But Didn’t Obama Say HE Was in Charge of the Gulf Oil Spill Since “Day 1″? Now Is Backing Away, Distancing Himself from BP… Figures
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 2, 2010
'In charge when convenient': Pres. Obama said on May 27 he was in charge of Gulf oil spill disaster... now, not so much - he's distancing himself from that role and from BP
Remember WAAAAAY back on May 27 when Pres. Obama said this in his press conference?
The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort… But make no mistake: BP is operating at our direction. Every key decision and action they take must be approved by us in advance.
Uh, not anymore. Especially now that the devastating oil spill is getting closer to Florida’s beaches, and is about to hit Mississippi and Alabama. Man-child flip-flop, eh?
Maybe POTUS needs to go on another vacation…
From Washington Post: Obama administration moves to distance itself from BP on oil spill response:
Struggling to convey command of the worsening Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Obama administration is taking steps to distance itself from BP and is dispatching Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to the Gulf Coast to meet with federal and state prosecutors. The Holder trip could signal that the environmental calamity might become the subject of a criminal investigation.
Holder has said Justice Department lawyers are examining whether there was any “malfeasance” related to the leaking oil well, and investigators, who have already been on the coast for a month, have sent letters to BP instructing the company to preserve internal records related to the spill. But federal officials indicated that Holder’s trip, which will include a news conference in New Orleans on Tuesday afternoon, will focus on enforcement of environmental laws and holding BP accountable.
The opening of a criminal investigation or civil action against BP, if either were to happen, would create the unusual situation of the federal government weighing charges against a company that it is simultaneously depending on for the most critical elements of the response to the record oil spill.
“We’re cooperating fully with all inquiries, and we’re doing everything we need to do and more in terms of preserving records,” BP spokesman Andrew Gowers said Monday.
The relationship between the federal government and the oil company has been an awkward collaboration all along — “We have them by the neck,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said of BP in congressional testimony last week — but it reached a turning point Monday when the administration said it no longer wants to share a podium with BP at the daily briefing in Louisiana. Instead, the national incident commander, Coast Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen, will give a solo briefing wherever he happens to be.
Have them by the NECK??? But Obama has been in CHARGE SINCE DAY 1, REMEMBER?
Doesn’t sound like Obama is enjoying “being in charge from Day 1″ anymore. Since last friggin’ Thursday. Fastest flip-flop evah by a president, I’d wager…
WaPo continues…
The public relations shake-up comes in a tense period, with the Gulf Coast rattled by news that last week’s attempted “top kill” of the well didn’t work. A government forecast shows the oil slick potentially striking the popular tourist beaches of Mississippi and Alabama later this week. The official arrival of hurricane season Tuesday has incited a new rash of dire scenarios. With bad news washing up everywhere, the administration has been desperate to convince the public that the government, and not the oil company, is fully in charge of the crisis and mounting a robust response.
President Obama and his lieutenants have insisted that the government has full authority. Before BP attempted the top kill, for example, the federal government issued a statement saying it had given approval for the maneuver. Allen, the incident commander, has said that while BP is the “responsible” party, the federal government is “accountable” for the response and that there’s no meaningful way for the government to assume greater authority.
From Sweetness & Light, Obama administration moves to distance itself from BP on oil spill response:
Er, how can Mr. Obama “distance” himself from BP’s response to the oil spill when he claims to be directing their response? (And we won’t even mention Mr. Obama’s being BP’s top recipient of campaign largess.)
[...]
Maybe Mr. Holder can “plug the damn hole” by criminalizing it. And if that doesn’t work, maybe Nancy Pelosi can just ‘deem’ it plugged.
From Hot Air, Obama WH now distancing itself from BP response efforts:
Unfortunately for the White House, Barack Obama has yoked himself to BP by insisting that the federal government has been in charge since Day 1 and continues to dictate all of BP’s actions in response to the spill. Obama deliberately took ownership of the response in Thursday’s press conference. It’s a little late now to start putting distance between BP and the federal government, especially in the present tense, when everyone now expects the federal government to run the show.
[...]
If the White House attempts to wash its hands of the Gulf spill response now, it will only feed the perception of incompetence that has increasingly taken root in the coverage of the disaster. Just the backpedaling seen in this effort after Obama’s “buck stops here” moment on Thursday will be seen as vacillating and hardly courageous. The Post describes the BP response as “seat of the pants,” but that also appears to describe well the White House strategy for both managing the disaster and running the PR campaign that supports it.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi continues to make wide-sweeping, blame-game speeches that George W. Bush and his people are to blame for the Gulf oil spill, as reported by GayPatriot via TalkRadioNews:
“Many of the people appointed in the Bush administration are still burrowed in the agencies that are supposed to oversee the [oil] industry,” Pelosi said when asked if Democrats could have prevented or mitigated the crisis by keeping a closer watch on the industry.
Added the Speaker, “the cozy relationships between the Bush administration’s agency leadership and the industry is clear…I’ve heard no complaints from my members about the way the president has handled it,” Pelosi stated.
On Friday, and again today, the Washington Examiner requested the names of the Bush appointees that Pelosi believes failed in their responsibility as overseers of this industry. Once again, no names released. We have left another message and will continue following this story.
Reminder: Pres. Obama said, “Every key decision and action they take must be approved by us in advance.”
FIFY Correction: “Every key decision and action they take must be approved by us in advance — UNLESS those decisions and actions fail, then we’ll be squirrels about it, run for the trees, and lob acorns as hard and as fast as we can at British Petroleum.”
Related reading:
Ben Stein, American Spectator: Oil of Today
The New Ledger, Big Government: White House Failure: On Markets, Corruption, and the Oil Spill
GayPatriot: Gulf Oil Spill & the “dominant narrative of Katrina”
No Sheeples Here: No Living Creature Should Endure This Kind Of Suffering
HillBuzz: QUESTION: What would happen if Governor Jindal just said “Screw you, I’m defending my state” to the federal government and built those barrier islands, Obama be damned
Tom Russo, Big Government: Louisiana Coast — Last Line of Defense?
Quin Hillyer, American Spectator: What the Oil Spill Means
Mcnorman’s Weblog: 10 Biggest Oil Spills
ABC World News: BP Oil Spill: Gov. Jindal Asks for Permission to Build Barrier Islands
Diary of a Mad Conservative: Gulf oil spill spells major inconvenience for the White House that still finds time for a party or 2
Gateway Pundit: Barack Obama’s Golf Oil Spill – Days 1 thru 42 (Video) …Update: Obama & McCartney Sing “Hey Crude” (Video) and Change!… Bush Restored the Iraqi Marshes – Obama Destroyed the US Marshes and Rudy Giuliani on Obama’s Response to BP Oil Spill: “If You Taught Leadership 101 This Would Be an Example of Exactly NOT What to Do” (Video) and Gulf Oil Spill Nears Florida’s White Sand Beaches and Liz Cheney on Obama’s Response to BP Oil Spill: “A Gift for Reading the TelePrompter Is Not the Same as Leadership” (Video) and Louisiana Official to Obama: Your Oil Drilling Suspension “Will Kill Us” and Obama to Hold a Few More Photo Ops Before Addressing Gulf Oil Spill Disaster and Louisiana Rep. Scalise Screams at Obama: “We’re Tired of the Excuses” (Video) and Shameless… Obama Takes Swipe At Sarah Palin During Oil Spill Disaster Press Conference (Video) and Coast Guard Says BP Plugged Oil Leak in Gulf and and Sarah Palin Slams Obama For Lax Response to Gulf Oil Spill Crisis and Jindal Furious: Rips Obama For Dismal Response to Oil Spill Disaster and Dem Congress Jumps Into Action… Will Quadruple Gas Tax After Gulf Oil Spill and Kirsten Powers: Obama Administration’s Response to Gulf Oil Spill “Is Not About Campaign Donations, It’s About Incompetence” (Video) and Thick Blobs of Tar Begin Washing Up on Alabama Shore – Obama Goes Golfing and Scientists Find Giant Plumes of Oil Under Gulf… Obama Shoots Hoops and Leaked Report From April 28 Shows US Government Believed Gulf Spill Could Become “Unchecked Gusher” and It Begins… GOP Reps Call for Investigation into Obama Administration’s Slow and Weak Response to BP Gulf Oil Spill
Political Pistachio: Gulf Oil Spill and the President’s Schedule
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Obama’s Oil Spill — Liz Cheney: “Gift for Reading the TelePrompter Is Not the Same As Leadership’ — Gov Jindal: “There Could Have Been a Greater Sense of Urgency” (video)
Political Writer Peggy Noonan: “Obama Was Suppose to Be Competent,” Gulf Oil Spill Debacle May Be His Undoing and Gulf Oil Leak Plug Failure — “Top Kill” Didn’t Work, Obama Likely Won’t Accept Blame Even Though BP Is Operating Under His Authority, Rep. Scalise Hits the Roof (video) and Louisiana Coast Oil Spill Photo Op… What in the Heck Is Obama Doing in This Photo? and Gulf Oil Spill Roundup: Obama’s Press Conference, Diving into the Gulf Oil Spill to See the Disaster, & Obama’s Head of Mineral Management Service Resigns in Wake of BP Spill (video) and Do or Die on the Gulf: Carville’s Oil Rant Against Obama, Dowd on Illegal Immigration (video) and Priorities: Oil Spill Help or More AZ Bashing? Obama Thrilled with Phoenix Suns Pro-Illegal Alien “Los Suns” Jerseys in NBA Interview, Drags Feet Responding to Jindal’s Pleas for Help with Louisiana Oil Spill Crisis and Louisiana’s Gov. Bobby Jindal Fed Up, Won’t Continue to Wait for Team Obama’s Help with Oil Disaster — Won’t Wait for Permission, Will Start Building Sand Booms to Save Coast and The Gulf & Golf: Oil Continues to Gush & Contaminate Louisiana Coastline, Bureaucrat Commission Named in Lieu of Actually Getting Involved, & Obama Golfs… Again (video)
Nice Deb: Introducing: Barack Obama’s Oil Spill’s Blog
The Clue Batting Cage: What She Said vs What “They” Said She Said
Motivation Truth: Palin: Still ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’–in ANWR
Sister Toldjah: Feds consult with director James Cameron for #oilspill ideas
Motor City Times: Obama Decides To Unilaterally Stop Drilling For Oil
Michelle Malkin: No wonder finger-pointing Obama wants oil spill finger-pointing to stop
About the author
[...] But Didn’t Obama Say HE Was in Charge of the Gulf Oil Spill Since “Day 1″? Now Is Backing Away… [...]