Friday, May 28, 2010

Obama, You've Got A Problem

When this oil spill crisis first became recognized as a crisis, President Obama quickly deferred clean-up and containment responsibility to the oil company that operated the rig. Instead of sealing off the broken pipe, they spent a month trying to salvage a way to harvest the oil. That failed, as thousands of barrels were pumped into the gulf coast on a daily basis for a month. Now that a month has passed, the oil company is finally shifted its strategy to sealing the leak instead of harvesting the oil. Sometimes what's best for the oil company isn't what's best for the millions of people who live along the gulf coast, where "tar bubbles" are now expected to float ashore with relative frequency for a generation.

Well done Mister President. As more and more people are calling this Obama's Katrina, finally today a month later he announced new measures and initiatives that are a month too late. The oil has already reached the shore, but a month later Obama is going to send hundreds of thousands of miles of boom nets to contain it? What does that do for the thousands of acres of fragile marsh lands and costal habitats that have already been contaminated? Maybe the people who made the mess should not have been the people who he abdicated responsibilities to at the beginning of the crisis.

3 comments:

  1. 100% agreed! In what universe is it OK for the media and everyone else to pillory Bush (who I'm no fan of myself), but not 'the saviour' Obama? Is the difference that Katrina was so visible and the damage so immediate? Or is it simply because is happened under George W.? Is the media now going to try and tell us that they've been turning the screws on Obama since the rig exploded...

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  2. Obama could have another BP related problem ...
    "Obama biggest recipient of BP cash" - Reuters
    http://tinyurl.com/2fryc4j

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  3. This is the largest spill in U.S. history and if the administration was serious about finding the culprits, many senior government employees would be investigated, fired and hearings would take place.

    A public cleaning house on both sides of the aisle is long overdue of apologists for large corporations, lax enforcement of regulation and punishment.

    I do not suggest adopting knee jerk regulation. Where is the oversight and enforcement?

    The same problem took place with the stock market manipulation and financial products being packaged and resold. (Everyone had their hand in the cookie jar)

    The problem is not a democrat vs republican but systemic to how the influence peddling, "money" in the system make for bad decisions and little accountabiltiy.

    How many politicians will lose their jobs or will he take the blame?

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