I think Obama (and the government) were initially really slow on the uptake. I just wish he had been responsive immediately after the disaster, I mean, like immediately. He did not make a statement, visit the Gulf, or even weigh in for far too long. He should have issued an immediate statement, and been fully engaged from Day One.Did he learn nothing from Bush's PR catastrophe that was Hurricane Katrina? I don't understand his reticence to get involved. Plus he gave the righties ammunition by doing a whole bunch of things that weren't related to the Gulf disaster, or foreign policy, and could easily be painted as partisan or selfish acts. I'm often surprised at how much more clever the blogosphere is than Obama's advisors, who seem to get things so far wrong, so very often.
I saw a commentator the other day saying that in Australia, when they had a similar disaster, they had back up people there within minutes, 100s of helicopters, boats on the surface, workers, everything needed to deal with it immediately...
Our country's response was a disgrace. I was disgusted to learn that BP shipped 300 workers in, for a single day, to the beach where President Obama was going to visit, so that it would appear that BP had it together, and were involved with a sincere and serious clean-up effort. In fact, the workers did not even put in a full day…they left shortly after Obama did.
What is really disturbing about that fact is that BP KNOWS what responsibility looks like. They KNOW what they SHOULD be doing, and they choose not to. This is maddening to me. Why is it acceptable behavior for corporate executives to be heartless, environmentally irresponsible, and only looking out for their company's bottom line? In the corporate world, greed and deviousness are accepted, in fact, revered behaviors. Don't these people have a little Jiminy Crickett inside their heads, too? How can they allow themselves to behave so heedlessly, selfishly, badly??
BP may be the only one that can stop the leak, but the government should have had people there, on the spot, immediately, whether BP liked it or not. This blaming BP for nobody else being able to get close to it, has been way too convenient, and makes me question why the govt would want to do that, instead of just getting in there and dealing with all the many facets of it, as quickly as possible…
Anyone who wanted to should have been able to help, in some capacity, from the very beginning. People have good ideas, want to volunteer, have boats they could volunteer, but are having difficulty getting anything implemented, or even being able to reach anyone with any kind of ability to pass their ideas on to the decision-makers.
Willing volunteers & scientists have been rebuffed, even though they got phone numbers to call, as when they called them they could not get through to a human, and just got an answering machine, requesting a call-back number, but then nobody ever called them back…
That's B.S. Why would they want to do that?
I hear that the people that make the oil dispersant are making a killing, though…and their stock rose 18% when it was announced that BP had chosen this highly toxic chemical, produced by Nalco, that is banned in Europe, and was one of the most toxic choices, and not recommended by the EPA. In fact, when the government ORDERED BP to stop using Nalco's product, and to choose a more environmentally-friendly dispersant, BP flat out refused…and there was nothing (allegedly) our government could (or would) do about it.
If you dig a little deeper you will find that NALCO is associated with Warren Buffett, Maurice Strong, Al Gore, Soros, Apollo, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Hathaway Berkshire. These facts (with footnotes, source materials and extensive documentation) were brought to light in the recently published post by Joann Mor, "Bombshell Exposé: The real reason the oil still flows into the Gulf of Mexico", a most disturbing read.
And why wasn't a commission set up right there, right away, immediately, with phone numbers to call, places to make donations (why is there no public effort, either in our country or around the world, to help out the people in the Gulf)?
BP has not been forthcoming, or generous, I'm sure those folks could stand some extra help…money might be hard to dole out, but how about foodstuffs…everyone has to eat…and some basic household items that everyone always keeps in stock, and periodically needs to restock, like sponges, paper towels, toilet paper, Band-Aids, various over-the-counter pharmaceuticals like sunscreen, aspirin, you know, those kinds of things. I'm sure supplying those items would help… any little expense, that they don't have to make themselves, would have to lessen their strain.
The Govt could organize a movement to get the big corporations that make that sort of stuff, to donate their goods to help out the people in the Gulf who are not getting all their needs met by BP. There's been no public constant broadcasting of numbers to call, or ways to help out until recently, and I don't see the government (i.e. Obama) doing all that it can to get help to those that need it.
Also, those big corporations could be making a good name for themselves by donating things that are needed for the clean-up efforts - Dawn detergent for the birds, gloves, boots, slickers, masks, those kinds of items. If we keep waiting around for BP to do something, the situation will only worsen. The sooner we can nip this, the better.
However, not only can volunteers not find out where they can go to clean up the beaches, Public Beaches are actually being patrolled by private cops, hired by BP, chasing the public OFF their beaches, so there will be no evidence of the havoc this is causing. That is ridiculous.
Also, there could have been a massive effort on the part of the govt to get burms built everywhere, so that no oil EVER washed up on any state's beaches. If the Govt could spend (ie borrow from China) vast quantities of money that we don't actually have, to bail out big banks, we should also be able to borrow money to keep the oil off our coasts.
There are also people with machines already built that skim the ocean, and separate the oil from the water, and others with machines that are like curtains, and way taller than the barriers that BP has intermittently provided, that are already built, and "waiting for approval" from the govt - which could take 6 months, because first the Govt will have to do a study, and a cost analysis...I mean, it could take a month just to assign a project manager!
I think Obama could have been way more engaged when it comes to the top side of the ocean...he couldn't do much about the underwater situation (even a superman like him can't get down to 5000 ft below!!)...but he could have help speed up permitting processes, created a bureau to handle volunteers & scientific submission ideas and machinery suggestions, and assigned many, many more people to work on the beaches, and with the Coast Guard...I mean, there are fishermen out there with boats who need work, but they have been unable to connect with whomever is coordinating the hiring for this mess.
Who decides how many workers and what equipment gets dispatched, and to where? That person should lose their job. It's a disheveled mess, in my opinion, and it's all due to faulty management, on the parts of many people, both in the Govt and the private sector.
There are many ready & willing people whose talents and strengths are not being utilized for this effort. This should be treated like what it is, a National Emergency, and we need to implement an "All Hands on Deck" response as soon as possible, and demand that BP just not be allowed to continue in the same vein, and NO, we will not accept this polluting dispersant, goddammit, you spend the money & buy the RIGHT dispersant…and NO, we're not gonna sit by and watch as BP does a lame, half-hearted attempt at keeping the oil off the beaches, and an even lamer clean-up attempt, where it has already reached the beaches.
BP is good at a few things: Spending useless money on ads to build up their public image, hiring endless lobbyists to buy off Congress members, lying to the public about the extent of the damage and velocity of the leak, dodging paying the meager $69 million bill the Govt assessed them (while spending $50 mill in advertising, and billions in dividends checks to its stockholders), refusing to go on any News Talks Shows and answering any questions, hiring private agents with uniformed security guards to act as pretend cops and scare the Public off Public beaches, so no photos of the damage will surface.
Don't get me started on listing what BP is bad at...
Looking back over the past few years, I have to say that IMO Obama got just what he wanted (or what his overlords wanted) in both the do-nothing health care bill (which doesn't even kick in until 2014, and ended up just forcing people who can't afford health care to have to buy it), and the financial non-reform bill. Both of these bills were skillfully crafted by career politicians who make the bulk of their salaries from the Lobbyists, not the American people. They are bought by the lobbyists and corporations…so they have to make it look like the "fought really hard" for stuff, but there was always another senator that would vote down any good suggestion…they count on each other to vote the good stuff out of every bill…because that's what they've been ordered to do.
When Obama was running against Clinton & Edwards, way back in the beginning of the campaign, I happened to be watching Morning Joe (this was before I stopped watching him a few months later), and I must admit, that on that day, Joe did actually enlighten me, when he said that the media would choose Obama, because they liked his "story" best, and they wanted to cover it more than either the Clintons or Edwards (this was when everyone inside the beltway knew about the Edwards affair, but nobody was mentioning it)…Joe also said that Washington, and the "powers-that-be" would be "just fine" with Obama…he did not threaten the modus operandi at all…and that he was a clever man, good at misleading the public into thinking he was not part of the Washington machine, but in actuality, all the big corporations would not suffer at all if Obama was elected, and they'd be thrilled if he were elected.
In hindsight, they have gotten a better deal from him, than the lefties have received. I do not like most of Obama's appointees, or Supreme Court choices. I do not like that he kept ANY of Bush's people in power. I do not like that the administration has no intention of going after the Bush/Cheney regime for any of their massive list of crimes. I do not like how long it is taking to get out of Iraq. I do not like his escalating the pointless war in Afghanistan. I do not like the secret drone war in Pakistan. I do not like his stance on DADT, or DOMA, and I think he is playing everyone, trying not to offend anyone, in hopes of getting reelected, and he has lost touch with the ideals that are natural for any leftie to embrace. He has been a disappointment on many levels.
I campaigned tirelessly for Obama. I donated 100s of buttons, to various groups who had fund-raising events for him. I went to many calling parties. I called voters from my home. I sent tons of emails…I was REALLY into wanting to believe that things would be different if he was elected. I felt a level of elation on Election Night that I can only compare to being at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, or at the anti-war rallies in 2003. I hadn't felt "HOPE" like that in close to 40 years…so it pains me greatly to say this.
I am tired of pretending that President Obama is the same man as Candidate Obama. He ain't. I'm fed up. Is it time to march?
(This was originally a post about Obama, and BP, and whether they have really been "doing all they could" in the Gulf disaster. After examining all the facts, I would have to conclude, "NO", they haven't. It's time to step up. Let's see a bit more Candidate Obama, and a lot less Corporate Obama, thanks.)
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