Why doesn't the President get credit for controlling oil spill??

[kentuck]

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In hindsight, and even James Carville agrees, the President did a masterful job in bringing together all the assets of the government, the Coast Guard, the military, British Petroleum executives, different state leaders and governors, to keep the oil spill from doing great harm to our coast and our environment. Almost everyone, including DU, thought this was going to be a much worse disaster. It was very bad.

But the President was able to get BP to agree to put up a $20 billion fund to pay for the liabilities and losses. That was quite an accomplishment. There were more than 5000 ships and vessels helping with the cleanup in the Gulf. They were able to get more than 27 million gallons of oil and water skimmed from the water. They were able to burn millions of gallons that was accumulated on the surface. They had miles and miles of boons to collect the oil before it hit the coast. Even then, a lot of the oil hit the shore. But, like the economic disaster, it could have been much worse.

However, it is difficult to prove the economy would not have been worse without the President's policies. But, we could see with our own eyes the oil gushing into the Gulf. Most everyone, myself included, thought it would be much worse. The President did a fabulous job in keeping the damage from this disaster to a minimum and he should be given credit for that, in my humble opinion.





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[Bitwit1234]

1. Do you think for one minute the republican ass kissing

press will ever give the president credit for anything. Nothing he and the congress has done to alleviate this mess Bush got us in to has been said in the press.

[spanone]

11. +1,000,000

[Aramchek]

2. because that would mean giving Obama credit

The Right will never do this.

And his critics on the left are too invested in their criticisms to allow themselves to be honest.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Well, I can name at least one DUer who called it right

and gave credit to Obama.

Me:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Jackpine%20Radical/161

And I don't believe I exactly have a rep as a sensible woodchuck.

[SidDithers]

24. You called it...

well done :applause:

Sid

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. I remember how many on DU were calling Obama everything for not doing anything

not a peep out of them now.

[EFerrari]

7. And I remember many on DU saying he couldn't do anything about it

who will now doubtlessly credit him.

We're a funny bunch around here.

lol

[LostinVA]

20. +1

[Whisp]

25. yes, funny bunch indeed.

:eyes:

[EFerrari]

31. (In order to get that, you'd have to start out with a sense of humor.)

[Whisp]

37. of course I am humourless

if I don't get your type of humour.

:eyes:

[Whisp]

22. one of my favourite was how Obama was refusing help from other countries.

sheesh. which was a big fat (but juicy) lie.

those are some of the same kinds of ideas like Obama taking away Food STamps from the poor, robbing Senior citisens of their SS, being a homophobe and destroying the educational system.
I save myself a lot of time by watching what thesepeople say, then I know the fucking opposite is the truth.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

38. where do they get this misinformation from or do they just make it up?

[Whisp]

41. they look for anything that can be used against Obama

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. dupe

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Pretty much on the day of the spill, BP was saying it would be plugged mid August.

It got plugged a little earlier.

There's still a shitload of oil in the Gulf and we have NO idea what the long term consequences are.

I do NOT blame Obama for the spill and I think he did as good a job as could be done given what we were/are dealing with. But what sort of credit should he get?

[DCBob]

9. Not overreacting and not underreacting.

imo.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

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

[Stinky The Clown]

35. Who are "the shitheads"?

[NJmaverick]

8. This is the Velcro president he gets blamed for all the ills of the world/nation

and gets absolutely no credit for all his good works.

[DCBob]

16. Aint it the truth.. I dont know why people expect so much from him but so little from other leaders.

Its must be very troubling and frustrating for the President.. I would not blame for not wanting to run again in 2012.

[dipsydoodle]

10. K & R

.

[Demit]

12. Apparently you have bought the idea that we've seen the worst of the oil damage.

As another poster said, the gusher wasn't Obama's fault so therefore 'controlling' it, if that's what you think has happened, can't be his doing either.

In 'hindsight'? It's a little too soon to be claiming anything in hindsight, as if this was an episode that is now over. the damage is done and the damage is permanent. That oil didn't just go poof. They're finding it in shrimp and crab larvae. If you think that's keeping damage 'to a minimum' you apparently don't spend a lot of time thinking about ramifications to the food chain.

[kentuck]

14. You are correct...

in that they did not clean up all the oil and we may see ramifications far into the future.

But, in the present, the oil is not washing upon the beaches. We are not seeing as many wildlife and sealife killed as some may have expected.

There was no good ending to this disaster. However, under the circumstances, I think the President does deserve credit for his handling of the crisis thus far.

[DCBob]

15. So will you be back here admitting you were wrong when the worst does not happen?

Some have been screaming catastrophe for months.. just changing the definition of "catastrophe" as the original catastrophes never materialized. The mindless fearmongering is getting old.

[TheKentuckian]

13. I dunno did he change into Aquaman and swim down there and plug the damn hole?

It was my understanding that only Aquaman could handle the job.

[whistler162]

17. BECAUSE IT IS A DISASTER... we are all doomed....

DOOMED I SAY!!!!

No matter what anyone tells you, xecept that it is a DISASTER, is a lie paid for by BP and the US guberment!

PANIC PANIC PANIC

[philly_bob]

18. He deserves credit for acting like a cool-headed grownup.

Imagine President Palin in that situation!

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[Scurrilous]

21. He's no Bobbie Jindal.

Berms baby, berms.

[gristy]

23. I think he is getting some credit

But I also think he was just doing his job - sending good people to do their job. It's not like he took a big political risk in sending Chu and Allen down there.

[liberal N proud]

27. Only the blame

No one will give President Obama credit for anything.

Not even some people here.

:rant:

[kentuck]

28. I notice some folks don't like this story line...

I have counted 7 unrecs thus far. :-)

Heaven forbid that we give Obama credit for anything.

[NNN0LHI]

29. You are catching on kentuck

I mentioned about a month ago that posting anything positive about President Obama is like administering a public Rorschach Test around here.

About half a million rocket scientists voted for Nader over Obama in 2008 and I think every one of them posts here. They are legends in their own minds.

Don

[EFerrari]

40. I haven't hit rec or unrec.

It just seems a little too soon to claim anything yet, imho. Especially in view of the huge effort from NOAA and EPA to kill the reporting.

[Riftaxe]

30. Possible because it happened april 20th

And his first major acknowledgment of the tragedy was not until 12 days later. After 5 days, the media was already heavy with the just anger and ramifications of the spill.

Leadership means more then taking credit, it includes being on the forefront of an issue.

[kentuck]

32. First of all, they were looking for the bodies.

The Coast Guard was there almost immediately. Why do you think he was not "on the forefront of an issue"??

It is true that he was not going to accept the blame or responsibility ahead of BP. He got BP to accept responsibility. Remember the little weasel Repub that apologized to BP??

[Riftaxe]

39. Nice disinformation there.

The search for the 11 bodies of the oil rig workers was suspended 3 days after the event (April 23rd).

President Obama and our administration chose to take a Laissez-faire approach to this crisis, anyone paying attention to the time line of events recognizes this, making it very hard for him to take a leadership credit for it.

It is debatable whether this was a this was a wise choice or not, if the media drops coverage of the results of the contamination of the spill in the next 6 months it will probably not matter. If he tries to invoke it in 2012 it could come back to bite him.

Imagine if he tries to take credit for leadership during this, and someone who was awake and watching the news compares his administrations actions to the dates that events occurred, it could cause serious political harm.

Personally i think he going the political expedient route of hoping that the public forgets about BP, in favor of the next crisis. This is not a particularly bad plan politically.

[kentuck]

42. Are you truly that politically naive?

Of course he was not going to step up front and accept responsibility for the spill. He was working to put the blame squarely where it belonged - on British Petroleum. They would loved for him to take the blame. But he was smart enough not to fall for that. But there is no proof that he was not working on this problem from the very beginning.

It's obvious that it pains you to give him any credit at all, politically or otherwise.

[Deveraux]

33. Because a huge amount of oil was spilled before it was controlled n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

34. This crossed my mind also. 2 months ago it was oil spill armageddon. Obama

kept the pressure on BP. He deserves credit.

[EFerrari]

36. I wish we wouldn't drag Obama into this when the status, let alone, the outcome

is still not clear.

I just caught a rerun of Dahr Jamail on Thom's show yesterday. There's MORE crud washing up now, he reports, than washed up in the last two months together. And there's evidence that dead zones are expanding.

Maybe we should lay back a little. :shrug: