re: #299 SixDegrees

Perhaps. But squabbling over who’s fault it is and who’s responsible has effectively kept anyone from actually doing much to ameliorate the effect of the spill.

I don’t believe this is true. There are problems, difficulties, false starts, etc. But from what I’ve seen, people are trying their very best to get this thing handled.

It struck me this morning that a solid month elapsed between the initial explosion and the appearance of oil on neighboring beaches. The President has broad emergency powers, whose limits are admittedly unknown in a case like this, but which might well be tested. For example, during wartime the President (and/or Congress?) can effectively take control of the nation’s manufacturing capacity and direct it to military production; granted, the Navy probably doesn’t have the capacity or equipment to help with containment and recovery efforts (booms and skimmers) but all the other oil companies working in the Gulf and elsewhere offshore certainly do, and an Executive order directing the deployment of those resources - in place of or as an adjunct to the attempted production moratorium - likely would have made a significant difference. Streamlining procedures for deploying Coast Guard equipment up front, instead of a week after hearing their were regulatory problems in the way, is another example. Deploying the Army Corps of Engineers to assist in rapid construction of barrier berms off the Louisiana cost, another project debated, delayed and still not undertaken, is yet another.

Those berms are being built. The problem was the permits for the berms. In addition, the CG did indeed keep “getting in the way” of certain boats sucking up the oil with vacuum hoses, and Obama stepped in and basically told the CG to get out of the way.

And I believe the other oil companies are helping with this. Very quietly though, this is BP’s problem and they don’t want ANY PART OF IT to stick to them.

Instead, the Administration has turned this into a political exercise, engaged in partisan finger-pointing and divisive threats instead of simply attempting to engage the problems at hand: shutting down the wellhead, containing as much oil as possible before it reaches sensitive shallow water areas, and cleaning up shorelines that have been directly affected.

No one can shut down that wellhead! If BP could have done it, it would have been done! The rest of it is BEING DONE.

We can - and certainly will - argue ‘til the cows come home over who is ultimately responsible. But waiting until BP’s responsibilities are established through the courts - or even through political fiat - is a process that will take months, possibly years. Everyone, from government to industry, needs to shut the fuck up … .

And here you have it. Obama stays out of the way, there is a huge hue and cry about how he isn’t paying attention to the problem. When he speaks, there is a huge hue and cry about partisan finger-pointing. Like every other presidential administration in my memory, he’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.

There are plenty of real criticisms to be dealt with. Expecting Obama to deal with the crisis on the one hand, and “shut the fuck up” on the other hand, is just not realistic.