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Obama's learning 'whose ass to kick' in oil mess
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1 hr 28 mins ago
Is President Obama bowing to criticism that he hasn't shown enough emotion and outrage about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? In an interview with the "Today" show's Matt Lauer on Tuesday morning, the president offered his bluntest response yet about the disaster, telling Lauer he's been talking to experts about "whose ass to kick" when it comes to responsibility for the mess.
"I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf. A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be," Obama said, defending his administration's handling of the spill. "And I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar; we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."
That's a pretty sharp response for a president known for his cool-headed approach to situations. In recent weeks, as Obama has been assailed for not being expressive enough in his response to the spill, White House officials has defended his reaction by suggesting that voters would prefer to see concrete actions over empty "method acting."
[Jaw-dropping political gaffes]
Yet administration officials are not ignorant of polls showing the nation less than thrilled with Obama's handling of the Gulf. According to the latest ABC/Washington Post poll, more than two-thirds of those polled, 69 percent, disapprove of the federal government's handling of the spill. That's higher than the outrage over the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina
Obama's learning 'whose ass to kick' in oil mess - Yahoo! News -
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Spike Lee tells Obama to go off on someone and 3 days later Obama says he needs to find out "whose ass to kick".
WE ARE IN GRAVE DANGER IF OBAMA IS TAKING ADVICE FROM SPIKE LEE
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I think he gets all his information from Oprah. She said this oil situation was bad, so he agreed. BP will be bankrupt here pretty soon.Comment
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you base this on what?Originally posted by BigWeiner View Post“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
Gerald FordComment
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I shouldn't have said soon, it will probably take a while. They're spending about 40 million a day, which is nothing to them, but this will go on for a long long time, and civil and criminal lawsuits will go on for a long time as well. Anyone hear that for $500,000, they could've had a fail safe against something like this happening?Originally posted by husker View Post
36 million gallons of oil so far.Comment
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Yes, $500k would have prevented all of this which to a normal person is probably like 5 cents. There should be mandatory Laws that they should have at least 1 fail safe if not 2.Originally posted by BigWeiner View PostComment
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BP is one of the most profitable co's in the world. it's VERY unlikely they will go bankrupt.
i thought they did have a cutoff device that malfunctioned. would a different one have worked? who knows, but monday morning quarterbacking is easy.“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
Gerald FordComment
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Originally posted by husker View Post
I will be all over BP stock soon, they will survive this long term and you will get a nice price on it.
NBA is a jokeComment
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Originally posted by flarendep1 View Post
exactly, but i don't know about soon! do you remember when a lot of people were saying exxon was going to go bankrupt after the valdez spill? how did that turn out?
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
Gerald FordComment
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This thread is about Floridians wondering where cleanup crews are, to clean up the oil that has and will keep washing up on beaches throughout the gulf, and eventually the east coast. That's what the title of the thread and video say.
As far as i know i am the only guy that lives in FL that has posted in this thread, i know we have a lot of guys on here in that region of the country, and it's seriously sad that this thread is heading in the direction of a stock tip for personal gain.
The last couple posts absolutely disgust me.....and trust me i KNOW you don't care so no need to tell me.
I can't believe we have a video of a grown man crying on the beach because his whole life (fishing) has basically been taken away from him, children are trying to clean up the oil themselves, and we have people talking about how to make some $$$ off of it.
WOW !!!!!!!
THE CRAZIEST THING BY FAR.....is the fact that people are STILL calling this a "oil spill" even comparing it to Exxon Valdez ? WHAT ? OK... The Valdez spill was 10.8 million Gallons of oil......i'll just use a number already posted in this thread...This "spill" is 36 million gallons of oil and counting ( and most sources have said it has went way past that #) you might call it an "oil spill" I call it a never ending oil gushing catastrophe.Comment
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Steffy: U.S. and BP slow to accept Dutch expertise
By LOREN STEFFY Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
June 8, 2010, 10:13PM
Three days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch government offered to help.
It was willing to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms, and it proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands.
The response from the Obama administration and BP, which are coordinating the cleanup: “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,\'” said Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston.
Now, almost seven weeks later, as the oil spewing from the battered well spreads across the Gulf and soils pristine beaches and coastline, BP and our government have reconsidered.
U.S. ships are being outfitted this week with four pairs of the skimming booms airlifted from the Netherlands and should be deployed within days. Each pair can process 5 million gallons of water a day, removing 20,000 tons of oil and sludge.
At that rate, how much more oil could have been removed from the Gulf during the past month?
The uncoordinated response to an offer of assistance has become characteristic of this disaster\'s response. Too often, BP and the government don\'t seem to know what the other is doing, and the response has seemed too slow and too confused.
Federal law has also hampered the assistance. The Jones Act, the maritime law that requires all goods be carried in U.S. waters by U.S.-flagged ships, has prevented Dutch ships with spill-fighting equipment from entering U.S. coastal areas.
“What\'s wrong with accepting outside help?” Visser asked. “If there\'s a country that\'s experienced with building dikes and managing water, it\'s the Netherlands.”
Even if, three days after the rig exploded, it seemed as if the Dutch equipment and expertise wasn\'t needed, wouldn\'t it have been better to accept it, to err on the side of having too many resources available rather than not enough?
BP has been inundated with well-intentioned cleanup suggestions, but the Dutch offer was different. It came through official channels, from a government offering to share its demonstrated expertise.
Many in the U.S., including the president, have expressed frustration with the handling of the cleanup. In the Netherlands, the response would have been different, Visser said.
There, the government owns the cleanup equipment, including the skimmers now being deployed in the Gulf.
“If there\'s a spill in the Netherlands, we give the oil companies 12 hours to react,” he said.
If the response is inadequate or the companies are unprepared, the government takes over and sends the companies the bill.
While the skimmers should soon be in use, the plan for building sand barriers remains more uncertain. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal supports the idea, and the Coast Guard has tentatively approved the pro-ject. One of the proposals being considered was developed by the Dutch marine contractor Van Oord and Deltares, a Dutch research institute that specializes in environmental issues in deltas, coastal areas and rivers. They have a strategy to begin building 60-mile-long sand dikes within three weeks.
That proposal, like the offer for skimmers, was rebuffed but later accepted by the government. BP has begun paying about $360 million to cover the costs. Once again, though, the Jones Act may be getting in the way. American dredging companies, which lack the dike-building expertise of the Dutch, want to do the work themselves, Visser said.
“We don\'t want to take over, but we have the equipment,” he said.
While he battles the bureaucracy, the people of Louisiana suffer, their livelihoods in jeopardy from the onslaught of oil.
“Let\'s forget about politics; let\'s get it done,” Visser said.
Steffy: U.S. and BP slow to accept Dutch expertise | Business: Loren Steffy | Chron.com - Houston ChronicleComment
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