It seems like there is finally some progress being made in regards to the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Some good news, but I agree that siphoning off oil is not the ultimate solution – stopping the leak is as the impact has already been devastating. In the midst of the efforts to try to stem the flow of oil into the Gulf, we’ve been treated to a typical Washington blame game.
The oil executives have been busy blaming each other, and President Barack Obama who has made a living on blaming President Bush for all of his woes calls this “a ridiculous spectacle.” And I agree it is. Just like it is when he does it. Of course he’s positioning himself to be above all of this, and his spin machine is in overdrive.
Too little, too late. While BP, Halliburton, and Transocean all share blame in this, and I do think the $75 million limit on damages needs to be raised; we can’t let the Obama administration off the hook either. The Obama Administration’s response to this crisis has been wanting, so he shouldn’t be surprised to see criticism leveled at him since he was generous with criticism of President Bush (rightly) after Hurricane Katrina.
President Obama is quick to blame “the system,” but leaves out the fact that his administration is part of the system. His administration and his Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, oversees the Minerals and Management System which failed to do its job. While this neglect did start under the Bush Administration, an article from AP today demonstrates neglect and mishandling on the part of the Obama Administration continued as the MMS in 2009 called BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig “industry standard for safety.” So his administration needs to recognize their part in all of this.
Right now, the primary things to focus on are containment, clean-up and causation (and none of those will happen in a House or Senate committee room). Also, instead of the knee jerk reaction to pile on more regulation, we need to ensure the laws and regulations we do have in place are enforced.
In regards to the blame game – if President Obama wants to point fingers at the finger pointers he needs to realize a few will be pointed back at him as well.