The Oil Spill That Won’t Go Away

25 May, 2010 by Kathleen McKinley

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I haven’t blogged on the oil spill. It looked like BP made some stupid mistakes and they are paying for it. But unfortunately other’s who make a living on the coast are paying the price as well. It seemed to me that everyone, especially the media, was doing everything possible to not bring Obama into it for any kind of blame for his reaction. I only wish this kind of slack was given with a Republican administration. But now we are going on 35 days since the accident and as Allah at HotAir points out, only on Sunday did we start to hear any frustrations from the media.

ABC’s Jake Tapper reports that on May 2 Gov. Jindal requested that federal authorities and BP provide 3 million feet of absorbent boom, 5 million feet of hard boom, and 30 ‘jack up’ barges. Less than a fifth of that request for hardboom has arrived.

This was 22 days ago. The administration seems to just keep hoping BP will solve the issue. Which I can understand to a point. But that point has long past.

You know it’s gotten bad when Chris Matthews has stopped feeling that tingle up his leg, and is actually being critical of how Obama is handling it. Then James Carville calls Obama’s response “lackadaisical.”

One wonders if the fact that BP has given more money to Obama as a candidate than any other candidate in the last 20 years has anything to do with the backseat approach.

When CBS’s Chip Reid asked Gibbs why the govt was standing by “as a spectator” on this environmental disaster, Gibbs denied that. But it is the truth.

The problem is there is simply no plan “B.” And it doesn’t look like anyone has any idea what to do.

The thing about leading is that you have to make tough decisions. You have to either come up with solutions or find someone who can.

Obama is doing neither.