Not to worry. SOMEONE will inevitably blame Bush, and the left's world will right itself.

Just watch.

I'm pretty sure Obama was referring to the hole under a reporter's nose after they shouted an unflattering question...

We think Obama is just trying to illustrate the impotence of America. Nothing else makes sense.

I wonder if Obama is capable of feeling shame.

Hey it was a great photo op! Ship in the background, arms folded across chest, chin up, nose in the air. Regal even. Too bad they didn't show the puddle of oil he was probably standing in.

I am pretty sure Obama hates fisherman, and those who work for a living on the water......why else would he let this happen?

I forgot to mention, Obama must hate all sea creatures too!

"He also does not want to draw attention to the 800 pound gorilla in the room: That it was his administration which granted a "categorical exclusion" from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), approving the Deepwater Horizon exploration project on April 6, 2009.

Yes. That's right. April 6, 2009. That's during his tenure.

His administration let BP skirt the rules, allowing them to drill this well without the proper responsible governmental oversight.

The massive media cover-up of this fact just further proves that they are in bed with Obama, and will not hold him accountable for things that might damage his reputation."
-

That is a real problem; one that is going to haunt this admin.

I don't expect this (or any) admin on being able to fix cutting edge technology problems a mile underwater. That is best handled by the oil/drilling/deep sea experts.
But I absolutely expect the Feds to be held responsible for handling spills/cleanups that affect the entire coast of this nation.

They had a cleanup/skimming/burnoff plan that was (supposedly) all thought out beforehand, but when the shit hit the fan, they dithered.

Also, when they granted this 'categorical exclusion', then they accepted at least some of the responsibility. Deal with it.

"They had a cleanup/skimming/burnoff plan that was (supposedly) all thought out beforehand, but when the shit hit the fan, they dithered."

Was that 'plan' anything like the 'high value target interrogation team' that was cocked/locked and ready to go at a moments notice? Oh, wait, it wasn't. Literally.

You have to realize that for obama the priority is not to resolve the crisis, but rather to get the most advantage out of the crisis politically.

If it seems like there is no sense of urgency within the administration, it's because there isn't. There is no drive to fix the problem. The focus is how can they get something out of it politically. Can they pass cap and trade? Can they jack up the gas tax?

There is no consideration for actually doing the right thing or helping people. The primary concern is the political calculation.

As I have posted in two earlier threads, one can compare the MSM blathering and the Administration's rhetoric with what EPA actually says they are doing, and it is not much:

http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/epa.html

Note what is NOT there:

- Nothing about expedited permits for berms or such.
- Nothing about clean-up resources being dispatched.
- Nothing about contracts being let for mitigation teams.
- Nothing about heavy equipment being staged in.
- Nothing about contracts or other resource expenditures to aid in wildlife saving.
- Nothing about aid offerings to States or other groups to enhance local efforts.

So, what is the "P" in EPA again?

Hey, I despise the walking colostomy bag that is our prez and his gubmint at least as much as all of you, but ...

You obviously don't know squat about NEPA or Categorical Exclusions (known by many in the trade as either a CE or a CatEx). Please don't be so driven politically that you destroy something you don't understand. Every single day, CE's help reasonable people get things done in the face of an enormous pile of federal bullshit. This matters to you -- you probably couldn't drive anywhere if we always had to complete EA's and EIS' instead of CE's.

There is plenty of justification to go after Odumbshit. You don't need to ruin the CE system - it is not just about drilling, CE's cover all kinds of programs from highways, transit, railroads, airports, etc, etc. Be careful what you ask for -- in this case, you really don't want it.

Odumbshit probably did not know shit about this subject, and probably still doesn't. He is to blame for sitting on his ass doing nothing once a problem starts, but he is simply too fucking dumb to be blamed for causing this problem.

We can always revert to the method the Soviets used back in the day. They had a leak and used a small NUKE to plug the hole.
Of course it would make Salazars head explode doing that but its a small price to pay I think.

"You have to realize that for obama the priority is not to resolve the crisis, but rather to get the most advantage out of the crisis politically." jim m

That was probably true initially, perhaps for the fist 2-3 weeks but it is well past the point where it is now counter-productive for Obama to do little to nothing.

That was real frustration on Obama's part when he reportedly yelled in a cabinet meeting, "Plug the damn hole!"

Many of us initially thought that perhaps Obama was using the spill to prepare the country for the banning of off-shore drilling. But for that to happen, it would be necessary for the administration to convince the public that they had done all they could, that they had made herculean efforts and despite all that the government could do, the disaster could not be significantly lessened, much less stopped.

But that is not the case, no one believes that, not even the left. The administration is widely perceived by increasing numbers to have bungled it, such that with every passing day it is BP to whom less and less responsibility and blame attach. At virtually every level of the administration, competence is entirely lacking in this environmental disaster.

If, as many scientists predict to be a possibility, the oil moves around the coast and starts fouling Florida's beaches and even the Eastern Seaboard, Obama will never recover from the public's judgment of utter incompetence.

Carol Browner of all people put it in perspective, it's BP's responsibility to end the leak and to pay for the clean-up and any damages. BUT the Administration, from day one, has been in charge and revealed a level of incompetence that would get any employee in the private sector fired.

We gave the hens some fertilized berries.

Typical-LEE stupid.

Fine, let's sue BP into nonexistence. Let's seize their every single asset, toss their top people in jail, and ban anyone from ever even using the letters "B" and "P" ever again.

Precisely how will that stop the leak?

Does anyone think that BP is NOT doing whatever it can to plug that leak? What sort of rationale would justify stalling and procrastinating and not doing anything to mitigate this ongoing disaster?

This is precisely what Lee did NOT want to discuss in my "crisis" piece. The Obama regime either does not think that this is a real crisis, does not think it's developed enough to merit the "crisis" treatment, or -- my personal theory -- has no fucking clue on how to deal with something like this.

But they do know how to turn crises into campaign opportunities. So instead of trying to fix the problem, they're working on fixing the blame. They can't stop the leak, but they can beat down on BP. They can't save the shores, but they can work like hell on finding political benefit out of it.

"Come on, BP! I know you can work harder! And I'm going to keep my boot on your throat until you do!"

They can't do anything substantive, so they do what they can. Sadly for all concerned, that "all they can" constitutes nothing productive -- and, in many ways, counterproductive.

And Lee, who fits in to that "always campaigning, no fucking clue on how to govern" mold so well that I suspect he's also a tax cheat, is right there with them.

J.

Obama COULD have acted immediately with effect and mobilized a containment effort. Instead, he dithered.

The emergency effort Les Nessman describes @ #8 above was put in place in the Clinton Administration, but the equipment was never bought and put near the Gulf - still, had Obama made the decision promptly, the proper equipment could have been there within a few days - in time to work to contain and burn off.

He cannot be decisive because he has never had to make important decisions before. Just like his dithering on Afghanistan, and nearly everything else except for pushing his socialist agenda.

This is not a smart man OR any sort of leader. He's a street hustler who made it big with the help of idiots like Lee. Obama's the sort we saw a lot of in the early '70s, like Calypso Louie. They loved to see the white hippies coming - those dumbasses would fall for anything to be seen "rapping with a brother" and the con men knew it.

"It'll make some conservatives cry to see BP fined so heavily..."

That's where you and whoever said that are wrong. (You never provide links. You just like to take quotes out of context. Oh wait, that's what you're constantly accusing Jay and everyone else of doing.) BP should be fined, but what you neglect to point out in every one of your little tirades is that they didn't skirt laws and regulations alone. NONE of these companies are alone in their behavior. They do it in conjunction with government officials and legislators who LET them get away with it in return for filling up campaign coffers.

Lee, you're an obfuscator in every essence of the word. Or just an idiot.

including many of the brightest scientific minds from both the public and private sector, working around the clock to mitigate the oil's impact," the White House said.

Well...the brightest politically correct scientific minds, anyway...

Wizbang, all the years that I have known it, has always praised, or at least never criticized the previous administration's Ferdinand Marcos type crony civil service appointements that characterized it, while wizbang extolled , the "drill baby drill and now" chants at the RNC, Sarah Palin, the virtues of big oil and limited government, less regulation or self-regulation, and at the same time unceasingly showed contempt for alternative fuels, environmental concerns, 'tree huggers', fragile eco-systems (has there ever been a + positive post on the evironment here or imposing stiffer evironmental regulations on multi-nationals?). On the contrary.

Wizbang, the opportunists they are, now have suddenly made an abrupt U turn, and become "why can't the feds take control and stop the rapacious big oil capitalists from recklessly expoliting our public waters?"

Why do you think Bush and Cheney and their like that you have been so unctous in your support for so long, are so quiet now? This is where the incoherence of Wizbang is so breathtaking. Next, it will be why isn't Obama a socialist and imposing nanny type state regulations on big oil? I see it is already happening by this post and these comments.

I will carry a mule deer to your house for $3.49.

Persona non grata.

Steve,

How predictable that you would inject Sarah Palin into a situation that she has nothing at all with which to do.

This is not about Bush and Cheney.

It is about the fact that Obama wants to distance himself as far away as possible from this disaster, so as to shield himself and his administration from any blame for their lack of action.

He does not want to let it be known it was his lackeys at the MMS that paved the way for BP to bypass governmental regulations which led to this mess.

Your "Blame Bush, Cheney, and Palin" shtick doesn't apply to this.

Obama screwed up royally with his lack of a firm response.

Man up and take the skirt off.

Shawn, learn how to read.

Lee Ward:

"He can sure put a high sheen on a fecal dollop!"

"We can always revert to the method the Soviets used back in the day. They had a leak and used a small NUKE to plug the hole."

The Soviets have done this 5 or 6 times, always in deep water, so it's virtually guaranteed to work. BP has drilled a hole into a 28 million barrel oil deposit that's at 12,000 psi pressure. All of it will come out unless something drastic is done now. Too bad Obummer has banned the use of nukes.

"...virtually guaranteed to work."

That's the part that scares the shit out of me.
You did see how that "virtual" border fence thing worked out?

Shawn, if this isn´t about the infantile "baby, baby drill and now," moving of the political spectrum what is is about? This was the G0P signature issue during the last election campaign.

Yes, Obama can be blamed, for trying to coopt this lot with his lifting on some offshore drilling bans in April. You recall Palin's response in April, in New Orleans before the spill, "stall, baby stall," please no further studies in the Gulf.

Obama should defintely have fought harder against his political opponents, the GOP, as they kept trying to push the envelope and were successful, unfortunately because of the oil lobby's enormous clout which extended into the previous White House and MMS.

As if catching MMS employees literally in bed with industry officials wasn't enough, MMS safety inspectors were flying high in private jets taking bribes while allowing oil and gas companies to fill out their own safety inspection forms," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.). "It's past time for MMS to stop acting as a farm team for the industry -- the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion is proof that this isn't just a game."

Now that the inevitable has happened there is not a whole lot anyone can do, other than break up the agency and try to surround the oil as much as possible.

Hey Lee, you know oil is black right, soooooo aren't we all racist or something? After all you are a 1 trick pony.

I see Lee Ward is finally making some sense. :-)

I strongly suspect someone is editing his posts.
For that, I thank you.

For the record, I did NOT edit any of Lee's comments in this thread.

But if he next offers to paint any car for $19.99, I just might take him up on it...

J.

You can't say he's done nothing! He's thrown two parties since the disaster, thrown American Federal migration policy under the bus, appeased one Socialist dictator, went on vacation and is going again THIS very weekend! So there! (sticks out tongue)

Can we impeach him NOW?

"...the oil lobby's enormous clout...."

But...but....but....Stevie, Candidate and later, President Obama SAID he was throwing ALL the LOBBYISTS out of Washington.
He's been there, what, 14-16 months? How damned BIG is Washington? HINT: I think the lobbyists all have offices on "K" Street. Is Barry going to say "We can't FIND THEM!" - you know, like the ILLEGAL aliens?

I deleted Lee Ward's tripe.

Lee Ward is not welcome to comment in my articles.

It is my policy, and I am within my rights.

He spreads nothing but vitriol. He is a weed.

I won't allow it.

-Shawn

crickmore - "Shawn, if this isn´t about the infantile "baby, baby drill and now," moving of the political spectrum what is is about? This was the G0P signature issue during the last election campaign."

And that should still be the byword... why?

It's our damn oil for one thing but more importantly there have been 650 deep water holes drilled in the gulf in the last five years and this incident is the only problem that has occurred.

And based on what a couple congress-critters have said BP ignored signs of a problem that led to the blowout.

THAT requires adherence to current regs and more stringent inspections not stopping all drilling.

Just today I overheard a liberal talking in the office and he said mentioned I bet Palin is regretting saying "Drill Baby Drill"
Seriously is that what people are thinking about
blaming people not even elected. God Bless those 11 people and their familys first and foremost.
-------------------
There will be an investigation and there will be improvements. I wouldnt be surprised if there will be discussions about the work load, management, pressure to meet deadlines, not following the emergency shutdown process (like they have in refineries) for when the automatic systems fail, determining why the automatic systems failed ...

Actually if this "top kill" thing works, Obama's going to look real good to his fans.

After all, didn't Barry say "Plug the damn hole!"