Two Democrats with close ties to the Clinton administration and to Hillary have recently called out the Obama administration for its ineptness on the BP oil spill.
First, Democratic strategist James Carville called the administration “naive” and said they are relying too much on BP. Carville has been joined now by Donna Brazile, another top Clinton strategist. In an article over at Huffingtonpost by Sam Stein, Brazille is quoted as saying that “one of the problems” she has with the Obama administration is “they are not tough enough.” Like Carville, Brazille says that Obama and his team are relying too much on BP and not being forceful.
Note too Brazille’s choice of words. Her “one thing” indicates she (and others who are liberal minded) are tired of the weak-kneed and weak acting Obama. Look at his pathetic record. He’s folded on real health care reform, he has tough talk for bankers but coddles them, and he has essentially done nothing to treat the unemployment situation. Now there is the BP disaster in which his toughest “action” is to call for a commission to look into the situation!
Interesting that two individuals with close ties to the Clintons, Donna Brazile and James Carville, have called out the Obama administration for its ineptness on the oil spill. If Paul Begala joins the choir, I think it might be an indicator that Hillary might be willing to challenge the blunderer Obama in 2012.
As for Robert Gibbs and his contention that the administration has acted swiftly on the oil disaster, he must be kidding. The White House didn’t convene a conference on the disaster until 2 days after it happened, Obama didn’t visit the Gulf until 11 days after the incident (compared to 4 with Bush and Katrina). The inept Salazar still has a job. Moreover, Katrina was not a man made event. The oil spill is on Obama. He’s the guy who on April 2nd told the world that oil rigs offshore were safe nowadays and that besides “oil spills don’t happen from rigs but from refineries”. He’s the guy who reversed a 27 year old ban on offshore drilling. He’s the guy who hired the environmentally challenged Ken Salazar and who has kept him in office. At least Bush fired Brownie. Salazar was criticized by environmentalists when Obama made the pick; they rightly pointed out the fact that he has long been in bed with special interests.
Obama should be primaried in 2012. I think a lot of Democrats, like myself, are sorry they chose the timid corporatist Obama over Hillary in 2008. We might get a chance to rethink that!
Thanx
Nice
I think a lot of Democrats, like myself, are sorry they chose the timid corporatist Obama over Hillary in 2008.
I don’t think so – that sentiment is mainly limited to the PUMAs…
The true corporatists are the DLC crowd where Clinton is a proud member.
For a more informed view, see what Krugman has to say today:
The Old Enemies
You’re dreaming, and so is Krugman, if you think that Obama is close to FDR and his “welcoming the hatred” of vested interests. Obama is owned by Goldman Sachs. His administration is dominated, and not only through people like Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner, with links to Goldman Sachs.
For a far more enlightened view than Krugman of Obama as a corporatist, please see Matt Taibbi’s interview with Bill Moyers over at Moyer’s PBS show. Moyers noted that while Obama was attacking “fat cat bankers” his administration was working to weaken financial regulations.
Hillary would have been much tougher than this gutless wonder. If she ran against him in 2012 (and it looks like lots of her staff want her to) she’d get a huge majority of the female vote, the gay vote, the Latino vote and a big chunk of the African American vote. That leaves Obama with the BP vote and the Goldman Sachs vote.
In the same vein as my former comment, The New York Times has a devastating article up on the BP disaster showing that the Obama administration is still issuing waivers to companies like BP (after Obama said they would not). He’s lost control of that environmental disaster.
I agree that the administration’s handling of the BP disaster has been too timid. That may be changing, however:
EPA Officials Weigh Sanctions Against BP’s U.S. Operations
As for your assertion in the previous comment:
If she ran against him in 2012 (and it looks like lots of her staff want her to) she’d get a huge majority of the female vote, the gay vote, the Latino vote and a big chunk of the African American vote. That leaves Obama with the BP vote and the Goldman Sachs vote.
This is pure opinion – or maybe wishful thinking, unless you can back it up with facts or reliable surveys.
Ask,
I think you are underestimating the impact of the BP oil spill disaster and the inadequate response of the Obama administration to it. It goes beyond the response, moreover, as Obama is the guy who reversed a 27 year ban on offshore drilling and Obama is the guy who chose Ken Salazar and stand by him.
The EPA action you cite will not stop the spill and every day that we have more pictures and images of birds and wildlife covered in yuck, and beaches fouled with oil, more and more questions will be asked.
Note too that today, a 3rd adviser to Hillary, Peter Daou, has come out with a stinging article over at Huffingtonpost criticizing Obama and the administration for the oil spill. This is after James Carville and Donna Brazille called him “naive” and inept.
As for the politics of a primary challenge, virtually the only thing that has worked well for Obama is his foreign policy team. Hillary heads it and is known world wide. She will be in a much stronger position to challenge a weak, vacillating and ineffective president in 2012 than she was before. Here’s the scenario: the GOP takes the House this November and they launch virtually nonstop investigations of the White House. Gridlock ensues in Washington. The economic recovery continues on a very slow pace.
As to the voting blocks: Hillary will take a huge percentage of the female vote as she did in 2008. The gay community has long felt abandoned by Obama who has proved to them to be an empty suit. Ditto for Latinos who feel betrayed by promises on immigration Obama made. Ditto for organized labor which feels left out because Obama betrayed pledges to them and has done virtually nothing to stimulate employment. And as for people interested in the environment, after BP who do you think they will favor?
Obama’s already poor ratings are going to drop a lot every day of this environmental disaster. Recall that in April, 2010, many environmental groups predicted a disaster of this kind when Obama allowed offshore drilling. He’s a one termer.
I think you are underestimating the impact of the BP oil spill disaster…
I don’ think you have any basis to say so, I did write a couple of diaries.
UPDATE: BP – At the Bottom of the Barrel – and Still Sinking
BP didn’t plan for major oil spill
More significantly, as I wrote in this comment:
(Not mentioned in the comment, the work was for developments in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.)
You do make what seems to be a significant point:
Note too that today, a 3rd adviser to Hillary, Peter Daou, has come out with a stinging article…
Are you saying that there is now a concerted effort by Hillary supporters to undermine the President?
Personally, I would also like to see Obama take a much more forceful stance with BP and other oil companies, but using criticism to start a premature primary campaign is beyond non-productive.
Ask: I’m saying what I’m saying in the diary. That three top people who were Clinton advisers have in three days come out and criticized the Obama administration for incompetence on the oil spill. [One could make that four with Robert Reich’s strong column also in HP but Reich has consistently criticized Obama on how he has handled the economy]. I don’t know if that is “undermining” the President, I think he’s done a pretty good job of that all by himself first with the boneheaded statement about oil rigs are safe nowadays and then by the reversal of the offshore drilling ban. He also made a huge mistake in picking Ken Salazar in the first place and Salazar should be fired, not overlooking the cleanup.
I am not close to Hillary nor these advisers but I do sense that a lot of democrats are beginning to be fed up with the Obama administration. I am and I switched from Hillary to Obama in 2008 and now regret it. About the only thing that seems to be working in the current administration is the State Department and guess who is the head of that?
This is the nature of politics: just because Obama was elected in November 2008 doesn’t mean he will be the party nominee in 2012 automatically. LBJ and his supporters thought that way in 1968 until Clean Gene McCarthy said basically, I’ve had enough of the Vietnam War and this president and challenged him in primaries (and forced him out of office). McCarthy was much less well known and LBJ was much more powerful than Obama too. The same thing may well happen in 2012. That’s politics, that’s life. I for one like the idea.