Posted on 05/27/2010 8:34:27 PM PDT by Bratch
Nearly 40 days in, our President finally addressed the American people’s growing concerns about the Gulf Coast oil spill. Listening to today’s press conference, you’d think the administration has been working with single-minded focus on the Gulf gusher since the start of the disaster. In reality, their focus has been anything but singular to help solve this monumental problem.
If the President really was fully focused on this issue from day one, why did it take nine whole days before the administration asked the Department of Defense for help in deploying equipment needed for the extreme depth spill site?
Why was the expert group assembled by Energy Commissioner Steven Chu only set up three weeks after the start of this disaster?
Why was Governor Jindal forced more than a month after the start of the disaster to go on national television to beg for materials needed to tackle the oil spill and for federal approval to build offshore sand barriers that are imperative to protect his state’s coastline?
Why was no mention of the spill made by our President for days on end while Americans waited to hear if he grasped the import of his leadership on this energy issue?
Why have several countries and competent organizations who offered help or expertise in dealing with the spill not even received a response back from the Unified Area Command to this day?
The President claimed that “this notion that somehow the federal government is somehow sitting on the sidelines and for the last three or four or five weeks we’ve just been letting BP make a whole bunch of decisions is simply not true.” But, in fact, that is how U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen described the Obama administration’s approach to this crisis: “We keep a close watch.”
Listening to the President, you get the impression he is continually surprised by the inability of various centralized government agencies to get more involved and help solve problems. His lack of executive experience might explain this because he is apparently unaware that it’s his job as a chief executive to make sure they do their jobs and help solve problems.
The fundamental problem at the core of this crisis is a lack of responsibility. (I risk the President taking my comments personally, but they’re not intended to be personal; my comments reflect what many others feel, and we just want to help him tackle this enormous spill problem.) There’s a culture of buck-passing at the heart of this administration that has caused the tragedy of a sunken oil rig to turn into a potential disaster.
The 1990 Oil Pollution Act was drafted in response to the Exxon-Valdez spill in my home state. It created new procedures for offshore cleanups, specifically putting the federal government in charge of such operations. The President should have used the authority granted by the OPA – immediately – to take control of the situation. That is a big part of what the OPA is for – to designate who is in charge so finger-pointing won’t disrupt efforts to just “plug the d#*! hole.” But instead of immediately engaging with this crisis, our President chose to spend precious time on political pet causes like haranguing the state of Arizona for doing what he himself was supposed to do – secure the nation’s border. He also spent much time fundraising and politicking for liberal candidates and causes while we waited for him to grasp the enormity of the Gulf spill.
Now that the American people are calling him out on his lack of engagement with this disaster, the buck-passing is in full swing – and, unbelievably, his administration is still looking to blame his predecessor. Amazingly, even those of us who support energy independence for America are the brunt of some buck-passing.
He suggested today that a “culture of corruption” at the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) was solely the previous administration’s responsibility and that the failure of the inspection system was a failure of that administration. That is false. The MMS has been his responsibility since January 20, 2009.
The MMS director who resigned today, Elizabeth Birnbaum, was appointed by his administration. And the most recent inspection of the oil rig took place a mere 10 days before the explosion – also very much on his watch, not President Bush’s.
The President is also now attempting to somehow distance himself from his administration’s recent decision to open a few areas of the continental shelf to oil and gas exploration. That’s unfortunate because America desperately needs our domestic oil and natural gas. We rely on it for our prosperity, security, and freedom. The President’s decision to open a few areas to offshore exploration was the right decision then; and unlike his quickly evolving position on energy development now, I continue to believe it’s the right decision today – because energy independence is in the long-term economic and security interests of the United States.
As I explained in an article in National Review last year, conventional sources like natural gas “can act as a clean ‘bridge fuel’ to a future when more renewable sources are available.” I do not, as the President mistakenly believes, think we can “drill, baby, drill” our way out of all of our troubles. As I have consistently stated, we need an “all of the above” approach to energy independence that combines conventional drilling with energy conservation and renewable-energy development. My record in Alaska clearly shows my commitment to this “all of the above” approach. Over 20 percent of Alaska’s electricity currently comes from renewable sources. As governor, I put forward a long-term plan to increase that figure to 50 percent by 2025, which is the most ambitious renewable energy target in the nation. I take great pride in helping to make Alaska, in the words of the New York Times, “a Frontier for Green Power,” even as we continue to embrace the need to “drill, baby, drill” at the same time.
Alaska can be that frontier for renewable energy only because our conventional oil and gas reserves provide us with “a bridge” to a greener energy future. In fact, Alaska has enough reserves of both oil and gas to help the United States cross that bridge – if only we are allowed to drill!
Please, Mr. President, hear me on this, if nothing else: if it’s your Administration’s decision to suspend the leases of new oil field developments off the coast of Alaska in response to the Gulf’s deepwater spill, and you still remain committed to locking up ANWR and other oil-rich lands, please know you are making a mistake. Unless we continue to drill here and drill now, we risk digging ourselves deeper into the hole created by our continued dependence on foreign energy – which often comes from regimes that care nothing for our prosperity or security, and even less for global environmental safety.
We need affordable, reliable, secure, environmentally-sound, and domestically-produced energy, but this administration continues to lock up federal land filled with huge energy reserves. If there is to be a moratorium on offshore development, then it’s time we stop ignoring our safest options for domestic development – places like ANWR and NPR-A in my home state of Alaska.
And it’s time for the administration to stop passing the buck and get control of the disaster in the Gulf. There’s a reason why Harry Truman had that famous sign on his desk. The “buck stops” with the occupant of the Oval Office. When the American people elected President Obama they gave him responsibility to handle this disaster. He promised to “heal the earth, and watch the waters recede...” or something far-fetched like that. It was unbelievable then, it’s impossible now, but what I believe he meant was that he promised to be held accountable. With all due respect, Mr. President, you have a huge job in front of you. We hope you’re learning. Please learn that we must have domestic energy development, you must stop looking backward and blaming Bush, and we must all work together to “plug the d#*! hole.”
- Sarah Palin
“IMHO she should declare her run now...”
I would think that the day after election day this coming November would be perfect.
OMG, can you see the look on the face of the maoist when he looks out and sees Sarah.
Priceless!!!!!
SMACK!
Sarah hits the nail on the head—AGAIN! Ping!
Thank you for asking that. Cause I've been wondering over and over where the hell are the pictures?
Nothing moves Americans like pictures of little ducks covered with ugly oil. I remember the Exxon Valdez...dag you couldn't turn on any news show without seeing pictures of volunteers busily scrubbing pelicans, ducks...fish...that type of thing. I was a pretty young liberal lass at the time and serious, I refused to buy Exxon gas for almost ten years after that.
I've concluded two possibilities as to why sad pictures aren't inundating our airways...not to mention YouTube folks.....THERE ARE NONE!
Or, as you said, the Obama admin wants to keep them hidden. Which I don't believe cause if the admin wants to hide something you can believe some Blogger will be out there getting the pics/audio/damaging photos.
I suspect, for now at least, that this oil is pretty much flowing away from the wellhead out into the Atlantic ocean.
Which does not mean I think this gusher is of no import....cause while gooey black oil will eventually clear up as it coats the coastline ugly, it can really make a mess and dishearten nature lovers in the meanwhile. Not to mention tourists and swimmers and the like.
Still, the Exxon oil spill did not destroy the coast and yesterday Rush was talking about some other out of control oil well that wreaked havoc on the surrounding. No matter how mankind might try, we cannot destroy the planet with its own components. Mother earth was on the job long before humans stood upright.
But we can sure make it ugly for a while, make no mistake.
As for Palin's article quoted on this post....I sit and ponder WHERE THE HELL ARE THE REPUBLICANS?
Part of the reason we are in this position is because we have no opposition party! Cause everything that Palin speaks of in this article should be being uttered by Boehner, McConnel, Hatch and the like. And McCain, heh.
They should get the hell out of the tanning booths, risk mussing head hairs and for God's sake quit reaching across the aisle, and criticize this president clearly and firmly for the gazillion mistakes he's making and handing to them on a golden platter.
Americans understand such as fences and walls yet you hear little from the elite elected pubs about how the admin sanctioning boycotts of state against state is patently against our constitution. Americans understand this.
For sure the Dems, masters at getting out and lambasting your political enemies that they may teach the pubs a thing or two, got out and beat on Bush on Hurricane Katrina, right from the start, although most of the problem was on the locals.
The most sucessful gubmints have wild and passionate opposition parties against the party in power. Our pub elected elite are too busy reaching across the aisle.
Sarah Palin—livin’ rent free in HolyO’s brain, 24/7! LOL! :-)
EXACTLY why she wrote them. She’s egging him on. He’ll continue to ‘berate’ her in the press as someone who doesn’t know what she’s talking about (when it’s clear she’s an EXPERT even to the stupidest liberal), while doing that he’ll be showing the world what an empty suit he is!
Brilliant on Sarah’s part. She’s put out the bait. Let’s see how long it takes before HolyO or Beltway Bob Gibbs takes the bait! :-)
3...2...1...
Dead on accurate. Excellent point.
Freepers take note--these are your talking points for this weekend. Zero's approval ratings can plummet further with the dissemination of this information by next week.
Help me out here....I clicked on your link....says SERVER CANNOT BE FOUND.
Proving my assertion once again...that there are NO damning pictures....or the admin is hiding them.
Perhaps you made a mistake with the link?
Let me correct....I was able to get a connection after a couple of tries ....BUT...
heh...
only one pic, a “nesting pelican” covered with oil. No where was it indicated that this picture is from the current oil spill.
Further, just for the record...they showed a pelican getting cleaned up last night on some show or another but after a bit the narrator said that the pic was NOT from this oil spill but was from the Exxon Valdez.
I did click “next” to see more pictures at one might think...got a picture of a Dunkin Donuts drink, clicked NEXT again, a pic of a state lottery pic.
this is all the pics they got? Allegedly?
okay....I DID get the slideshow.
some of the pics are pretty bad but a sign that says “BEACH CLOSED” with no sign of oil anywhere?
They had some baby pelicans look bad, a rosette spoonbill supposedly dying from the oil around it....I dunno.
Still, these are the first pics I’ve seen and yeah, I think the media should be showing them everywhere. Or maybe the pubs...you think?
Cause Obama owns this thing, yes he does.
Let’s see if they’re not hidden or some such.
That’s weird—I’m getting 20 ‘devestating’ pictures related to the oil spill. If you’d like I’ll post them here!
Agreed. I’m plastering them on Facebook and Twitter!
For me the source of the photos is important...I don’t trust Greenpeace or the Sierra Club....these may be photos from residence and volunteers and are therefore trustworth.
I understand that this is NOT a good thing at all...on the other hand, the envoirnmental wackos/terrorist/leftist will ALWAYS paint something worse than it is.
The photos from the Exxon spill were horrible as well...the photos from Kuwaitt when Saddam set the country ablaze were horrible..
All the Greenpeace types said it would take forever and a day to clean it up and that the places would never be the same...both are fine now.
Agreed.
That is like leaving Company X (BP) to put out the “fire” it started and not sending the fire department (government) to put out the fire.
Faulty analogy, because the government did NOT have a fire department with pumpers, and hook and ladder. All it had was ambulances (coast guard ships), so all it can do is supervise that BP is working diligently.
Simply not true.
We have this thing call the Navy. They have specialized equipment to operate in deep water.
In addition there is a lot more to be done beyond “plugging the damn hole”.
There’s a number of things that could have been done on the coast line to protect it that only government has the authority to do. Government can also mobilize other tools to collect oil on the surface before it makes land fall far beyond BP’s capabilities.
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