Obama Reads While 250,000 Freeze in Kentucky

Eerily similar to the September 11, 2001 photos of President Bush reading at Booker Elementary while the terror attacks were being carried out, President Barack Obama, and his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, read to second graders at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, Tuesday, February 3, 2009, while Kentucky suffers through its largest natural disaster, which has left hundreds of thousands without power in sub-freezing temperatures.

Monday, news services reported the national death toll hit 55 for last week's Midwest ice storm, with 24 dead in Kentucky alone. In a letter to President Barack Obama Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said 10 of the deaths were from carbon monoxide poisoning and at least nine others from hypothermia.

Gov. Beshear ordered the activation of all Kentucky Army National Guard units and some Air National Guard units as the state continues to struggle with a crippling ice storm, the largest callup in state history.

It was also reported Tuesday that over a quarter of a million people were without power in the region with temperatures expected to dip into the teens overnight.

President Bush at Booker Elementary on September 11, 2001.