As the oil spill in Louisiana began to spread, Obama’s first reaction was to play golf. Now as the oil spill grows into a full blown disaster, Obama is scrambling to appear to be serious. The White House released a picture showing Obama on the phone allegedly talking to someone about something other than a tee time.
Louisiana does know something about oil spills. The problem is that the Obama administration is blocking them from implementing them. Gov. Bobby Jindal expressed his frustration at the Federal government:
“We know we have to take action and take matters into our own hands if we are going to win this fight to protect our coast,”
Jindal does have a plan:
“We have only two options: We can fight the battle of removing oil in our thousands of miles of fragmented wetlands that serve as a critical nursery for wildlife or we can stop the oil 15 to 20 miles off of our coast at sand booms. Every day we are not given the authorization to move forward and create more of these sand booms is another day where that choice is made for us and more and more miles of our shore are hit by oil.”
They are waiting for Federal approval to implement their plans but the Obama adminstration is not responding:
What the controversy doesn’t explain, however, is why the federal government has been so slow in approving cleanup operations. Is it the inertia that afflicts any bureaucratic operation — even one dedicated to resolving an emergency? Or are federal officials worried about the broader impact that plans like the sand booms may have on the coastal environment?
At issue is a Corps of Engineers environmental impact report. A reasonable person cannot help but wonder what they’re thinking. It’s hard to believe that allowing more oil to reach the shores could be less damaging than creating sand berms. To his credit, Jindal plans on acting even without Federal approval.
Federal response has been fragmented and incoherent, so much so that Democrat stalwarts such as James Carville have voiced their criticism.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sought to make clear how tough the administration is:
“BP is charged with capping the leaking oil well and paying for the response and for the recovery without limitation. They will be held accountable. We will keep our boot on their neck until the job gets done.”
Salazar threatened to “push out” BP but Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen noted that only oil companies have the expertise to deal with this kind of situation.
Such is the exasperation of Louisiana officials that Billy Nungesser, the president of Plaquemines Parish stated:
“There’s been a failure of leadership on all levels. Who in the hell is in charge?”
The more cynical of those among us might think that what the Obama adminstration holds most important is something other than the environment:
In the aftermath of Katrina, George Bush stood up and accepted the blame for the federal failures. I think before this is over, Obama will do the same.
Blame Bush, that is.
During first 40 days of Katrina, Bush made 7 visits to Gulf Coast…
So far on Day 36 of BP oil leak, Obama has made 1 visit to disaster area…(Drudge)
What was it Obama said about Bush’s response?
“I am especially glad to come back here because I remember four years ago, right after the storm, a lot of people felt forgotten,” Obama tells a New Orleans crowd in 2009.
He bashed Bush as “a President who only saw people from a window of an airplane instead of down here on the ground.”
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.