Obama Golfs as Oil Gushes
[Guest post by DRJ]
The oil from the BP spill has arrived at Louisiana’s coast and President Obama rushed home to Washington … to go golfing.
Meanwhile, even Democrats are criticizing Obama for his handling of the crisis as the oil continues to gush in the Gulf:
“Is the Obama administration doing a good enough job responding to the BP oil spill?
No, said Cokie Roberts and Donna Brazile on the “This Week” roundtable. “The oil is gushing and we’re being lied to by how much oil is gushing…and the administration has now named a commission,” Cokie Roberts said derisively. “Now this is what you do when you really don’t have anything else to do: you name a commission,” she said. “That’s not going to stop the oil.”
“One of the problems I have with the [Obama] administration is that they’re not tough enough,” Brazile said. “They are waiting for BP to say, ‘oh we have a new plan to stop the oil leak.’ They need to stop it, contain it, clean it up and try and help us conserve our coastal wetlands,” Brazile said.”
Ditto from James Carville and Chris Matthews:
“I think they actually believe that BP has some kind of a good motivation here,” [Carville] said. “They’re naive! BP is trying to save money, save everything they can… They won’t tell us anything, and oddly enough, the government seems to be going along with it! Somebody has got to, like shake them and say, ‘These people don’t wish you well! They’re going to take you down!'”
Carville also accused the White House of going along with what he called the “let BP handle it” strategy.
“I’m as good a Democrat as most people, and I think this administration has done some good things. They are risking everything by this ‘go along with BP’ strategy they have that seems like, lackadaisical on this, and Doug is right, they seem like they’re inconvenienced by this, this is some giant thing getting in their way and somehow or another, if you let BP handle it, it’ll all go away. It’s not going away. It’s growing out there. It is a disaster of the first magnitude, and they’ve got to go to Plan B.”
Likewise, Chris Matthews argued during a “Tonight Show” appearance that the President was “acting a little like a Vatican Observer.”
“The President scares me,” he said. “When is he actually going to do something? And I worry; I know he doesn’t want to take ownership of it. I know politics. He said the minute he says, ‘I’m in charge,’ he takes the blame, but somebody has to. It’s in our interest.”
The Huffington Post says Obama has thus far avoided comparisons to Bush and Katrina because his Administration has stayed on message. Actually, it’s the media that has stayed on message, but that seems to be changing.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is on message, too: He’s pretty sure the Administration sent DOJ lawyers to Louisiana to pursue criminal charges. Feel better now, Louisiana?
— DRJ
The buck stops way over there…
Trumanesque, Obama ain’t.
GeneralMalaise (273918) — 5/23/2010 @ 10:44 amoh. I didn’t know this was on the way.
*
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 10:45 amThe troof is the Obama ones are mostly handling this correctly but for that they disdained foreign offers of help – they could have had a vastly more robust fleet of skimmer ships in place by now.
If Team R wants to pimp the message that government in its robust and transcendant competence is the answer here… they may want to explain why their precious military is standing on the side looking like it just had its balls chopped off. Useless. And if the military is useless useless useless the vastly more gayer Department of the Interior is not going to be the effing cavalry.
The gay-assed useless impoverished and insipid U.S. government needs to step aside and let adults handle the problem I think.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 10:50 amThis would only be a problem if it conflicted with events such as the State Dinner for Calderon; people might become distracted by this minor event in the Gulf and do something earth-shattering like mis-arrange the table settings.
Oh, the Horrors!
Get a grip, People. There are certain priorities in the world of this White House, and getting-in 18 is one of them.
AD - RtR/OS! (bb1c62) — 5/23/2010 @ 10:54 amI think BP chose options — like containment, inserting a feeder tube, and dispersants — that protected its ability to produce the well rather than trying to cap it. I don’t blame BP for that decision but the government could have done more to change BP’s priorities when the spill wasn’t contained early on.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/23/2010 @ 10:54 amwhat you see above is the dirty socialist fantasy of government as savior.
Our government as savior.
Our government what has spent the last two years pissing on itself.
The idea that this loser little country’s government is some kind of potential effing savior is the most utterly surreal and inane concept you could spew in 2010 as our once great country daily discovers new ways to abase itself.
America is a sick perverted joke what can or can’t get more funnier depending on how much you’ve had to drink.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 10:58 amDRJ there’s just no way I can see having more faith in the U.S. government than BP.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:00 amoh. #6 meant to be referring to Chris Matthews by the way.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:02 amObamaesque: ōh-bah-mə-ˈnesk\: describes a ludicrous action; clownish inability to accept responsibility for one’s responsibilities; see buffoon: buf*foon;
GeneralMalaise (273918) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:02 amOn a less emotive note – what we’re seeing – a passive Administration taking care not to wholly kibosh the prospect of future oil drillings – might could be a measure of the dirty socialists’ commitment to using a bait and switch promise of off-shore oil drillings to help ram through its devastating and gleefully ruinous carbon taxes and cement in place the dirty socialist loseryness of our poor sad little country.
Remember, perpetrating their climate change fraud has been the dirty socialist holy grail even more than health cares. They had their NPR and their MSNBC and other media pimping that one full-time for years. They gave out Oscars and Peace Prizes.
It’s a big damn deal to them.
They can turn on oil drilling after.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:10 amhappyfeet:
Really?
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:12 amI know from before there are experts in this field and hopefully they will chime in.
Perspective is so important…and usually so lacking.
It seems to me lots of oil is spilling into the Gulf, out in the middle of nowhere, the proverbial spitting into the sea. There was no reason to act as if all wildlife along the entire US Gulf coast was in danger starting from day one. But on the other hand, it seems that amidst all they screams of the Destruction of the Planet there is not clarity on what we should be doing at this moment, a month out.
It is nice to hear the MSM and Dems are seeing the emperor has no clothes, at least about the things they think are important.
MD in Philly (cb8efe) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:13 amEven with its obvious flaws BP is vastly more competent and moral and generally more right with God than America, which is a failed loser state I think.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:16 amOkay, happyfeet, but it’s not only the government’s job to protect our coastlines but this is a government lease and the oil belongs to the United States (which it has leased to BP). We are the landowners. Why shouldn’t our agent, the federal government, get involved?
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:16 amBecause our agent is corrupt and incompetent, DRJ.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:18 amAre you turning into a libertarian or an anarchist, hf? Because even though conservatives believe in limited government, we still believe in government.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:20 amJust a reminder:
BP owns ARCO!
AD - RtR/OS! (bb1c62) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:20 amI don’t believe in our government. I find it embarrassing that in my one God-given life I end up living in a loser failshit country ruled by dirty socialists and effete cowardly Michael Steele John McCain Princess Lindsey homopublican losers.
I deserved better. You did too.
This is the suck.
[Released from filter — DRJ]
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:23 amDrj
ITs interesting that this is actualy in international waters – however by economic treaties countries are caiming vast swaths of formery right of fee passage and commerce
Now that governments caim these areas, sell mineral rights and tax the production from these areas
they dont have any responsibility
EricPWJohnson (cedf1d) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:30 amthe ls and r’s are not working real well on my latest laptop – need to quit eating potato chips over it
EricPWJohnson (cedf1d) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:32 ammy m on my berry died and the ceo emailed me this weekend and I had a really struggle to answer back without using any m’s cause of we are a very m-centric company
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:34 amThis reminds me of something that P.J. O’Rourke once said. I paraphrase: “Dwight Eisnehower played golf every day as President and we had eight years of a booming economy at home and no U.S. troops in foreign wars abroad. Jimmy Carter never played one round of golf and we got, well, Jimmy Carter.” There is the old libertarian principle that the more time Obama spends playing golf, the less time he has to figure out new ways of taxing us, wrecking our foreign policy, and rewarding his political allies.
JVW (36eb17) — 5/23/2010 @ 11:49 amfeets!
That’s one othef***er of a problem.
Karl (db6904) — 5/23/2010 @ 12:25 pmDoesn’t having a president with a low handicap something other countries respect and all Americans can be proud of?
Gosh, Obama is so dreamy and awesome!
MU789 (aad8cf) — 5/23/2010 @ 12:31 pmO/T…but I was just watching the DVR of “This Week” and the obits rolled…
AD - RtR/OS! (bb1c62) — 5/23/2010 @ 12:38 pmWe lost, this week in AfPak, a Full-Bird, and two Lt.Col’s, from the Army, of eleven total killed of all Services…
Just what in Hell happened over there?
Does anyone know?
I don’t know. There was an attack on the NATO base in Kandahar.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/23/2010 @ 12:49 pmthe reason Ear Leader likes to golf so much is that it is the only time he can handle balls that are his.
😀
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/23/2010 @ 12:51 pmAt the risk of making Happyfeet’s blood pressure go up, there was a sharp exchange between Palin and Gibbs as to the media’s reluctance to closely examine the connection between BP and it’s donations to candidates, with Obama receiving the largest amount.
During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Palin wondered why the “mainstream media” wasn’t looking harder at President Obama’s “connection” to the oil companies.
“I don’t know why the question isn’t asked by the mainstream media and by others if there is any connection with the contributions made to President Obama and his administration,” she told Chris Wallace
The insinuation wasn’t lost on the White House.
“My suggestion to Sarah Palin would be to get slightly more informed as to what’s going on in and around oil drilling in this country,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“Sarah Palin was involved in [the 2008] election, but I don’t think, apparently, [she] was paying a whole lot of attention,” he told host Bill Schieffer. “I’m almost sure that the oil companies don’t consider the Obama administration a huge ally – we proposed a windfall profits tax when they jacked their oil prices up to charge for gasoline.”
Gibbs is an idiot – if there is one thing Palin knows about it’s energy and oil drilling.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 5/23/2010 @ 1:02 pmA lot of people don’t know this, but this spill is part of the administration’s ‘anti-pirate’ strategy. I haven’t read much about them in awhile, I can see why Obama is rewarding himself with a round of golf.
TimesDisliker (dcc9d5) — 5/23/2010 @ 1:04 pmKarl! you have been less than prolific of late mister.
oh. Thanks, DRJ. I didn’t even know that comment got filtrated – I could see it just fine. That’s a new thing.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 1:28 pmHi Dana I boisterously engaged that discussion with my Hot Air friends.
They weren’t appreciative at all.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 1:29 pmWhy is there an idiot posted as spokesman for the President?
No President wants someone speaking for him that appears to be smarter than he is!
Obama has his perfect front-man!
AD - RtR/OS! (bb1c62) — 5/23/2010 @ 1:37 pmI don’t think that’s a new feature, happyfeet. Filtered comments have always been visible to the person posting them, except when they close their browser.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/23/2010 @ 1:42 pmoh. Did not know that at all.
happyfeet (c8caab) — 5/23/2010 @ 1:50 pm“…He’s pretty sure the Administration sent DOJ lawyers to Louisiana to pursue criminal charges…”
DoJ will probably find that the relevant State of Louisiana agencies are not diverse enough,
AD - RtR/OS! (bb1c62) — 5/23/2010 @ 1:55 pmand will impose a consent decree giving a DoJ monitor control of all energy matters in the State.
Hey Chrissy,
pitchforksntorches (888cb1) — 5/23/2010 @ 2:09 pmNo more thrills up your leg?
Jerk.
We tried to explain what a completely incompetent President Barry Soetoro would make but nooooo.
Oh well. Wasn’t Bush Terrible.
Jerk. Oh I said that already,
Asshat.
I would like it much better if Mr. Bobby Jindahl and a couple other gulf governors would get really, really angry and rip the administration’s response to this spill on behalf of their poor beleaguered states. IMO we can reasonably be mad at *both* BP and the Obama administration over this unending catastrophe. No need to take sides.
elissa (e78776) — 5/23/2010 @ 2:14 pmI think Jindahl is busy planning a way to deal with the problem to minimize the harm to Louisiana. Like a true executive, take care of what needs to be taken care of first, then deal with the rest.
MD in Philly (cb8efe) — 5/23/2010 @ 2:32 pmBy the time BHO’s one-term presidency reaches its merciful end, I think people all across the political spectrum will share the view that this smug, dissembling, self-satisfied, fool is the worst president ever.
Kevin Stafford (abdb87) — 5/23/2010 @ 9:14 pm1. The One can’t wave a magic wand and make the oil spill stop. The government did have a long planned contingency plan for this sort of thing, but apparently no one was actually responsible for making the preparations. So the government didn’t have the specialized equipment needed on hand anywhere.
2. As Rush is fond of pointing out, the military is good at killing people and blowing things up. Not useful for stopping a gusher.
3. It might not have made any difference, but the failure of the MMS to perform inspections according to it’s own regulations needs to be investigated. Also, the MMS granted BP permission to change the order in which things were to be done to cap the well originally. BP’s motive was to save a day’s rent on the rig, which seems trivial until you find out just how much that rig costs per day. Again, it might not have made any difference, but it would be reassuring to know that this decision was made by someone with an appropriate engineering background, and not a glorified clerk.
LarryD (feb78b) — 5/24/2010 @ 7:07 am