Presidents Response to Gulf Oil Spill

The recent commentary about Obama’s “lack of compassion” and “lack of action” of the Gulf Oil Spill seems to miss the point. Spike Lee was interviewed with Anderson Cooper a few days ago and said Obama should “go off”. So Obama did by saying he was looking at “whose ass to kick”.

We don’t want him to swear.
We don’t want him to “go off”.
We don’t want him to just show up for photo ops.
We don’t want his only suggestion to be to sue BP and threaten criminal action.

We want him to be a leader.

I wanted him to declare affected states as “disaster areas”. This would have freed up Federal funds to get to work immediately to prevent oil from washing ashore and to cleaning it up as fast as possible.

I wanted him to call Tony Hayward on Day 1 and ask him what resources BP needed from the Federal government to get the well capped as soon as possible. BP could have said what machines, hardware, booms, or whatever else they needed.

I wanted him to issue an executive order suspending all Federal rules and laws that are current roadblocks to building berms, using dispersants, and other measures that could prevent the mess and contain the spill. This would have let Louisiana build berms without having to wait weeks to get permission from EPA and other agencies.

I am glad he put Admiral Thad Allen as spokesman and that the Coast Guard is involved. That should have been done Day 1, however, instead of just a few weeks ago.

I wanted him to add comments to each speech he made over the past 50+ days on the State of the Spill and the Federal government’s role in supporting BP and the affected States. He could have set expectations, too. He could have been reminding the people that the most likely scenario said 90 days to build relief wells to stop the spill. He could have been with us on how frustrating it is to watch that oil but also been optimistic that the well will be capped eventually and that the mess will be cleaned up and that life will go on.

I wanted him to provide a hotline at the Coast Guard or DHS or another department where people with great ideas could call them in or email them and get action on them. Or volunteer to clean up with their own boats. Or do something. Americans love to step in and help. A coordinated center for volunteers to help would have been great.

NO ONE in the media is talking like this. In response to complaints from the right that he’s not doing enough and doesn’t seem engaged, the ones on the left are saying he should be getting madder. We don’t need anger. We’re already frustrated and angry. We need a competent leader that brings people together for a common goal of capping the well and cleaning the spill, not agitating anger and animosity.