Obama is Finding That it's Becoming Increasingly Hard to Stay on Both Sides of An Issue...

Now that there is an oil disaster looming, Obama struggles to stay on all sides of the issue.

Obama is a master at appearing as if he has authority. Obama is like the over paid manager that doesn't really do anything. People under his "authority" are scared that they might be chastised, but that is about it. When it comes to private industry Obama doesn't really have any authority, but he's going to try his darnedest to make it look like he does.

For the administration to appear to have control of the oil leak situation is becoming an increasingly damaging task. To begin with Obama said that he was going to send SWAT teams to the gulf in an effort to stop future oil disasters.

Obama:

Welcome to the Rose Garden. This is an extraordinary occasion, a beautiful day -- appropriately so. So I hate to intrude on it, but before we begin I do want to speak briefly to the American people about the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

I've been receiving frequent briefings from members of my Cabinet and White House staff, including an update last night on the additional breach and another update this morning. And while BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and cleanup operations, my administration will continue to use every single available resource at our disposal, including potentially the Department of Defense, to address the incident.

Earlier today, DHS Secretary Napolitano announced that this incident is of national significance and the Department of Interior has announced that they will be sending SWAT teams to the Gulf to inspect all platforms and rigs. And I have ordered the Secretaries of Interior and Homeland Security as well as Administrator Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency to visit the site on Friday to ensure that BP and the entire U.S. government is doing everything possible, not just to respond to this incident, but also to determine its cause. And I've been in contact with all the governors of the states that may be affected by this accident.

Now, earlier this week, Secretaries Napolitano and Salazar laid out the next steps for a thorough investigation into what precipitated this event. I am sure there may be a few science teachers here who have been following this issue closely with their classes, and if you guys have any suggestions, please let us know.

The president's response (referenced above) was on April, 29. The oil spill occurred on April 20. It takes some time to come up with a plan to make it appear as if you have control of a situation.

Some oil industry critics questioned whether the federal government is too reliant on oil companies to manage the response to major spills, leaving the government unable to evaluate if the response is robust enough.

“Here you have the company that is responsible for the accident leading the response to the crisis,” said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program. “There is a problem here, and the consequence is clear.”

But it is still the government, in this case the Coast Guard, that has the final say. A law passed a year after the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster makes "each responsible party for a vessel or a facility from which oil is discharged" liable for cleaning up a spill. But oversight of the cleanup is designated to the Coast Guard, with advice from other federal agencies.

Rear Adm. Robert C. North, retired, who was commander of the Coast Guard’s Eighth District from 1994 to 1996, said that decisions in these situations are made collectively, but that the buck essentially stops with the federal coordinator — in this case, Admiral Landry. “The federal on-scene coordinator is kind of the one individual to say, ‘I think we need to do more’ or ‘That’s adequate,’ ” he said.

If the government determines that the responsible party is not up to the job, it can federalize the spill, running the cleanup operations without the private company but billing it for the cost. This is a last resort, however.

In this case, Admiral North said, the oil companies have more technology and expertise than the government. “It doesn’t appear that federalizing it would bring in any more resources,” he said.

Obama and his administration are about to be caught in a lie they cannot escape. So far, BP is the only entity responding to the spill (in a meaningful way).

Here's the deal. BP releases a press statement explaining what they are doing to stop the leak, then you have the administration following saying, "We are making sure that BP does everything possible to stop the leak." The problem is that so far nothing has worked. When government officials are questioned about what the government might do to stop the leak there is no response. It is funny how the truth is the real enemy of this administration.

Nobody "really" knows how to stop the leak; there are only theories.

This is a perfect example of the failure of government. The government which is supposed to insure that this sort of thing doesn't happen failed. Then when private efforts to correct the problem (so far) have failed; the government offers no solution. My question is simple, what the hell is the government doing in the oil industry at all? Considering the amount of taxes the government imposes on the energy sector you would figure they would have something to show for it. The very same people who failed to prevent such a problem (through their own regulations) are attacking the only ones trying to correct the problem.

Years ago I used to work in an automotive shop. We used to have customers come in with their lawn tractor tires sometimes. We would do our best to help them, but most of the tires and wheels were too small for our equipment, so we had to wrestle them by hand.

One day there were three of us fighting with this tubed lawn tractor tire. The tire had lost enough air to spin on the rim and the valve stem was not aligned with the hole in the rim. We were all frustrated because it was just barley too small to work on the tire machine. We didn't have another tube so we didn't want to damage the one already there. After messing around with the thing for about 10 minutes; one of the older technicians says, "You guys are doing that wrong." Of course we ignore him, and continue working. 5 minutes later, "You guys are still doing it wrong." Finally after about 20 minutes we gave up. I said, "All right, come over here and show us how to do it." He responds with, "I don't know how to do it, I just know that you're doing it wrong."

That is exactly what the administration is doing to BP, the only difference is that there is a lot more at stake. That sort of smart-ass behavior is funny under the right circumstances; this is not one of those circumstances. Obama is the worlds largest Arm Chair Quarterback.

I'm tired of a president who makes me want to roll my eyes. Leaders don't criticize; they lead --criticism lags action! - Jeff Michaels

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