At the same time that the “take-charge” Feds shouldered the responsibility for regulating drilling in the Gulf, they shouldered the responsibility to make sure Americans did not suffer needlessly from disasters related to that drilling.
Yes, BP should ultimately pay for the clean up, but the Federal Government should have moved quickly to make sure the damage was minimized as much as possible.
Has Obama declared a state of emergency in Louisiana yet?
OILGATE: It’s not about the costly leak, it’s about the stingy cleanup.
I agree that there is probably not much more that Obama and/or the Federal Government can do to stop the leak that is not already being done. Containing the leak was and is another matter entirely. The initial response to the leak was painfully slow and woefully inadequate. We should have been burning that oil from almost day one but relied instead on dispersants. They proved not only ineffective, but also hampered any efforts to burn or skim oil on the surface. Admiral Allen gets lots of praise in the media for being a standup, take charge guy. It seems to me, however, he was inexcusably slow to react to the initial leak, and painfully wrong in his assesment of how to attack the problem. Containment booms and burning should have been his first response but weren’t. He is Obama’s personal representative on the scene, and they both bear responsibility for the containment failures to date. As for the Federal cleanup efforts, all I can say is what efforts? It appears that Bobby Jindal is the only one who is even trying to do anything, and oh yeah, where are the dredges and booms he asked for three weeks ago? This has been an epic failure on the part of the Federal government from the very first day and that means it has been an epic Obama failure. If this were Japan he would already have rightfully resigned or killed himself