[ivanhoe]

Probably all of the factors you mention are important, but lead certainly didn't help. The main reason to mention lead specifically is the horrible way the situation with water pollution was handled by pretty much everyone, from city officials to Obama himself with his completely disrespectful "take a picture of me pretending to drink the Flint water" media stunt.

[sokoloff]

I agree that's disrespectful if the water he was drinking was not actually Flint water, so I went looking. It appears that what he drank (an admittedly small amount of) was actually filtered Flint water (and he identified it as such).

I fail to see the disrespect or anything else untoward about his actions there.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/obama-drinks-filtered-ci...

[ptaipale]

I would guess the "stunt" here is that everyone knows that drinking one glass of Flint water won't really hurt you. It's the long-time exposure from childhood that is the problem.

[sokoloff]

OK, so when the reporter specifically asks him if he'd drink the water in front of him, what's his least bad option? If he makes the speech he does, saying "I don't do stunts" asserting its safety and takes a sip, he's handling the situation as gracefully and productively as he can.

If instead he starts in with a lecture about how it's cumulative exposure, affects children more severely, and that is why he won't take a drink as a publicity stunt, he knows that all that will be reported is "Obama refuses to drink Flint water!"

This wasn't a planned stunt in my estimation (unless you think the reporter was "in on it").

[cyphar]

First of all -- it was clearly a stunt. The question from the reporter where he "drinks" some water[1] happened after he asked for water in the middle of a speech[2] -- the moment in his speech was so obviously staged that it's not worth elaborating past including the link to the video. With that in mind, it's pretty clear that his answer to the reporter's (probably genuine) question was just doubling-down on the point he'd made with his earlier stunt -- that it's safe to drink.

But ignoring all of that -- why is it a good thing that he said the water was safe? The water wasn't safe to drink, and the video of the President sipping water from Flint means that the entire country collectively agreed that the situation was fixed. But it wasn't fixed -- the water in Flint is still contaminated with lead today.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ZynkD3N_k [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjugN-nUHh8

[cloverich]

It doesn't seem obviously staged to me? The first video you linked he says the water is filtered, emphasizes it multiple times, and says "this doesn't mean we don't need to still replace some pipes". Is there more to the story?

[cyphar]

As far as I can tell, the second video I linked to (where he asks for water during a speech) happened before the first one (where a reporter asks him about the water he drank). The first one is a reporter following up to check that the water actually was from Flint (and he says it is, but it's filtered) -- and was probably a genuine question from a reporter after his speech (it's probably one of the first questions I'd ask).

The thing I'm referring to as being clearly staged is when he asks in the middle of a speech (where he was talking about things that need to be done in Flint) for some water, takes a tiny sip (he must've been really thirsty!) and continues. If you don't see that as being staged, I really don't know what I could possibly say to convince you otherwise. People from the crowd were shouting "don't drink" and he counters with "I know I'm going to be okay, because I've already had some Flint water."

And you're right that he mentions it's filtered (after being asked that in a follow-up and not when he first did the stunt, but whatever) -- but just because he's not outright lying about the situation doesn't make it the earlier stunt any less staged. There has been very little further outcry about Flint in the past 6 years, because most people you talk to will say "Oh, wasn't that thing in Flint solved years ago? Obama drank the water when he was there!

[3JPLW]

He didn't claim the water was not contaminated. He claimed that the _filtered_ water with a _correct_ filter _properly installed_ was safe to drink.

Was that not the case?

[jtms]

Right - it probably is safe, but I am not sure most people in flint can afford the triple carbon filter reverse osmosis water system that I would want to use in their situation. Raw sewage water is “safe to drink” if it’s filtered enough.

[throwaway_law]

>OK, so when the reporter specifically asks him if he'd drink the water in front of him, what's his least bad option?

Probably to laugh and say instead of "trying the water" he will see the water is sent to a lab for proper scientific testing and the results published to the public.

[ptaipale]

Perhaps it was a stunt planned by the reporter only, but anyway, I can see how some people can see it as disrespectful.

There are similarities with people who virtue-signal by working with children in a ghetto of a 3rd world country, and get photographed doing it - while actually living in the comfort of a luxury hotel and just showing up in the ghetto for a brief time. The intentions may be very good but people may still perceive it as hypocrisy. (Not particularly blaming Obama for this, he maybe in fact came to a situation where there is no good way out.)

[dsfyu404ed]

>I would guess the "stunt" here is that everyone knows that drinking one glass of Flint water won't really hurt you. It's the long-time exposure from childhood that is the problem.

The general public doesn't really know that. People think that lead is this magical chemical that manically makes people stupid if they so much as lay eyes upon it. I guess that's better than thinking it's harmless but it's certainly non-optimal from a societal decision making standpoint. I would be very surprised if the reporter knew that the lead content of the water was mostly irrelevant to an middle aged man drinking one glass.

[wongarsu]

On youtube you find many respectable and smart people massively overestimating the risk of lead exposure when coming in contact with it for a project, making sure nobody ever touches lead without gloves.

[ivanhoe]

The fact that he's been "drinking" (actually barely sipping) water all over Flint for cameras turns it into a cheap media stunt, but I actually was referring to this fake-as-hell "Can I have some water":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjugN-nUHh8

[gman83]

Yeah the problem was entirely with Obama and the city officials, never mind the fact that Governor Rick Snyder had put the city under emergency management with his appointees deciding everything.

[that_jojo]

I'm from the Flint mtro, currently working ~50 minutes away from Flint, my mother lives in Flint across the street from Mott.

I have literally never heard a single person from the area say anything but neutral to positive things about Obama's visit.

And the filtered water in most places has been EPA-compliant for a long-ass time.