Obama Compares BP Spill to 9/11
[Guest post by DRJ]
A British mother who lost her son on 9/11 responds:
“Joy Bennett, 66, a mother of two from Amersham in Buckinghamshire whose son Oli, a 29-year-old financial journalist, died, said: ‘It is an unfair parallel and is really a cruel thing to say.
‘I can see what he is trying to say but to compare a manmade deliberate terrorist attack to something that is an accident is absolutely wrong. Mr Obama seems intent on causing as much offence to Britain as possible.'”
Mrs. Bennett has figured out President Obama.
— DRJ
Yes, we might as well have Andrew Sullivan defending the Defense of Marriage Act. Obama hates Britain. Unfortunately, we are all in the boat with him, like the whalers in Captain Ahab’s boat. We will be decades recovering from his one term presidency, just as we are still dealing with the consequences of Jimmy Carter. The political left, while they have dreams of a perfect world, are mostly about tactics and ignore reality and strategy.
Mike K (82f374) — 6/14/2010 @ 8:11 pmBarak Obama hates white people.
Arizona Bob (e8af2b) — 6/14/2010 @ 8:12 pmThe MFM will continue to cover for him.
JD (4b684a) — 6/14/2010 @ 8:16 pmHumiliate America’s allies and submit to our enemies. That seems to be the plan.
aunursa (484069) — 6/14/2010 @ 8:20 pmWith friends like Teh Won …
JD (4b684a) — 6/14/2010 @ 8:24 pmObama hated Britain enough to make this crazy stuff up.
Another aspect of his writings was how his mom died because our health care system. Some wondered if that’s why he was hellbent on this issue when it wasn’t really politically perfect timing (what with the economy being pushed aside as an issue).
9/11 was not a man made disaster, like the BP spill. It was murder. I hope Mike K is wrong and Obama isn’t trying to undermine Britain. Either way, he’s right that we will be dealing with Obama, just as we deal with Carter’s rippled from Mugabe to Ahmedinejad.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 6/14/2010 @ 8:25 pmhe just means this is a license for him to remake energy policy to where we all have to take off our shoes or something I think
happyfeet (19c1da) — 6/14/2010 @ 9:15 pmThe one thing that Barack Obama has continually been shown to lack is perspective. Let’s take a look at the numbers. Where the numbers below do not have a citation hyperlink, they have been taken from Wikipedia.
Human Death Toll so far:
September 11 attacks — almost 3000
Hurricane Katrina — 1800+
BP Oil Spill — zero
Property Damage Estimates:
September 11 attacks — $18 billion (2001 dollars)
Hurricane Katrina — $81 billion (2005 dollars)
BP Oil Spill — $4.3 billion estimated (2010 dollars)
Rebuilding Costs:
September 11 attacks — at least $21 billion in direct appropriation to New York by 2003
Hurricane Katrina — at least $200 billion
BP Oil Spill — $37 billion estimated
For all their caterwauling, this “disaster” frankly pales in comparison to what George Bush had to face with 9/11 and Katrina, if for nothing else than for the loss of human life. Obama needs a huge dose of STFU right now.
JVW (36eb17) — 6/14/2010 @ 9:52 pmNot looking for a fight, but didn’t 11 people lose their lives in the Gulf Oil spill?
Gazzer (d79016) — 6/14/2010 @ 10:14 pmI think we suffered greater economic damage on 9/11 as well.
But there’s a more fundamental difference. Fact is, the BP spill is a massive disaster too. But it’s not the same. This is like calling AIDS ‘the same thing as the Nazi’s committing the holocaust’. No, it’s not the same.
Obama has a stake in this ‘man made disaster’ idea, under which this really is pretty damn similar because it’s based on ignoring something that is to his political disadvantage.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 6/14/2010 @ 10:19 pmAh, yes indeed Gazzer, I stand corrected. Here is a link to that. Thanks for correcting me.
JVW (36eb17) — 6/14/2010 @ 10:19 pm9/11 was the type of event that leaves an immediate and indelible imprint on people’s lives. We all remember where we were and what we were doing when it happened. We mark its anniversary every year. We knew from that very moment that our lives were changed forever. Only a handful of historical events are like that.
The BP oil spill was not one of them.
Susan (de5daf) — 6/15/2010 @ 4:47 amActually, i did find some valid comparison points over at legal insurrection, in the comments. this is what i wrote there:
> Bush paused for a few minutes when he learned the second plane had struck. Obama waited over 30 days to get his thumb out of his kiester. And Bush had a coalition of multiple countries in iraq and afghanistan. Meanwhile, the dutch offer to help us actually clean the spill up and obama turns them away.
> Of course there are significant differences. As far as we know, no one intentionally blew up the well. And mainly it is causing economic and environmental damage, but aside from that first explosion, i don’t even think it actually harmed a human being. And whereas Bush rose to his occassion, Obama is showing us exactly why a president should have at least a little executive experience before ascending to the job.
> But hey, Obama is swinging into action. Just today we learn that he is going to force BP… to create an account to compensate the victims.
> 9-11, and this oil spill, teaches us that cleaning up after the fact is good, but stopping it, or at least containing it at an early stage, is even better. then you have less victims to compensate.
>Btw, let’s all remember this when Obama talks about destroying the entire economy for “the good of the environment.” If he cared about the environment, he would have contained the spill within a week.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 6/15/2010 @ 5:32 am“Under My Plan, Energy Prices would naturally skyrocket. . .not concerned so much with $4-5 gallon
ian cormac (3e942b) — 6/15/2010 @ 5:38 amoil, just the sudden rise”
Making a comparison with 9/11 is something that only superficial media whores should be concerned about; you know, those same brilliant journalists that append the wordlet “-gate” to every political controversy because it’s ‘required’ in order for the public to pay any attention to it.
But everybody knows that our Campaigner-in-Chief is too busy with the serious issues of governing. Pandering to the public like a media whore is beneath the dignity of his office — right?
Icy Texan (43cdbb) — 6/15/2010 @ 6:28 amOh NOES!.
Obama said
Jehovah, errr 9/11! Get the rocks and get to stoning!. I think it’s grand that the right wing blogosphere is reenacting this scene from the Life of Brian with themselves cast in the roles as Pharisees and women dressed as men!Seems about right. Does the rational side get to suggest which movie the Right Wing emulates next? I doubt it, but I am glad you moved on from Red Dawn. That was getting tiresome.
PS Extra kudos to the first commenter who says “you are what’s tiresome.” My bet is on SPrqsdrqQ guy.
timb (449046) — 6/15/2010 @ 10:14 amThis is for you, timmah
SPQR (159590) — 6/15/2010 @ 10:20 amtimb
yeah, how dare that grieving widow take offense. who does she think she is?
i don’t consider the comparison offensive, but damning, see above.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 6/15/2010 @ 10:21 amSPQR, when timb sobers up and checks your link, I am sure that he will write in an outraged fashion to Eric Boehlert about such disrespect to the office of the Presidency!
Seriously, does timb ever post sober?
Eric Blair (c8876d) — 6/15/2010 @ 10:25 amEric, I’m convinced that that is timmah’s non-impaired IQ level.
SPQR (159590) — 6/15/2010 @ 10:26 amNon-sequitor followed dude who can’t read, followed by personal attack….
guess that’s par for the guy who doesn’t believe cigarettes cause cancer (and who by my estimation has never read a book not written by a talk show host) and another guy who picked a famous socialist as his nomme de plume to comment on a right-wing website.
Epistemic closure indeed.
PS I’ve to admit Aaron’s comment is the funniest, though. Not only can’t he understand my comment laughing at the faux outrage of the right wing blogosphere, he can’t even read the original news item!
I mean, I suppose Ms. Bennett could be a grieving widow (for instance, if her husband died form a heart attack recently), but it ain’t from 9/11! Combine your fauxtrage with a dash of facts, Aaron, or go to Protein Wisdom
timb (449046) — 6/18/2010 @ 1:33 pmtimb, they aren’t saying they are right because you are stupid. They are saying those things are true, separately.
Kinda funny that you are whining about insults. Practice what you preach or or can’t have anyone’s respect.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 6/18/2010 @ 1:35 pmYeah, Dustin, didn’t really “whine” about any insults, I just referred to them as insults.
Dustin, your insights are, as ever, charming.
timb (449046) — 6/19/2010 @ 10:33 amtimB is igor
ColonalHaiku (2ce3dc) — 6/19/2010 @ 10:44 amto prez barack obama’s
young doc frankenstein
timb, still lying like a rug, I see.
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/19/2010 @ 11:23 am