Posted by
Patrick Bohan on Sunday, June 13, 2010 10:06:12 AM
I will be the first to admit that the federal government is not the solution to all our problems. It certainly was not Obama’s fault that the BP rig exploded, but his management of the oil spill crisis has been a complete and utter failure. The federal government certainly has the capability of minimizing the spread of an oil spill and they also have the capability to clean up the mess. But this has not been happening and here is why:
It seems that both the state and federal government have redundant policies to deal with a national crisis and they look at each other when it is time to act. This is the same thing that happened after Katrina.
As a community organizer Obama never had to deal with a major crisis. Heck, Obama has never managed anything, so he is without a doubt unqualified and unfit to not only manage a national crisis, but to be our commander in chief.
Although Obama has claimed that he has been on top this of crisis from the start, at the same time he has been placing blame on others such as George Bush claiming he had lax oversight over big oil policies. It is never good to live in the past; it leads to blame storming sessions instead of brainstorming sessions to solve the serious problem at hand. It is very unproductive. Besides, Obama’s legislative record on oil policies is just as culpable in this disaster. First, Obama’s energy policy was to open up more offshore drilling but deny access to drilling on land such as in Alaska’s Arctic. Secondly, Obama has been a supporter of government mandates, restrictions, and regulations that has forced oil companies further offshore into deeper waters. Caving to these environmental special interest philosophies are why we are in the situation we are today.
Just as Obama had no prior experience in crisis management, he had no significant leadership experience either. Obama’s leadership has failed on two very basic fronts. First, Obama failed to make this issue priority number one. He should be living the disaster by being present at the Gulf Coast 24/7. But Obama continues to go to campaign fundraisers, fancy dinners, concerts, playing basketball and golf games, and literally seems to be having a good time. Secondly, he needs to lead by example and lead beach and ocean clean up efforts. This would motivate others to join in the effort. In other words Obama needs to live this disaster with those affected by it. In fact, Obama has not even talked with the CEO of BP, now does this sound like a man who is in charge of the situation?
Obama’s arrogance, smugness, and ego have been hindering real progress. Obama would prefer to hear the opinions of how to handle the crisis from liberal Hollywood actors and directors, but refuses to pick up the phone and talk to Sarah Palin who has offered to send in Alaska’s oil crisis team. After all, by doing this, it would be an admission that Palin is more qualified than he is to manage the oil spill.
Obama is much too tentative and indecisive to handle a national crisis. He failed to act swiftly to state requests such as building sand barriers. Instead, he had the Army Corps investigate the idea to see if it would be environmentally friendly. He has failed to act to use chemicals because he caved to environmentalist concerns they are dangerous to the environment. This is ludicrous, if you have to fight an ecological calamity with environmentally unfriendly methods and chemicals, so be it. It is commonsense that the spread of the oil must be contained or the ecological calamity gets bigger and bigger. In fact, there have been several great suggestions to clean up the oil in the news such as using vacuums to suck the oil out of the water into barges and to even use hay to extract oil. But none of these plans have been implemented. Meanwhile, hundreds of boats sit idle in local harbors. Obama should be directing the government to train, equip, and pay devastated fisherman to extract oil and then send the bill to BP.
Obama also does not have the right focus on the disaster. Yes, as mentioned before he is still living his lavish president lifestyle of parties and games. But even when he talks about the oil spill he is not focused on containment and cleanup efforts. Instead, he has had the Department of Justice open an investigation into BP and the accident. Once again, this is counterproductive. There will be plenty of time to open civil and criminal lawsuits against BP once the situation is under control. Filing criminal charges against BP is certainly not going to motivate them and keep them focused on the spill.
My Book: Is America Dying? (Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble)