White House Focused on Managing Politics of Gulf Oil Spill
Repeat After Me: Bush Responsible for BP Oil Spill
It's kind of like that old table-pounding theory. When you're a defense lawyer (and the current administration is full of lawyers, from the Lawyer-in-Chief on down) and all the evidence is against you, from eyewitnesses to DNA, you can only pound the table to make your case.
The evidence in this case is an absence of leadership. Down in D.C., they're making it up as it goes along, according to the polls and the press clippings. If the media, Gulf politicians, and even the members of your own party complain that the President has appeared to take refuge in the Ivory Tower, then you arrange scripted public appearances where, at the advice of people like Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod, you make what policy wonks think are salty references. So the President says he's been "finding out whose *ss to kick."
The trouble with that strategy is that the President seems to have left out a qualifier. The President should have said he was "finding out whose *ss NOT to kick," because as things go, there's not an American butt anywhere which hasn't already been kicked by this administration. And that includes the crayfish, the shrimp, and the water ducks who struggle in the muck. It's more than painful to watch, and just as painful to watch the confusion and the mix of messages from the White House.
Or maybe the problem is entirely with the White House grammar. After all, the words "Gulf" and "golf" do bear a resemblance. Imagine how it would play in the media if President Bush, the man responsible for the BP Oil Spill, would take the afternoon off to play "Gulf."
Published by Anthony Ventre
I have a background in traditional print media and radio news. The proliferation of online writing opportunities has changed things for me, largely for the better. News moves quickly in the information a... View profile
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13 Comments
Post a CommentJ.C-- Yeah, I don't get that at all. There were these giant Dutch skimmer ships and other flag vessels nearby and offering help almost right away. Apparently, the WH refused their help in a written response--according to tV anyway.
If only they'd waive the Jones Act and actually do something meaningful.
I wanted to mention, too, about George Bush, a man with many flaws (especially in the realm of oratory), but what you saw was what you got,and he wasn't worried about celebrity. His gut instincts were the same ones most Americans had when he stood on the rocks and rubble of lower Manhattan. (Except for those who cheered and threw candy along with their friends in Gaza).
If I were Obama, I"d say less and make it mean more. I think Obama is making a mistake by trying to feed the media, as celebrities do. As President, you're going to get blowback, no matter what. Therefore, you can only do what your gut tells you to do, and then tell the truth about it. Think of Churchill when all was lost. He told the truth: "I've got nothing to offer you, but blood, sweat, toil and tears..." Washington, Lincoln, same thing. They weren't exactly loved right out of the box...
I seem to have contrary views to the other readers. I believe that Obama is trying to show that he is a man for the people, not someone trying to stand aloof like Bush. I can imagine how Bush would have dealt with this... He would be crying for the loss of all that oil, spending billions to try and scoop it all up, and no matter for the suffering of poeple or wildlife around the Gulf, and then it would be the taxpayer who had to foot the bill, not the oil companies. Don't you think the Washington approach of "YOU took the shortcuts, YOU put lives at risk, therefore YOU BP should foot the bill".
I love this. Humor goes a long way. It's so bad, let's make it humorous. Great job, Anthony.
We're living in dangerous times. Obama's ideological abstractions and right-sounding wrong ideas add to the dangers. He's disconnected, and it's for reasons of ideology and very narrow experience, not of race, as some would say. Besides, it seems to me just another form of racism to vote for a person JUST BECAUSE he is a Harvard educated well-spoken man who fits the description of what liberal white elitists think a man of African extraction should be like.
My thoughts on it are we have a very poor president. He is not evil he just does not know what he is doing.
Excellent article. I wish the prez would actually DO something. Or even SAY something, preferably an original thought. Geez.
Well written OpEd, sir. You score.