President Obama coughs during his speech and asks for some water while he talks to the residents of Flint, Mich., at Northwestern High School on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. (Regina H. Boone/Detroit Free Press/TNS via Getty Images)

CRCLF Editorial Board, May 17, 2019, New Rochelle, New York

Flint’s water crisis was everything. It put the lives of everyday U.S. Citizens at risk. It disproportionately impacted African Americans. It resulted as a result of Republican and Democrat leaderships’ inability to confront and constrain big banks that financed the operation that resulted in widespread lead poisoning of African Americans. There is even a strong argument that the Democrats’ refusal to confront and constrain the big banks resulted in as many as 10,000 African American Flint residents who previously voted for then President Obama, staying home rather than vote for Hillary Clinton. Mr. Trump went on to win Michigan by 10,704 votes.

Amid the crisis, Mr. Obama went to Flint to speak to its residents about the water crisis. However, instead of providing an amicable resolution, he did as then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recommended (via the Russian hacked emails), which is to smile and kiss African American babies but not to commit to offering anything. As a result, Mr. Obama is pictured above, sipping Flint water in an effort to convince Flint residents, who are mostly African American, that the lead poisoning was not the end of the world. Flint Michigan residents were unimpressed. They were so disgusted that it is very plausible that their collective decision to stay home as a result of Mr. Obama and Ms. Pelosi’s attempted hat-trick, cost Ms. Clinton the presidency.

A bigger issue though is that Flint residents impacted by the unlawful poisoning of their drinking water have been unable to gain legal relief. Writing in a May 1, 2018, Memorandum and Order, Judge Judith E. Levy in In re Water Cases and Carthan v. Snyder, decided that Flint residents could pursue such a narrow basis of relief that the State, even under a new governor, even a Democrat governor, is unlikely to settle the case.