Do you remember the man in his bed dying in a sinkhole?

I remember the story. It happened somewhere in Florida. If I remember correctly, they were afraid if they dug for the man, it could cause the whole neighborhood to sink. Although I understand their concern, if it had been my relative, I would be upset that they didn’t try to find him. As for the same thing happening to the president or any other public or famous figure, I have no doubt they would have dug them up.

There’s a point being missed. Of course they’re going to dig Obama or any other big shot out. It’s a silly question, equivalent to “Do you think Obama or Trump have access to better health care than you or I?” Who’s going to get the better seat at the ballgame, you or Donald Trump?

Depends on who was doing the digging. If it was Mitch McConnell, they would have filled in the sink hole.

Oh no. They would have dug McConnel out, and there would be no opposition from his fiercest critics in either Congress or the White House for that matter.

The way that you have framed the story is not exactly correct. His brother jumped down into the hole after him, but the soil began giving way and he had to be helped out by a sheriff’s deputy. Then the county first responders lowered equipment into the hole to listen for signs of life and they heard nothing. An engineering firm declared there was too much danger of further collapse to send any additional rescuers in. and in fact the hole did widen and deepen in a second collapse.

Man Dies in Sinkhole Collapse

Sure, I remember it. I lived 45 minutes away. Looks like @marinelife has the whole story.

Do I think they would have done something different if it were the President? Probably. At least for show if nothing else.

Only to retrieve his Blackberry so they could unlock all his lost data

I’m wondering, @Aster, what’s behind the question.

Are you going to assert that the president should NOT be treated differently from an average citizen? Are you going to say that it would be unfair or illegal in some way to save Obama with extra effort, if the rescuers weren’t prepared to make the same efforts for the sleeping guy in the house?

I think that @stanleybmanly summarized it well. A big shot is going to get more and better attention than some Joe Blow. But that’s nothing new—it happens in restaurant seating, airplane flights, broadway shows, and a million other places. Celebrities get more attention.

Or is this going to be some sort of anti-Obama diatribe?

Well, who was baby Jessica? What about those miners in Chile? Or West Virginia for that matter? The rescuers got them all out, and I believe it took several days for the people in Chile. They weren’t big shots.I’ve seen average people rescuing a tiger, a baby elephant, kittens out of a drain. I was part of a rescue mission of a crashed plane. We pulled out mostly dececased persons but also a few survivors. We couldn’t get even close to part of the fuselage because it was covered in otto fuel and burning so hot. People do what they can. When you’re there on the scene, in the moment, you don’t think about anything else but saving the person/animal. I would hate someone second uessing me and my willingness to help later on down the road. Look up the footage of the rescuers face when baby Jessica is finally out. That feeling is what we all have when we are able to help. It’s what drives us to go to extremes to save the life of another. Just because after the event all you see is words on paper doesn’t mean that at the time there weren’t tears shed or agonizing decisions made. I rather believe that the people who have the weight of those decisions carry them for the rest of their lives. It spoils their peace and comes to them in quiet moments. They never forget and live with regrets and remorse. You just don’t hear about that part of it.

@Jak Thank you for your service and your perspective,

I don’t but maybe if you hum it, sounds like it might be a Michael Jackson song.

@Jak I just can’t resist turning the firehose on your burning defense of altruism. But the only thing that rescued Baby Jessica and those Chilean miners was the fact that the press converted them to big shots. The guy in the sinkhole died because he was gone before the word could get out.

@stanleybmanly, you are incorrect in your assumption that I defend altruism and also your other statements. If you truly believe that those rescuers would have not done what they did if there had been no press coverage then nothing I can say will change your mind. But press coverage wasn’t “the only thing”, or indeed ANYTHING that rescued those people. What an absurd ting to say. I can tell you that the fucking Governor of the small country I was in during that rescue used the tragedy for a photo op. I can also tell you that the real rescuers had and wanted nothing to do with the cameras. It has been popsited that altruism is not a selfless act, but that the satisfaction and good feeling of having helped someone is, in itself, the pay-off. Additionally, we generally ascribe the motivations of others to our own motivations. Perhaps something for you to ponder on when you have nothing else going on, now and then.
Again, if you are not on the scene and do nothing to help yourself, you really have no business second guessing the motivations of those who are there and often risking their own safety to help others.
@LuckyGuy you are kind.

The point is that in both instances the people on the scene were hopelessly inadequate to the rescue requirements, and you can rest assured that those miners would almost certainly have been left to perish minus the international outpuring of money, equipment and expertise that not even the Chilean government was capable of mustering. The thing that rescued those men was the spotlight of publicity.

I don’t see what Obama has to do with him not being rescued. It was not a political question and I apologize if it was silly. I don’t think it was silly at all. I was just amazed that , even with tears shed and people agonizing about the man’s death, the powers that be were able to walk away and say, “sorry; we can’t get him out.” So it came to my aging brain, “I wonder if someone like Obama would have been treated the same?” *I REALLY WANTED TO KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT.” And it appears from the answers that him being abandoned was accepted on here. I guess there’s really nothing else to be said. I have no interest in criticizing Obama. I get all of that from Fox News and Rubio. Enough is enough.

@aster. My answer said that I would be upset had it been my relative.

I would have had a nervous breakdown if he had been my friend or relative. I wonder if a person could “buy” him out of there if they had enough cash? Not now but at the time.