President Obama told Flint residents not to “sink into despair” as he tried to instill some hope in them during a Wednesday speech in the eastern Michigan city that is suffering from lead-contaminated water.
Speaking at Flint’s Northwestern High School, the president said Flint’s parents need to not tell their children that they will be affected with problems from drinking lead-contaminated water.
“You should be angry, but channel that anger. You should be hurt, but don’t sink into despair,” Obama said, “but most of all, do not somehow communicate to our children here in this city that they will be saddled with problems, because they will be fine.”
During his visit, Obama promised that he would continue to work hard to support the city and send what resources he could. He emphasized to the approximately 1,000 people at the speech that the entire country cares about their plight.
Obama detailed the efforts of plumbers, accountants, schoolchildren and even some prison inmates who have raised money or offered their services to Flint. He said that was proof that the entire country feels responsible for helping the city get back on its feet.
“Flint’s recovery is everybody’s responsibility,” Obama said, “and I’m going to make sure that responsibility is met.”
In April 2014, a state emergency manager appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed off on a symbolic vote from the Flint City Council to change the city’s water source to a new local authority. While a pipeline was being built, a state official decided the city would get its water from the Flint River instead of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
The Flint River water, however, was so acidic that it caused the lead pipes bringing water from the city’s cast iron mains into homes to corrode. Lead leached off the pipes and into drinking water throughout the city.
The state and the federal government have declared a state of emergency, and Flint residents are not able to drink the water coming out of their taps.
A report done by the state indicated state environmental officials are at fault for the crisis. Three people, two state regulators and one city official, have been charged with state crimes, and the Michigan attorney general’s office continues to investigate the incident.
Obama used his speech to get a bit more political and philosophical, giving a defense of liberalism and a critique of conservatism dressed up as a commentary on how the water crisis came to be.
The role of government is to do things for individuals that individuals cannot do for themselves, Obama said, and he counted building a municipal water system as among those services.
He called the attitude of some Republicans that services must be cut to shrink government “corrosive.” That system of government is brought by an attitude that government is bad and devalues the common good, Obama added.
“It leads to systemic neglect, it leads to carelessness and callousness and a lot of hidden disasters that you don’t always read about or aren’t as flashy,” Obama said, “but over time diminish the value of a community and make it harder for our young people to succeed.”
To cheers, Obama said the most basic service that government can provide is providing clean water to its citizens.
The president said the situation in Flint could end up being a bellweather moment for the rest of the country by showing the importance of investing in infrastructure. He said crumbling roads and bridges, corroded pipes and levees that are falling apart are related.
“These things aren’t a coincidence,” he said. “It’s the same mindset that left Flint’s water unsafe to drink and it’s self-destructive when we don’t invest in our communities.”
