Is the oil spill Obama's 'Katrina moment'?

[arcadian]

Massive oil spill, no quick fix, the most powerful industry in the US involved, damage to the environment on an unimaginable scale, corporate deregulation involved. Nobody will be held accountable and we will once again check this off in the "oh, that's just the way things are" category, these sort of things will become the new norm and we will be told to "move on". And this incident will highlight how the rich and powerful really have zero accountability and that they have no laws to which they are beholden. Can't help but feel that this is another incident of Shock Doctrine.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. No. It has nothing to do with Katrina.

[arcadian]

2. Yeah, Katrina happened in 2005

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

10. Aside from geographical location, what do you consider comparable?

[arcadian]

12. Timing for one.

The fact that Obama just came out in favor of offshore oil drilling. Oh and there is the massive destruction associated with both.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

16. And Bush came out in favor of hurricanes a month before Katrina...

I don't know what point you are trying to make but you might try making it with comparisons to an event that didn't kill over 1800 people.

[DaveinJapan]

3. CNN would certainly like us to think so

They ran the "is this Obama's Katrina?" headline for the better part of the day.

Has the Obama administration screwed anything up here? I don't know. I suppose time will tell (so far, it seems as though they are aware of the crisis and taking steps towards alleviating it).

[arcadian]

11. Just the fact that offshore oil drilling was a major platform for Obama

Just prior to this. Who knows? Maybe it's an elaborate scheme perpetrated by the oil industry to discredit Obama. I wouldn't put it past them.

[kentuck]

4. No, because the opposing Party will not lead the opposition...

to offshore drilling. And his own Party will only have a small percentage that will criticize him.

[DaveinJapan]

8. The more I hear about this spill, the more I wonder if Karma is biting the President in the ass

I mean, just months after he acquiesces to "drill baby", THIS happens.

Let's hope the public sentiment drives him out of his centrist position and more towards the left of things.

I can hope, can't I?

[rurallib]

5. Uh, no - few if any similarities. Except for talking heads who have to sell

patent medicines 24X7.

[Motown_Johnny]

6. we had warning Katrina was coming, Shrub did nothing for days

he also congratulated "Brownie" when the guy was a total F___ Up !

Shrub needed a DVD made for him just to get it into his empty head that there was a problem.

I could go on and on but why?

[babylonsister]

7. No....

Rude Pundit says, "Tell you what: when dead black people are floating in the oily waters of the Gulf because of his neglect, you can call the oil rig explosion Obama's Katrina."

And read this, though I'm sure it will depress you:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x284028
A Comically-Flawed Comparison

[arcadian]

20. So you pretty much only seek out news that conforms to your world view.

[babylonsister]

21. No, I use common sense. You should try it. Read this thread; that might help. nt

[Motown_Johnny]

23. your entire OP is speculation and opinion

at least she backs up her point of view

[kentauros]

9. No.

Because you can plan for a hurricane, get ready days in advance, ready to deploy quickly. To do the same for an oil rig disaster would be a huge waste of money and resources just to remain "at ready" for something you can't predict.

You can't predict with 100% accuracy where a hurricane will make landfall, but you can see it coming, track it and analyze that track for a more accurate landfall prediction. A rig failure like this one is a failure on many levels that goes back decades. Hardly the same.

[elocs]

13. No matter how much it is denied or explained away, that is how many will view it

and not just freepers. We need to deal with reality as it is and not how we prefer it to be.

"Katrina moment" is a term which has come to refer to any disaster, particularly in the Gulf area, which requires some kind of government intervention. Yes, this disaster has nothing to do with "Katrina", but neither did every scandal that had "gate" attached to it have anything to do with Watergate.

Given what Bush did during the actual Katrina disaster, there is no reason that Obama and the Democrats should not go the extra mile and do all that needs to be done, quickly, and to be on top of things. There are clear and simple lessons to be learned from the ineptness of Bush.

[arcadian]

17. exactly

[depakid]

22. It had one key thing in common- and it stems from the same source

The Army Corps of Engineers and others warned for YEARS that the levies in New Orleans wouldn't hold in a Katrina like event- and yet year after year through the 90's and 00's, Republicans denied the appropriations- even after some rather impressive (and it turns out) accurate modeling and a near miss with Ivan in 2004.

Similarly, there was at least one report warnign of AND a very similar incident this last year in Australia of a deep water rig failure of this type- which spilled 100's of thousands of gallons for months and yet the actions that could have been take to prevent the Deepwater Horizon disaster were ignored.

Worse, the risk was downplayed by all too many, including some unfortunate comments Obama made himself several weeks ago, when he announced his drilling decision.

So while there will be the inevitable grumbling about the response here (which really aren't comparable)- the REAL similarities- and the failures in both cases came before the incidents occurred.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[City Lights]

15. Katrina was an act of nature. BP oil leak was an act of negligence.

How are those the same? :shrug:

[arcadian]

19. Humans exist outrside of nature?

That's news to me.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mfcorey1]

24. Hell no and I am tired of the insinuations.......it is the fault of BP.....

who is responsible for the cleanup. The government can assist and penalize.

[Codeine]

25. No, but I'm sure you'll do your best

to convince us it is.

[SidDithers]

31. Yup, the OP already thinks Obama is a "colossal disappointment all around"...

so everything Obama does, or doesn't do, will somehow make him look bad.

Sid

Edit: fixed quote to match exact wording from this post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8170403&mesg_id=8170407

[gulliver]

26. Not when Republicans openly backed the "hurricane" this time.

The GOP is in this up to their foreheads. I'll bet we won't hear any calls for investigations from the GOP. But we will from the Dems.

[Robb]

27. LOL

[seabeyond]

28. no. and if it were, he did jump right on it. bp was lying, obama got info and

took action.

so he would get a plus.

we will watch from here

[Patriot 76]

29. No. It sounds to much like a Fox News lead-in for a story.

On second thought, CNN.

[AlinPA]

30. This post's headline looks like it came from Fox "news". nt

[SidDithers]

32. No...nt

Sid

[RiverStone]

33. NO - but Obama did say during the campaign he wanted to expand offshore drilling

The recipe for this environmental catastrophe was in place long before Obama became Prez; this in no Katrina moment. And yet, Obama is guilty of the same misguided mentality (around drilling) that led to this huge mess.

I worked like hell to elect him, but have been disappointed in his environmental positions.

Check this out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html

[spanone]

34. did a 'for profit' company cause katrina? i don't recall that.

[saltpoint]

35. The two events are not comparable.

Neither is the response from the two U.S. presidents in office at the time the events occurred.

[Ikonoklast]

36. I am sure you would want to think so.

But, then again, coming from you and your dislike of this president bordering on pathological, I am not surprised.


If Nader was president, this would have happened.

There are oil spills in Venezuela all the time, you gonna blame Hugo?


The far left is just as delusional as the far right, and they come to this site and prove it every day.

[Vickers]

37. Bwahahahaha, your logic is KRAZEEEEEEE!

:crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy:

[DevonRex]

38. We know you want Obama to have a Katrina moment. Shame on you. nt

[rucky]

39. 10 yard penalty for misuse of "shock doctrine"

[saltpoint]

40. Yep. In fact, make it 15.

[Scurrilous]

41. No. n/t

[uppityperson]

42. It is Pres Obama's time to see how to handle a crisis. Disagree with part in your message though.

[ismnotwasm]

43. Fuck no

Jesus that's bullshit

[saltpoint]

44. And there is this:

In this post below by babylonsister --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x284343

-- comes word from the Rude Pundit on this very topic.

I would describe the Rude Pundit's statement as concise.

I would praise its economy of style and verity of content.

I think it does a real good job of addressing this subject.