Obama smacks Minerals Management Service

[deminks]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/05/obama_smacks_minerals_manageme.html

It's not a good day to be an employee of the Minerals Management Service: In a somewhat angry appearance from the White House Rose Garden, President Obama said the agency is partly responsible for systemic breakdowns surrounding the April BP oil spill.

"There's enough responsibility to go around" for the BP oil spill, Obama said. "That includes, by the way, the federal government."

"For too long, for a decade or more, there's been a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill," Obama said, referring to MMS. "It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little more than assurances of safety from the oil companies.

(snip)

He noted that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has launched a top-to-bottom review of the agency and has been on its case "from the day he took office." Indeed Salazar showed up in the White House briefing room Jan. 28, 2009, to announce that he was asking the Justice Department to investigate allegations that staffers accepted gifts from oil and gas industry representatives, and sexual misconduct between MMS employees and industry representatives.

(end snip)

emphasis mine.

[spanone]

1. did he mention cheney by name?

or daddy bush or the younger idiot?

[polichick]

2. A little too late, don't ya think? He could have put an environmentalist in charge...

...of Interior back in early 2009, instead of putting the MMS in the hands of an industry tool like Salazar.

[Scuba]

4. Nailed it.

[HereSince1628]

3. YES!!! SEX!!!! It's that fucking SEX!!!!!!

Jeeus K Riest, As a GOVERNMENT have we REALLY been so STUPID that our little heads have been thinking for our big heads??????????????????????????????????

[ShortnFiery]

5. Yes, those sternly worded speeches and memos with NO REAL ACTION must really sting?

:eyes:

[NightWatcher]

6. I heard he gave them all a "time out" and said "no fuckin for two weeks"

Then they can go back to sleeping together and making deals without permission, regulation, or responsibility.

[ShortnFiery]

7. Yeah, but this time he really means it!

:silly:

[boston bean]

8. Obama dropped the ball big time. His hands are dirty and complicit. Ever since he

decided to allow more exploratory drilling.

Anything he says or does now, will be looked at that way, and through that lense. As it should be, imho.

[HughMoran]

9. " Can anyone remember the last time a president so publicly smacked a federal agency ...?"

Obama saved his harshest words for BP, but it's notable that he singled out a federal entity. Can anyone remember the last time a president so publicly smacked a federal agency and used it as a scapegoat?

[polichick]

11. Smoke and mirrors - as if he didn't choose the industry tool in charge...

...of Interior, which is in charge of MMS. Cynical beyond words!

[rudy23]

15. He's a conservative, so he has to spin this as a gov't screw up, not a private one.

Let's all say it together: THE MAN IS JUST NOT ON OUR SIDE

[Junkdrawer]

10. Translation: The data from the Center for Biological Diversity is leaving a mark...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8304844

[Donnachaidh]

13. no kidding -- but to hear it told around here

no one in this admin gave anybody anything.

It's the three monkey defense - see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil....

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[monmouth]

14. How many assholes can opine on one thread???? Too many...n/t

[Bluebear]

18. And you are?

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Just a few weeks ago, on the subject of off shore drilling

Obama paused and took a moment to make a point:

"It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced. Even during Katrina, the spills didn’t come from the oil rigs, they came from the refineries onshore."
April 2, 2010

[ShortnFiery]

17. OMG! If that isn't a classic case of karma biting one in the ass, I don't know what is?

:wow:

[EFerrari]

19. Yep. That one stings but in fairness, who hasn't had a moment like that.

People are often wrong and sometimes, publicly.

[ipaint]

20. Too bad he decided Cheney and Bush's crimes where off limits.

Must look forward and all. Now he is stuck holding the ball and he's has no one but himself to blame.

He that lieth down with Dogs, shall rise up with Fleas.
Benjamin Franklin

[Dappleganger]

21. It's meaningless until heads roll and job vacancies are posted.

Ball-busting involves losing your cushy position.