Response? I didn't even know that he was aware of the spill! Who told him?
Posted on 05/26/2010 7:43:08 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
President Barack Obama is on the defensive over his presidential multitasking, for refusing to scrub his schedule of events that seem peripheral — even trivial — compared with the unfolding catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.
As oozing oil fouls Louisiana’s marshes, Obama has committed to maintaining the semblance of a regular schedule, adhering to his walk-and-chew-gum style of crisis management even as criticism of his administration mounts.
That includes a sit-down to talk hoops with Marv Albert, events touting the stimulus and Duke’s basketball team, a Memorial Day appearance in Illinois and a pair of fundraisers in California that roughly overlapped with a memorial service for 11 workers killed in the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon platform.
The White House is unapologetic and says the criticism is deeply unfair. Aides say Obama is focused on the oil spill, to the point of being obsessed. Having the president personally involved in every public event on the spill would be distracting and “wouldn’t move the ball forward,” said a White House official.
And despite Obama’s commitment to keep prior scheduling commitments, he’s carved out time for a day trip to the Louisiana Gulf Coast on Friday and a Q & A with the White House press corps to answer questions about the disaster — in addition to a constant stream of briefings on BP’s progress.
That hasn’t kept allies and enemies alike from questioning why Obama isn’t projecting more of a sense of urgency and outrage.
“This is one of the great lost political opportunities I’ve ever seen,” says former Clinton adviser James Carville, a Louisiana native sharply critical of the Obama administration’s response to the spill.
Obama earned high marks — and perhaps the presidency — for keeping his cool during the 2008 financial crisis, but that same determination to maintain an even keel during the Gulf disaster may be backfiring, with even allies saying he’s coming off as cold and uncharacteristically tone-deaf.
“There are times and places where his cool, technocratic mastery is a great blessing. ... But, ideology aside, what do you think [President Ronald] Reagan would have done in this situation? He’d be down there. Look at [Louisiana Gov. Bobby] Jindal. ... It is puzzling, the detachment,” said one veteran Democratic strategist, a frequent defender of Obama.
“I just cringe at the specter of the president doing a political fundraiser in San Francisco during the memorial service instead of going to the memorial service,” the person added. “He was sure there for the coal miners in West Virginia; he spoke at their funerals. That juxtaposition can’t be good.”
Republicans — smarting over criticism that President George W. Bush delegated his response to Hurricane Katrina to incompetent subordinates — are seizing on the fiddle-while-Rome-burns theme with relish.
Sean Hannity, speaking on his Fox News show, encapsulated a new GOP talking point Tuesday night when he said, “Throughout this catastrophe, let’s see, President Obama has found time to play golf, political fundraisers, state dinners.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee e-mail blasted a press release — “President Delays Gulf Coast Spill Recovery Efforts for San Francisco Fundraiser With Oil Heirs” — on the eve of Obama’s West Coast fundraisers, which netted $1.7 million.
Even without the Gulf crisis, Obama’s plate was overflowing. Obama has spent much of his time focusing on a sequence of major crises: a knife’s edge military confrontation on the Korean peninsula, continuing concerns about the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, a tricky compromise on repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and high-stakes final negotiations over the financial regulatory bill.
Obama spoke repeatedly about the Gulf during his West Coast events Tuesday and Wednesday, which included a tour of a plant that produces components of solar panels — and a pair of fundraisers for the party and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
“This situation in the Gulf is heartbreaking,” Obama declared at his first fundraisers Tuesday. “And the day that it was reported to me that this riser and the drilling situation had blown, I said to my team, ‘We’ve got to put every bit of energy, time, all the resources we’ve got, to make sure that we deal with this.’ And we’ve now got over a 1,000 people from the federal government deployed down there. We are doing everything we can to contain the damage.”
For the moment, the gripes are coming mostly from the GOP. “The president has remained disengaged,” said California Rep. Darrell Issa, the ranking minority member of the House Oversight Committee and a frequent Obama critic. “For 35 days, he hasn’t used the full force of our government.”
Former Bush press secretary Dana Perino — who has expressed sympathy with Obama’s plight — sees a double standard in the media coverage of Obama and her old boss. Bush was pilloried by Democrats — including then-Sen.Obama — for his handling of Hurricane Katrina.
“I call it the battered press syndrome,” she e-mailed POLITICO. “They keep trying to win his favor, but it’s not returned.”
Environmental organizations and liberal groups, who routinely attacked Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for their ties to the oil industry, have yet to show similar vigor in criticizing Obama for being too deferential to BP.
At the fundraisers Tuesday night in San Francisco — the birthplace of the environmental movement — Obama faced dozens of protesters, but only a few were there to criticize the government’s response to the spill. A video posted online by the San Francisco Chronicle shows tea party members, a Save-the-Whales contingent, a group promoting solar energy and immigration activists. Just a handful of people from a socialist group, ANSWER, carried a sign saying, “Make Big Oil Pay” and “Seize BP.”
The San Francisco events, where Obama joined Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, raised $1.7 million for Boxer and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.
A spokesman for Greenpeace said he was unaware of any oil-spill-related protest in connection with Obama’s fundraiser but that the group has protested in recent days in New Orleans and on Capitol Hill.
“We’re doing everything we can to draw the public’s attention to the fact that not enough is being done and, in fact, the president’s policies in support of offshore drilling increases the chances of another disaster like this one,” said the spokesman, Daniel Kessler. “We haven’t been shy at Greenpeace about calling out President Obama.”
Democrats, for the most part, have stuck with Obama.
“There’s going to be a concerted effort to [criticize Obama],” said Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow. “It’s really not about Bush vs. Obama. To me, it’s about a philosophy that says deregulate, step back and let Wall Street do whatever they want; step back and let the oil companies control everything.”
Boxer on Wednesday defended Obama’s action, noting that his visit to the solar-panel plant highlights the need to move the nation away from fossil fuels — and the risk of such underwater catastrophes.
“They would criticize the president no matter what he did. And I guess the question is, should the president just not go anywhere until this well is capped? I mean, I think he needs to have a schedule,” Boxer said. “I think he’s going there on Friday, and he’ll go there as many times as he feels he should go there because he knows he’s dispatched 1,000 people. And I think he’s doing every single thing that he can.”
...and Tennessee?
Sissy’s doin’ a GREAT JOB!
While the rock star known a Barry plays golf, goes on vacations, and parties down.
And he votes “present” while the Gulf becomes an ecological wasteland.
I thought the jack boot on BP’s neck was going to fix everything.
I can’t figure out why Obama has yet to figure out a way to cap the leak. He’s certainly been critical enough of BP in that regard.
Obama is a sociopath.
I am just happy that Obama is finally getting his day......even though some Dem senator was still trying to blame Bush for this
As long as there is a soul alive toting the last name "Bush".
1/20/2009 to ? = a presidential nightmare for all American voters.
Very true! As far as I know, he couldn't even bring himself to so much as comment on it. I assure you, had that flood been in Ohio or Pennsylvania, he would have been in the middle of it, doing photo ops, helping fill up sand bags.
Bottom line... If you aren't a 'battleground state', he doesn't give a damn about you.....
What spill response?
Obama “ BP gona have to clean up that spill” Chin up in the air “ next question”
The boot on MY neck is the one that is a problem.
Well Obama has been busy the last month, no not with the oil spill, boots on throats, vacations, fundraisers and bashing Arizona.
deeply unfair,deeply/s
I gotta say that I’m glad that the Gubment hasn’t been able to obstruct this yet, because the technology being used to try and control this blowout is literally the tip of the spear in oil exploration and technology, and I have seen some of the most amazing things being done a mile underwater by remotely piloted subs. Nobody in the government has access to the kind of technology that is being brought to bear on this problem right now.
Stepping back for a moment, it is “disasters” like this that drive the advancement of technology. If things did not go drastically wrong once in a while there would be no motivation to improve and expand current technology.
Before the shuttle Challenger exploded, was there any real motivation to address the well documented shortcomings of the solid rocket boosters??
Before we lost the shuttle Columbia, was there any motivation to understand the well documented shedding of foam on the external fuel tank??
Before we lost three astronauts in the Apollo 1 fire, was there any motivation to address the many known design deficiencies of the Apollo command module??
Everything that is going on right now has never been attempted 5000 feet deep underwater. Not only is this history in the making it is radical technological development taking place before our eyes. The learning curve here is steep, but a lot of good may eventually come of this accident, but all too often these lessons are literally written in blood.
He is also a complete joke as a leader. Last week saw the worst graduation address to the Cadets at West Point - in the entire history of that fine institution. Next day he tells the military to get ready for war with North Korea. Then he says to "Plug the damn hole" regarding the disaster that continues in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tune in for Tomorrow's Emergency
Brought to us by a leader who is so scared of what has become:
"Obama's Katrina"
“Obama earned high marks — and perhaps the presidency — for keeping his cool during the 2008 financial crisis,”
He didn’t know what he was doing then, and he certainly doesn’t know what he’s doing now!
It’s the same approach alright! Constant campaign-and-read your-teleprompter mode.
I don’t understand why they’re filling it with mud only?
I’m no expert, but maybe they could get some boulders or make some man-made concrete cubes (big ones) and start stuffing them down the hole—then seal it off with mud afterward?
How wide is that hole??
Never mind I read about the process...
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