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The Gulf Oil Spill: The Obama Administration in Microcosm

  • Tony Beam Dr. Tony Beam's Weblog
  • Updated Jun 23, 2010

The Obama Administration has been in charge of the oil spill since day one.  Wait…what they meant to say is they have been bullying BP to come up with a solution since day one.  No, Admiral Thad Allen is in charge and he is calling the shots.  Except when he asks BP what to do and how to cap the well.  BP is the devil and we are going to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.  But of course, we will wait until they give us $20 billion for a clean-up fund that will be administrated by someone President Obama promised would be far removed from his administration.  Only in the mythical world of President Obama could current pay czar Kenneth Feinberg be considered someone who is on the outside of the Administration.

President Obama promised the gulf coast governors they would have everything they need to prevent the oil from going ashore and to facilitate the clean up operation.  In his 18 minute speech, which was more of a political rally for a cap and trade bill than a rallying cry for manpower and resource mobilization, President Obama said he had made clear to Admiral Allen, "he should get whatever he needs to deal with this crisis.  Whatever he needs, he will get."  Apparently, someone forgot to tell Admiral Allen to ask for life jackets.  When Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal found some barges that successfully began siphoning the oil out of the water the United States Coast Guard moved in…not help but to stop the procedure for a day while all the barges were checked for life jackets.  This sounds more like a bad Saturday Night Live skit than reality but with this administration, the surreal becomes real. 

One thing the Obama Administration was on from day one was the stifling of jobs by issuing a moratorium on deep water drilling until the reason for the Deepwater Horizon explosion could be determined.  It was an interesting plan that the Wall Street Journal proved would simply drive drillers experienced in deep water exploration to other countries, cost about 84,000 people their jobs, and make the Gulf less safe by allowing it to eventually be populated by inexperienced drillers who will be much more likely to cause another disaster. 

As the "black gold" or "Texas tea" continues to pour into the Gulf and more and more beaches, marshes, and wildlife reserves become enveloped in an inky cloud of sludge the disaster becomes a metaphor for Obama's already failed presidency.  The partially caped well continues to spew oil into the gulf just as the virtually unrestrained left-wing agenda of Congress continues to pour through the Obama Administration, spoiling and destroying everything it touches.  Americans tried to cap the health care bill but Congress pushed past every effort at closure, spewing out a disastrous combination of incomprehensible laws that are staining the world's best health care system; rendering it in need of cleanup by a future Congress.  

One cannot help but be amazed at the parallels between the Obama Administration and the oil spill.  Day after day, week after week, and now month after month the black ink spews into the Gulf cutting a swath of oily destruction and depositing tar balls on the beach.  Day after day, week after week, month after month, and now year after year the Obama Administration and his willing accomplices in the House and the Senate pour out a sea of red ink sinking us deeper into a bottomless pit of debt and encumbering future generations with the task of restoring fiscal responsibility through draconian, painful cuts in government services. 

The flow of government control coming from Washington threatens to ruin the livelihood of millions of Americans as the black hole of an expanding government threatens to swallow our free market, capitalist system.  Just as the oil spill grows daily and threatens to envelope all it touches, the Obama Administration's growth of government threatens to suck the life out of individual achievement and the idea of American exceptionalism. 

The bungling of the clean up and the missed opportunities for containment of the oil spill reveals an administration that is out of its league when it comes to the need for aggressive, consistent leadership.  If the president was a manager he would have immediately brought the brightest minds in the world in deep water drilling and oil spill clean up to the White House for conference. He would have listened to their solutions and launched out with a plan to cap the well, contain the spill, and clean up the mess.  The Deepwater Horizon oil spill reveals what happens when a community organizer with a great speaking style and no real management experience is elevated to the highest office in the land.  The Jones Act, which prevents foreign countries from coming to our aid, should have been repealed immediately and an international SOS issued for a worldwide all-hands-on-deck solution to the problem. 

But President Obama spent at least two weeks trying to decide how he could best be perceived politically instead of focusing his attention on a host of possible solutions to the problem. 

This week, White House spokesperson Bill Burton mocked BP chief Tony Hayward for attending a yacht race off the Isle of Wight.  In the same press conference, he defended President Obama, who played golf for four hours on Saturday.  In Obama world, Tony Hayward was being heartless while he was simply "decompressing a bit after a hard week."  Stunningly, Burton went on to say of the president, "I think that a little time to himself on Father's Day weekend probably does us all good as American citizens." 

Maybe President Obama should have gone to the yacht race with Hayward.  At least they could have talked about the spill.