DAY 71

Posted by Diogenes Sarcastica
June 29, 2010

But they ask "what could one man have done?"

When Barack Obama was running for President, his supporters said that he was smarter than George W. Bush and talked about how good it would be to have an intelligent man at America's helm after Bush.

Now, less than two years later, Obama's supporters are stuck saying that Obama couldn't have been prepared for the mess George W. Bush left.

Tthe Gulf Coast oil spill is a good  example. After over 71 days, even a number of his supporters are starting to wonder if he's on the ball. When James Carville starts openly questioning you, you know the Left isn't happy with you. This has left Obama's supporters asking, "Well, what would you have had Obama do?" The question is designed to show that not even Obama has all the answers and that the people who are questioning him are hypocrites because they don't have answers.

Allow me to fill that void, if I may?

1) Send down the Environmental Protection Agency after the spill happened. One of Obama's first actions after the Gulf Coast oil spill happened was to dispatch people from...the Department of Homeland Security. What were they going to do? Arrest the oil spill? Set up a color-coded system to let people know the threat level of the spill? Then he sent a battery of Lawyers.   Maybe the best thing to do would have been to send down people whose job it is to address ecological matters. Maybe a government group like...oh I don't know...the Environmental Protection Agency? I know it's a stretch, but maybe Obama could have send them down first thing.

2) Spend some Super Fund money. Part of the EPA' s budget is a little thing called Super Fund, a fund designed to help clean up ecological disasters. I'm sure some Super Fund money could be released to buy or lease the clean-up equipment that should have already been bought and in place and hire the experts to operate it.  I'm pretty sure an oil spill constitutes an ecological disaster.

3) Encourage BP. Since the beginning, Obama and his supporters have attacked BP at every opportunity, saying, "It's their spill." That has yet to be discovered in full, but that hasn't stopped Obama from laying the blame at BP's feet. Yet, who is doing most of the work in the Gulf Coast? BP. Instead of criticizing BP, the President could show some leadership and become BP's biggest fan. Being negative at this stage doesn't help the situation at all.

4) Listen to the states impacted by the spill. Is there a reason Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and the southern parishes of Louisiana are not  getting cooperation from  the federal government? Because of the length of time it takes for an oil spill to get cleaned up, Jindal wanted to build sand berms designed to protect Louisiana's wetlands. Yet, the Obama Administration and the EPA dragged it's feet on approval. Even the courts are now hindering the efforts.  And with hurricane season just starting, the more the Administration drags its feet, we could be seeing the Gulf Coast oil spill spread out and effect  entire coastal areas . Jindal's request wasn't out of the ordinary, nor is it out of the question. This should have been a priority as soon as the scope of the pending disaster was realized. Obama would be well-served to listen the people like Jindal and not to his Leftist base. I'll stop just short of advocating Gov. Jindal go rogue and deify the courts and do what is necessary.

5) Be a visible leader. One of the biggest knocks against Obama's handling of the oil spill is that he doesn't seem to be all that engaged. He does small, meaningless things, but usually in private and far away from the media's eyes. Obama may think this makes him look deliberate and thoughtful, but in truth, it's made him look distant and thoughtless, especially when he's on the golf course.  With America being fans of visual media, it's increasingly important that leaders actually appear on them. Obama didn't even mention the oil spill for nearly 10 days after it happened. That's far too long in this media environment. A lot more visibility and public statements of concern could have helped him appear more like a leader, and may well have been his finest hour.  And really, we didn't need Joe Biden down here, the circus has enough clowns.

See? Five suggestions on what Obama could have done, and I'm not even a graduate of Harvard Law. Then again, given some of the bozos that have come out of there, I might have been able to come up with these suggestions because I didn't graduate from Harvard Law.

Related Post: Day 56
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