Erickson alleged that President Obama “never addressed” the floods in Tennessee

Erickson: “Barack Obama never addressed [Nashville] after its horrific floods.” From a June 7 post on RedState.com:

I mean, surely someone is working in the White House to solve this [oil spill] unless ... unless ... they really don't care. After all, not to repeat myself, none of the states affected are going to go their way in 2012 anyway and none of them did in 2008 and they still won.

So screw them. I guess -- just like Nashville, a subject Barack Obama never addressed after its horrific floods.

President Obama responded swiftly to the flooding, declaring the state a disaster area and providing extensive federal aid

May 4 declaration provided federal aid. In a May 4 release, the White House stated that Obama “declared a major disaster exists in the State of Tennessee and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area” affected by the April 30 storms. The statement said that aid includes “grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.” [Whitehouse.gov, 5/4/10]

Fox News.com: Tennessee governor said he has “never seen this kind of response.” FoxNews.com reported that Gov. Phil Bredesen stated: “I've never seen this kind of response ... and we've had our share of tornadoes and so forth.” Bredesen reportedly further stated, “FEMA and the White House could not have been more helpful in this thing.” Fox also reported that Obama spoke with Bredesen on Monday before the disaster declaration and that FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate has been to the state twice since the weekend's storms. [FoxNews.com, 5/6/10]

Bredesen: “The President was on the phone to me before the sun came up practically on Monday morning.” In another White House statement, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs posted Bredesen's description of the federal response:

I have to say that FEMA and the White House have been absolutely supportive. Very quickly FEMA was on the ground here before the raindrops started falling. ... The President was on the phone to me before the sun came up practically on Monday morning. Slightly after it came up, other people from the White House had called and checked in with us and helped. ... I've never seen this kind of a response to things that have happened. We've had our share of tornadoes and those kinds of things. ... I'm very, very pleased with the response we've gotten from the administration. [Whitehouse.gov 5/6/10]

Right-wing media repeatedly pushed false suggestion that Obama ignored the flooding in Nashville

Hannity: “We have a massive flood in Nashville” and Obama “has yet to comment on it.” From the May 6 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

HANNITY: This was a bad week, I think one of the worst weeks for the press. We have this massive flood, and we're going to get into this in a special report we're going to do on the program tomorrow night. We have a massive flood in Nashville, the president, as of now, has yet to comment on it. I mean, loss of life, devastation, financial ruin.

Hannity: “This President never mentioned the largest flood in Nashville in 500 years.” From the May 27 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

HANNITY: But this president never mentioned the largest flood in Nashville in 500 years. To this day he's not mentioned this. He didn't speak publicly about [the oil spill] for eight long days. Now, there is a political aspect to this, especially in light of the massive criticism that George W. Bush received in light of a two-day-slow response to Katrina.

Limbaugh agreed with country singer John Rich's suggestion that Obama ignored Tennessee. From the May 7 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

RICH: Like you said, nobody's hardly talking about it in the media. I find it ironic that our President will go on and make a special speech about everything under the sun every other minute, but hasn't come on to talk about Tennessee.

LIMBAUGH: He hasn't. Well he knows he doesn't have any constituents there to speak of.