I am an oil glutton compared to Al Giordano, but I agree with him about those criticizing the administration’s response to the travesty in the Gulf of Mexico. The administration should have gone to work immediately upon taking office to clean up the Department of the Interior because it was known to be the most corrupt department in the Bush administration (yes, even worse than the Justice Department or the Pentagon). They dropped the ball by doing that inadequately, and for allowing permits for wells like the Deepwater Horizon. So, some criticism is warranted. But I don’t see any flaws in the Obama administration’s response to the disaster. They are doing what they can.
However, this is a very difficult thing to handle politically, and the administration could definitely do a better job on that score. It’s tough to make sure the people know that Obama is engaged on the issue without making him look impotent. After all, he doesn’t have a magic solution. He really should have been back to the Gulf again by now (I know he’ll be there Friday) and he should keep us more updated on the progress, including backup plans and the timeline. I also think both Secs. Salazar and Napolitano come off as weak communicators when talking about this spill. I’d like to see less of them and more of the president and National Incident Commander, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen. People want to hear from the people in charge, not from secretaries who don’t seem to have a firm grasp of the engineering challenge involved.
I also think Obama should be on the phone everyday with the governors, senators, and representatives of the Gulf Coast, and that everyone should know about those conversations. He just needs to display more of his concern and project that he’s working the issue relentlessly. I know it’s just the politics of the matter, but they need to do better.
Guess who can go fuck themselves?
Horse is out of the barn. Or rather, the oil is out of the well. These changes should have started the minute Salazaar became head of Interior.
Yeah, but I was focused on the latter part of that blockquote.
Yes. Didn’t mean to sound as though I didn’t agree with you.
Yes. Thanks for this.
I don’t think it’s all just political, either. There have been and are real holes in the response effort. It’s inevitable when you’re pulling together a force of thousands of people over just a few weeks, but they need to handle communications better and respond to problems on the ground faster and more effectively.
Salazaar is a weak communicator. Wooden in delivery; dull in content. We’ve heard him many times in our local community here in Colorado. Spouse commented, the first time hearing Salazaar, that he was a bureaucrat’s bureaucrat. And I think that is a fair assessment.
I think the cool technocrat vibe that seemed like such a relief after Bush’s raging idiocy has now become something of a liability. It looks to me like Obama is responding to the disaster about as well as can be expected from anyone at the practical level, but this is also a time for passion and rage and even a dose of public despair. We need to hear “never again” but instead we’re hearing “temporary moratorium”. That’s just not what’s needed right now, and will be even more inadequate as the full horror of it all unfolds.
disagree on Thad Allen: he’s been calling BP “our friend”, he’s allowed his coast guard to be enlisted into harassing reporters and threatening them with arrest, and more.
I’m not liking that.
I’ll add that going to a fundraiser during an ongoing gulf disaster smacks of what Bush did during Katrina, and the optics are just as bad.
so, he’s supposed to stay in a monastery until August?
I think he’s referring to Lisa Jackson .. head of the EPA .. see here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/26/epa-chief-lisa-jackson-ca_n_590126.html
I didn’t suggest that at all.
However, when the shit is really hitting the fan and finally getting 24/7 news coverage, maybe it’s a good time to say “ya know, fundraising can wait.”
(and on a sidenote, have you noticed how the NPR reporters have been sounding more panicked every day? On May 1, it was all sanguine, now they’re sounding very alarmed)
I hadn’t noticed that. I think it’s a shame that the oil waited so long to make landfall because people were initially appropriately alarmed and then when nothing came ashore, people got complacent.
Of course, it was probably a good thing the oil waited because it allowed more booms to be put in place and other protective devices. But it was a mixed blessing, for sure.
i’m not sure if you’re being snarky or not, but to me it spoke volumes. When it was an abstraction it was easy to ignore. I think a lot of people figured it’d be fixed and that would be that. For at least two weeks, the only people writing about the spill with any urgency were bloggers. It even fell off the new york times.
I saw Allen on Cspan the other night, and gotta say he’s no Brownie. He came off as deeply informed, military-style can-do, and no bullshit. Don’t know about the reporter thing, but I got the impression that the disaster effort is in good hands. Too bad nobody watches cspan.
Oh please, I respect Al but he writes one of these pompous and self-righteous “I publicly disassociate myself” columns every three months. I don’t even have to read it to know what it says.
And please stop with the strawman arguments about how critics are asking the administration to yell louder and point harder. Stop it. We disagree, fine, but don’t insult our intelligence and passion with these tired tropes of the oh-so worldly and experienced Obama apologetics.
“But I don’t see any flaws in the Obama administration’s response to the disaster. They are doing what they can.”
No, actually, they’re not. This is horseshit. Again I don’t expect them to plug the well right this second. I do expect them to treat this crisis with the gravity and importance it merits. And part of that is absolutely effectively communicating its extent, significance, and discussing every possible mitigation strategy DAILY. And this is most emphatically NOT about politics. This is about effectively mobilizing all the resources of government and society at large. Has the president done that? NO! Game, set, match.
And part of it, at least for me, is to be able to prove to people that government works .. because the Pukes and Blue Dogs have done a pretty good job of neutering government .. and if we don’t have a government that works for the people .. not the corporations .. we are fucked
Here’s an idea, announce the formation of a civilian-conservation-corps type response group which will be tasked with environmental restoration long-term. As in years to decades. The group will be directed by the very best biologists, will conduct extensive research, and it’s mission will be large scale habitat restoration across the gulf. And it will be lavishly funded on BP’s dime, although BP will have no say in its activities. Or simply give this task to the corps of engineers or something similar and say it will be funded out of the billions of dollars in civil penalties we will extract from BP as part of an agreement that allows them to continue operating in America, with omnipresent, proctological regulatory oversight of course.
Great idea. Could produce job training as well as useful jobs.
Great idea… but NOT the Corps of Engineers, not in Louisiana.
Katrina was essentially a Corps of Engineers levee failure… and locals had reported problems years before. The Corps is dirt in Louisiana.
I don’t get your point, I guess. If you are criticizing their communication strategy, then I just said that. If you are criticizing their effort to contain the oil, then I don’t agree with you. They moved quickly with the resources available. Considering the size of the task, obviously it’s easy to point out flaws in the decisions they’ve made, but the commitment is there.
There are real problems with keeping BP in charge of surface containment efforts. One is disclosure… as many have noted, there are continued reports of volunteers being required to sign that the won’t talk about what they see, and reporters being intimidated or shut out of affected areas.
Another is responsiveness – if people call for help and BP doesn’t answer, what number do they call next?
And the final one is accountability. BP is accountable to its shareholders; the government is accountable (theoretically, at least) to the people.
We have hard-core Louisiana conservatives and libertarians screaming for the government to take over, and some of them admitting that they thought they’d never say that.
At this point, keeping BP in charge of the surface response makes Obama look ineffective and complicit, regardless of whether the effort is actually all that it can be or not (something that I’m not an expert who’s qualified to judge). People want to see the Coast Guard and National Guard in place, in charge, reassuring, making use of every available resource and visibly effective.
It’s not that complicated! It’s like they are treating this like a defcon 3 and it’s really a defcon 1. And I’m not saying their response is totally lacking. I’m saying this is a crisis, put every possible resource on it.
You think the response is adequate. I would like to see someone explain the following points:
-They are constantly saying we have 20,000 people on the scene. I have no idea where this number comes from and I can’t find any explanation of it. But why not 40,000? Why not 100,000? Surely 20,000 is not the absolute most they can mobilize?
-They tell us they have deployed 3 million feet of boom and have a million more. Numerous pictures exist showing this boom has totally failed in some places and credible experts suggest that little of any of this boom was correctly deployed or is being correctly maintained. Are they counting the many areas where booms are total failures? If not, why not? Because they are not even monitoring it?
-If they’ve already used 3 million and have only a million more, where are they going to get more? Are they getting more? Because it would seem they need A LOT more.
-BP has defied the EPA’s orders to stop using Corexit, which, according to this is not the least toxic or most effective dispersant available. BP has provided no public explanation of it’s refusal and the EPA has said nothing about it in the days since it happened. WHAT IS GOING ON? A recent report on ABC news showed massive clouds of presumably “dispersed” oil sitting just under the surface.
I can’t find any evidence that the EPA or any other agency is evaluating the effectiveness of the use of this dispersant. If it’s simply making the oil float in a cloud under the surface, then it seems that using highly toxic dispersant may be having no meaningful effect. Who is evaluating this? Only today did NOAA dispatch a ship to do testing in the area.
-At least two weeks ago local governments asked permission to build temporary sand berms to create a barrier protecting the coastal marshes. They have not received any response. I can’t find any comment on this on government websites. The berms may be ineffective, may cause more harm then they are worth or whatever, but why isn’t this proposal being evaluated? Time is of the essence. And yes, it may take months to complete them. But the spill will be going on for months. And if this is a valid proposal, why doesn’t the admin send down tens of thousands of guardsmen or whatever to MAKE IT HAPPEN?
-SEC DEF Gates has authorized the deployment of 17,500 National Guardsmen to the area, but so far only 1414 have deployed. Why? Why did they just send 1600 to the mexican border but not the gulf, at a time when illegal immigration is said to be in decline?
-The admin claims that staging areas have been set up in 17 locations to protect sensitive shoreline. No further information is given about these staging areas or why they should be any more effective in protecting the coast then they have been in Louisiana. What are they doing there? And why 17? Why not 117 staging areas?
-They claim that they have recovered more than 11 million gallons of oil-water mix. If this is significant, why haven’t they deployed supertankers or whatever to suck up slick areas? Supposedly they can suck up tens of millions of gallons of oil-water mix. They say they have 1200 vessels responding. Why don’t they have 5000? Why don’t they send in every appropriate naval vessel?
-Why has nothing been said about longer term plans for habitat restoration? The president can make promises, but talk is cheap. What are they going to DO?
Etc.
I did hear Lisa Jackson interviewed about this last night on NPR. She claimed they’ve been monitoring for toxic effects and have not found any to date. She did not specify what monitoring techniques have been used, what data is available, etc.
She also said EPA is doing ongoing testing to identify an alternative to Corexit, and that they have required for the use of Corexit to be decreased.
To a certain degree, my criticism aligns with yours regarding the Defcon scale.
I want to point out, however, that the real Defcon right now is taking place on the Korean Peninsula. And if not there, then in Kandahar. And if not there, in the European economy. And if not there, then in Baghdad. And if not there, then in the Daily Intelligence Report which has two dozen Christmas Day/Times Square bombing-type things to be concerned about. Or maybe Geithner and Clinton’s trip to China? That could be on the president’s mind. Or trying to broker a deal on DADT so he’ll stop getting heckled everytime he appears at a Democratic function. Or maybe trying to convince 8-10 Republican senators not to filibuster a climate bill? Or a immigration bill?
So, give it a rest. He can’t do shit about the leak and he’s deployed the people he needs to work on the coastlines.
Booman, this is my last word on the subject. A) You’ve said nothing about the questions I posed. If you don’t think they are an issue, fine, but I do, many others do, and you can’t deny they are real questions. Simply saying “he’s deployed the people he needs” is question begging. B) The president’s job is hard. Too hard probably. But Obama knew exactly what he was getting into and the entire campaign for president is in essence an argument that the candidate is ready and able to handle multiple, overlapping crisis. It’s reasonable that people would have an expectation that he could. So if what you are offering is an excuse for not acting with enough urgency and effectiveness in the gulf, that’s all it is, an excuse.
the entire point of this post was to stipulate two things and offer a conclusion. I stipulated that the response was not effect politically and that the president deserved blame for not moving aggressively enough at the beginning of his term to clean house at the Interior Department. Then I said that his tactical response was energetic, rational, and adequate.
I stand by that.
I know that different, better decisions could have been made, but his decisions have been rational and focused. I don’t think it’s begging the question to argue that, considering the circumstance, he’s made decent decisions.
I’m awaiting Obama’s compromise on this, too. BP will dictate how much oil in the Gulf is okay and Obama will say, “Yup.” And to us whiny complainers he’ll blather on in his dry monotone to “not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” I can hear it now. Boilerplate Obama.
The fact is that the administration should have done a ton of things that they haven’t done because of craven politics and Obama’s default Republicanism. All of that boldness on the stump was a bunch of lies. He is the most timid president since Madison. It’s just my assessment.
What should the president do? He shouldn’t be naming faceless commissions full of his conservative cohorts. But that’s what we’ll get.
I’m still waiting for something to change. But I haven’t seen ANY change at all.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Two years into the administration it’s hard to blame incompetence on your predecessor. Obama is paying a high price for his conflating of Washington with Springfield. Dixie Republicans are much less sane than Illinois Republicans (current candidates excepted). Obama found he could reach common ground on solving problems in Springfield, not so in Washington. Trusting Bush appointees is Obama’s Achilles heel.
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WTF I inderstood ‘We the People’ don’t want taxation or socialism in Washington. Let the free markt handle the matter, but don’t look for the Feds on national issues because they are defunded by Congress, have gone to war or MMS employees are on the job watching porn instead of platforms. What a state we’re in!
North Sea issues on offshore driling, the environment and oil spills: Norway is of course a state run by socialists.
Just like the old days, people are happy they hit a gusher. Too bad it’s 5,000 feet underneath the sea.
The gusher is BP’s problem to solve, the oil spill should have been dealt with by the Gulf states, Washington and any foreign nation with the proper vessels to handle the clean-up. The toxic dispersant will make life much more intolerable in the GOM in the coming decades.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Hoping wh reads your suggestions and takes a clue, Booman! I read somewhere this morning – iirc comments in a kos post that I now cannot find- that BP is required by law to manage the problem and us gov is not permitted to take over – law changed after Exxon Valdez where us gov did the cleanup then had to recoup $ from oilco. will look again for a link later when I get a break
My reading of the communications issue is that BP is looking for any excuse to weasel out of its liability. The Obama administration doesn’t want to allow that opening. Apparently, neither do the governors of the states. Thus the prohibition of the public from beaches where the oil has come ashore.
It seems to be fallout from a number of events over the past decade, not excluding the liability the government implicitly created for health issues in first responders to Ground Zero and to the cleanup crews.
Salazar hasn’t done anything because he was selected specifically to satisfy Western members of Congress, whose vote was needed for his confirmation. He now has been hammered on mines and on oil drilling. I’m expecting that shortly he will be hammered on leasing on public lands and the preferential deals that ranchers and mining companies get.
Something has been messed up as far as setting up booms to catch the oil. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/11/865387/-Fishgrease:-DKos-Booming-School
And I’m not at all happy with BP injecting hundreds of thousands of gallons of dispersant into the oil. I don’t think that should be their decision to make; they’ve even ignored the EPA.
So far only Bobby Jindal has been willing to stand by Obama for a photo op. Haley Barbour and Bob Riley have been sort of distant on this. The GOP and racial politics in this matter is very blatant. No doubt Obama is aware of this and is trying to focus on getting the job done instead of getting into a pissing contest with Haley Barbour.
From an operational point of view, it is more important that the federal and state FEMA agencies be talking constantly. Showing these activities would provide a better indication of what the federal and state governments are actually doing. That was the approach to FEMA during the Clinton administration. The FEMA administrator was on the scene. In this case, it seems that the Coast Guard is the key agency.
It doesn’t matter what Obama says. The oil is leaking and that is the reality. If he said something everyday, it would ramp up the wingnuts.
The gov’t is doing all that it can.
People can find out what is going on if they want to.
Obama is doing his job.
Don’t watch cable tv. It makes for hysteria.
Look! Over there! Mickey Mouse!
Nothing to see here.
That cheered me right up. Thanks.
The Department of the Interior was a CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE – and I mean that LITERALLY – during the Shrub years.
It was one of the Departments where the President should have chosen an out and out progressive, hell, a zealot, because, IMO, only a Zealot, could come close to doing the type of cleanup needed.
He chose milquetoast Salazar.
Unfortunately, Obama is waiting for the middle to miraculously appear so that he can jump right there and coast. You know, the middle, where all good legislation and goals are established. He still longs to be the Messianic “good guy” Mr. Knowitall. We have Goldilocks for president. It’s so disappointing that I voted for a chump and a moralizing “Vatican observer.” Where is this man’s heart? Where is the passion? Compassion? Nope, not hope, I’m afraid. Evidently, every problem can be solved by sticking the proverbial finger in the air and weathervaning. More people are dying in his wars but he doesn’t really care. He provided no leadership during the HCR debacle but he still sees his performances as exemplary. He’s deporting more immigrants than even Bush had the nerve to. He’s firing gays from the military against his promises. He’s now even indicting whistleblowers, making his “look forward, not back,” rhetoric a shameless sham. He’s suddenly a deficit hawk who will soon slash social programs at a record rate. And now the Gulf is dying but he’s content to establish a commission.
MMS bit the dust. Ding dong…
I think action speaks louder than words.
This is good.
What if Bush were still prez?
Nightmare and a half.
I am writing like a grocery list. Tired, sorry.
NY Times, May 23 —
WASHINGTON, May 26 (Reuters) –
FWIW, I’m much happier after today’s press conference. Of course I’d have preferred to see the President take ownership of the problem much earlier, and I’m still waiting to see if protection of the coast improves.
But this level of public engagement and accountability is what I expect from Obama, and he put it out there today.