Obama in Flint: water crisis is a 'tragedy that never should have happened'

"The Flint water crisis was a “tragedy that never should have happened” in the US, Barack Obama said Wednesday during his first visit to the city since evidence of lead contamination emerged last fall, while residents jeered Michigan’s governor in his first public remarks before the community.

“Flint’s recovery is everybody’s responsibility,” the president told a crowd of 1,000 gathered inside a high school gymnasium. “And I will make sure that responsibility is met.”

The president focused his remarks on what he called a “corrosive” mentality in politics that “contributed to this crisis”.

“Now, I do not believe that anybody consciously wanted to hurt the people,” he said. “And this is not the place to sort out every screwup … but I do think there’s a larger issue.

“It’s a mindset that believes the less government is the highest good no matter what,” he continued. “It’s an … ideology that undervalues the common good, says we’re all on our own.”

The president’s trip included a discussion with nine residents and a local pediatrician, Dr Mona Hanna-Attisha, who last fall uncovered elevated blood-lead levels in Flint children."

Obama in Flint: water crisis is a 'tragedy that never should have happened'