Barack Hussein! Why hasn't you stuck your finger in the hole yet?

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

Nearly two weeks after the oil rig exploded, Obama appears at the site of a disaster not yet under control. Heckuva job, Mr. President.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=532122

Rush Limbaugh, conservative pundits call Gulf Coast oil spill, 'Obama's Katrina'
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/05/03/2010-05-03_rush_limbaugh_conservative_pundits_call_gulf_oil_spill_obamas_katrina.html

Is Oil Spill President Obama's Katrina?
In the past few days, some of the focus has shifted to the White House and whether it sprang to action soon enough to make a difference. Some critics are calling this "Obama's Hurricane Katrina."
http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/03/is-oil-spill-president-obamas-katrina/

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The three articles above are just a sampling of the current "Obama ain't sprung to action fast enuff" bullshit. This is a wonderful opportunity for the right-wing media, left-wing media, environmentalists, and a host of others to milk a story and bend it to their advantage.

Unfortunately, most of what I've heard in ALL the media - other than comments by people actually IN the oil business - is pure BS. BP is the only non-BS so far. They've accepted responsibility (but not blame) for this god-awful mess, and are doing everything they can to fix it.

This is the fault of a blow-out preventer not working. It was either faulty equipment, wasn't installed properly, or was trashed by tons of platform landing on it. Making the disaster political is asinine.

Comments

[bord-du-rasoir.livejournal.com]

People criticized the Bush Administration for cutting funding to flood control projects around New Orleans prior to Katrina:

http://www.alternet.org/story/24871/

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Alright, but that parallel wouldn't even start to make sense would it?

[bord-du-rasoir.livejournal.com]

The parallel is government inaction— in Katrina, a failure to fund flooda failure to regulate. It's clear the government allows oil companies to drill farther out and deeper than before. It's also clear that the government allows companies to do so without a mechanism sufficient to respond to accidents to prevent them from becoming major catastrophes. Does the government share responsibility in this catastrophe? Yes.

The surface area of the spill is now 2000 square miles and growing. Every day, it takes more and more booms to contain the oil. Booms could've easily contained the expansion, but weren't in place to do so. It wouldn't have gotten near 2000 sq. mi. It only got that large because of lack of foresight & slow response time. Two organizations are to blame for that: BP and the U.S. government.

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

You have to wait till the oil appears before placing booms - to make sure they are in the right place. And they don't work well in heavy swells.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Did Obama cut funding for oil spill control?

[bord-du-rasoir.livejournal.com]

correcting that first sentence:

in Katrina, a failure to fund flood control; in the oil spill, a failure to have a plan in place to contain the spill.