Outside the Beltway

Outside the Beltway

It’s Almost As If There’s A Coordinated Message…

Dodd Harris
10

The administration kicked it off, insinuating that the problem with the oil spill was the system they inherited. Joy Behar dutifully connected the dots for them, explicitly saying “the Bush/Cheney administration started it and now this poor guy has to mop it up.”

In shocking news, Nancy Pelosi picked up the thread, blaming the Bush administration. And then, as if on cue, Joe Klein follows up by trying to undo the “Obama’s Katrina” meme by recasting the oil spill as ‘Bush’s Second Katrina’.

The fiercely independent Frank Rich won’t just carry Pelosi’s water, though. Rather than just blame Bush/Cheney, he also blames Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and Rand Paul. So there!

Cartoon by William Warren

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10 responses to “It’s Almost As If There’s A Coordinated Message…”

  1. Zelsdorf Ragshaft III Avatar
    Zelsdorf Ragshaft III

    It is my understanding the drilling of that particular well was approved during the Obama administration and that certain normal precautions were bypassed. I guess this was the return of the favor. That favor being BPs donation to the Obama candidacy. I know the come back is big oil donated more to McCain than Obama, however I was specific in naming BP not big oil. As long as the lamestream media gives Obama a pass on everything, he will never be held to account for his failure to act.

  2. Brunhilda Avatar
    Brunhilda

    I wish with all my heart that Bush was still in office instead of ths incompetent neophyte and his delusions.

  3. Juneau: Avatar
    Juneau:

    Obama: “ I take full responsibility… starting tomorrow – wait – no, the day after tomorrow… ok, now it’s my responsibility – no, wait… is it working yet? OK, now I take responsibility”

  4. anjin-san Avatar
    anjin-san

    What should Obama have done about the oil spill that he has failed to do? A few specifics please.

    Buller? Buller…

  5. Juneau: Avatar
    Juneau:

    What should Obama have done about the oil spill that he has failed to do? A few specifics please.

    For starters, the obvious. How about cutting through the red tape with the Army Corp of Engineer’s approval for Louisiana to build sand berms to keep the oil from getting into the inland waterways? Jindal finally had to say “We’re not waiting any longer – we’re doing it.”

    The government wheels moved too slowly to go through the normal processes in this emergency situation, and Obama didn’t act to help. Hmmm. Federal Government response not geared to react quickly enough for a natural disaster. Wonder where we’ve seen that scenario before…

  6. Wayne Avatar
    Wayne

    Anjin

    How about not giving a 5000 feet drilling platform so many safety wavers beforehand?

    How about getting the booms, ships, containments and cleanup crews there a good deal faster?

    BP might be doing all that can be done but why not make sure? Bring in experts from other companies and countries to get other opinions and maybe other ideas.

    How about Obama cutting through the red tape and giving the waivers that people like Jindal need?

    How about returning calls to Governors and local politicians?

    How about keeping the people inform? If they have plans and are doing more than just having briefing, please inform the public. Basically what I get from his press releases is Obama was on top of it since day one. When ask how, Obama said he was brief. It appears Obama and many of his administration is going about business as usual. Golf, Opera, vacations, etc. They need to have multiple daily contacts and some face to face with those involved. Find out what they need and get it to them.

  7. just me Avatar
    just me

    Anjiin I fail to see how Bush is the blame for BP being given a waiver on inspections. Obama personally isn’t to blame either I am sure, but Bush has been out of office for almost 2 years now. Perhaps it is time for Obama to step up and actually start accepting responsibility where it is due for things that happen under his watch.

    In this case it appears BP was given a lot of passes for shoddy safety practices. The government failed to hold them accountable, and finally the bad one happened.

  8. anjin-san Avatar
    anjin-san

    How about not giving a 5000 feet drilling platform so many safety wavers beforehand?

    Can you detail Obama’s involvement in this decision? Or even his awareness of it?

    Anjiin I fail to see how Bush is the blame for BP being given a waiver on inspections.

    And I fail to see where I said he was, although now that you bring it up it is worth noting that the function of regulators during the Bush era was pretty much take gifts from the people you are supposed to regulate, watch a lot of porn on government computers & smoke (meth) if you’ve got it.

    The Bush crew spent almost a decade dismantling government’s regulatory functions. Repairing it will take a while.

    How about not giving a 5000 feet drilling platform so many safety wavers beforehand?

    Wayne! I did not know you were in favor of nanny-state socialistic control of business by government. You learn something new every day. The sudden grasp of the need for government oversight of business is remarkable. Are you guys admitting your original position was wrong, or are you just using any available excuse to take a poke at Obama?

  9. Juneau: Avatar
    Juneau:

    The Bush crew spent almost a decade dismantling government’s regulatory functions. Repairing it will take a while.

    There are some types of people who would say emphatically that purple elephants can be seen rampaging daily in the streets of Manhattan – as long as they are elephants and not donkeys (if witnesses said they were donkeys then – suddenly – by gosh, there must be something inherently wonderful about rampaging purple donkeys. I mean after all, they are donkeys.)

  10. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    Yeah, I can see how an oil leak at off shore drilling platform (something Democrats LOVE) would definitely be Obama’s fault. It’s not like he is opposed to that sort of drilling or for regulating the industry.

    No what would be the Republicans who have always stood for safety in the environment first.

    Maybe blame Bush isn’t quite right, but to blame Obama for problems that happen due to policy decisions that he and his party oppose and only include under the guise of bipartisanship is flawed. You can look to the fact that Democrats even tried to “fix” this for the future by increasing the liability cap for oil companies so that it might seem “cost effective” to install safety devices and do real checks. The free market right? Well, that was opposed by Republicans too. Besides “he was sitting in the chair when this happened” there is no coherent argument as to why this is his fault.

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