Is the President Stuck on Stupid?

As I have written in previous articles it is obvious that leadership is missing in the BP oil spill response. Governor Jindal's state response clearly shows the governor is well prepared should the feds and BP cede control of the situation. There needs to at least be a hope that the cavalry is coming.

The last time the cavalry came to Louisiana it was when General Russel Honore stomped into New Orleans and took the bull by the horns. Honore was the turning point in the Katrina response and seeing him come back would be a sign of hope. It is hard to figure out if Admiral Allen, Secretary Salazar, Secretary Napolitano or BP CEO Tony Hayward is running the response.

When General Honore came to town after Katrina it was very clear who was in charge. It is time the retired general be appointed to a special position in charge of the federal response. Since retiring from the U.S. Army Honore has dedicated himself to building a culture of preparedness in the United States. The general has already fought battles here and knows how to attack and win them.

Plenty of environmentalists, lawyers, biologists, scientists and engineers are here. There is also a huge amount of labor, both paid and volunteer waiting for the word to go. It is time for decisions to be made before all is lost. Time has been wasted for the past month trying not to make a misstep and the mistake has been not doing anything. Great amounts of marsh could have been saved had the permits for barrier islands and dredging for that material started. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who I believe in, has been reviewing the barrier islands plan for quite a while. Studying the long term effects is not relevant when long term effects are happening during the study.

This oil spill is a war and it should be treated as such. With that when operations in a war commence there are mistakes and things that in hindsight could have been done different. If we would have waited to hit the beaches at Normandy until there would be a perfect scenario Europe would still be under Nazi rule. Crude oil is now invading our country and we have to have someone take charge of repeling the invasion. General Honore has advocated fining BP daily, and in my experience in business that can be very effective in motivating companies.

When President Bush looked ineffective during the Hurricane Katrina response he delegated authority to General Honore. As the BP oil spill has often been characterized as Obama's Katrina it would be logical for him to take lessons from the previous disaster. One of the best lessons was to send a leader to take charge. We are in a national emergency, it is time to break the glass and deploy General Russel Honore. Over?