http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl2270

I was thinking recently that Obama is really in a sticky situation here (duh). There is obviously a certain contingent of the U.S. population that will consider this one of the - if not the - major crisis and challenges of his presidency. And it is; but futher, there will be those that, for whatever reason, will want to focus all the anger and frustration at him; after all it happened on "his watch". "He should be doing more" / "if swifter, more resolute action hasn't been taken, it's the Obama administration's fault", etc.

You may even see some of these people have the audacity to compare this colossal disaster during Obama's presidency and its subsequent handling to one of Bush's trials during his run. I'm willing to bet there are even those that are of an opinon similar to "A Texan never woulda let things get this outta hand!"

But really, what would Bush have done differently? You can't send thousands of troops to swiftly police, bomb and "democratize" a geyser on the ocean floor.

Short of an entirely futile effort of getting out there in a sub with a Vacuum and personally sucking up oil at the source with the cameras rolling on him, what else can the president do? I read the other day that laws put into place in the nineties dictate that it is the oil company's responsibility first and foremost to repair the problem and clean up. Did the federal government leave too much of this responsibility in the hands of BP for too long? Obviously, I have some legitimate questions here as well as peanut gallery commentary.

This thread... always has me hearing Barack singing Henry Rollins.

The anger should be on deregulated corporations, not the gummint, but I'm sure the moron zombies will blame Obama because aren't they already?

the entire regulatory system needs a shit load of blame. obviously republicans take office, gut the agencies, and then stuff them with industry types who don't believe in the mission of the agency they are supposed to be running. then democrats take over and spend 2 or 3 years building them back up with their own sometimes incompetent (if more well-meaning) staff.

good times.

not a good couple years for the de-regulation advocates.

I think it's 2 separate issues: 1) who is to blame for the explosion/ oil leak; 2) who's to blame for the poor clean-up and failure to stop the leak.

Barry has his part to play in 2 but not really 1.

not even sure he can get much blame for not stopping the leak as it appears non has a fucking clue how to do it.

The repubs know how to plug it: pray to Jebus, give bigger tax breaks to BP, and cut social programs.

Also support your local Oily McPelican restaurant chain.

I'm not sure I agree with this. There's been a lot of ideas that haven't been tried. As I said in this thread earlier, BP's interest weren't entirely to stop this thing. But Obama has pretty much road in the back seat as BP has unilaterally done what they want. It is quite possible that the reason this looks like "no one has a fucking clue" is that BP is still in charge and they either: 1) have no fucking clue but that doesn't mean no one does, or 2) they haven't put there best effort for other considerations. But we all know that if this was Bush and the company was Exxon you and Rads would be screaming, "BUSH HAS BEEN BOUGHT BY HIS EVIL FRIENDS IN THE OIL INDUSTRY!!!" But no one is really looking into how much money BP donated to the Barry campaign.

Also, the national media has covered this like the local media has. Just wait when the full story comes out with what BP has been getting away with. The clean up has been a complete farce regardless of stopping the leak. Not sure why Barry is inescapable from blame on the terrible clean up effort even if you don't agree with the ability to stop the leak.

Maybe if we throw a bunch of money and entitlement programs at the oil spill, it will want to stop leaking oil.

No one anywhere is saying the current administration is blameless. This is an OIL COMPANY we're dealing with. They've been given carte blanche for a century to do whatever the fuck they want, so the government is entirely culpable. But you seem to think it's a liberal vs. repug situation, which is utterly wrong.

When did you become a stereotypical right wing dumbass, or is this just a function of living/dying in the South?

Ha ha. No, I don't. You guys are the ones leaping to defend Barry at all costs. All I said was he has some responsibility for the clean-up/continued leak handling. The only reason I could see doing that is because your defensive about your guy.

I know Bush's republican administration is to blame for the deregulation that has lead to a lot of this. But I'm not going to spend the next 8 years blaming every bad thing on the prior admin. At some point, we all know were the buck stops.

I need to remind myself to use the lame winky thing. It was just a joke.

After living through the helplessness of the worst natural disaster in North America only to fall victim to the worst man-made diaster, I've become bitter towards all government and all politics. I just want anything that works. Honestly, right now I'm open to Taliban rule.

It's really hard to see all the places I grew up loving like Grand Isle being destroyed and being used as images for the rest of the nation's political game.

i separate the actual leak and stopping it from the clean up. i think obama deserves little blame for the leak or stopping it, but the clean up does seem pretty poorly organized, but its still early. we'll see how it goes in the long run.

Finally, something we can agree on.

I dunno man, when the Ex-CEO of Shell is basically standing on the top of a desk on TV shows with a megaphone saying "I KNOW HOW TO STOP THIS AND HOW TO CLEAN IT UP" and no one bothers to bring him in, I think BP and Barry need to both go fuck themselves.

Name John Hofmeister the Oil Spill Clean Up Czar, and get moving. Again - it's lack of action that is killing public opinion. Just wait until the Porpoise carcasses show up on The Today Show - Obama's career dissipation light is going to go into high gear.

agreed. Hofmeister's "suck and salvage" plan sounds like it could work.

Dalen, this is not porn -- this is petroleum.

Uh, what? There're plenty of sites out there with this info.

Obama biggest recipient of BP cash for just one.

P&J oysters, opened since 1876, closes their doors after today in NOLA. Thanks BP.

Also cleanup workers are claiming BP haven't paid them. And BP is lying and saying tha they never told clean up workers that they couldn't talk to the media.

LOLOL. Rads, your reaction is just as stereotypical as Tanner's. And dumbass. Don't know what your deal with the south is and don't really care, but come deal with what we in Louisiana have dealt with in the last five years.

Yikes. I'm a huge Obama supporter but this statement is out there.

Can we all agree that someone needs to fuck the London mayor in the ear?