week.