Before I left LA, I had wanted to post on the contrasting narratives of Katrina and the Gulf Oil spill, but due to the press of a number of obligations, did not get the chance to do so to the degree that I would have liked. And doubt I will be able to address this is in a timely matter.
Fortunately, some other bloggers have been looking into the matter, one of whom is the ever-insightful Jim Geraghty who offers:
The dominant narrative of Katrina made no room for the normal human errors and snafus that mark any response to a giant problem; righties are naturally objecting to the sudden reinstatement of the “Hey, sometimes stuff happens, what can you do?” standard under a Democratic president.
Read the whole thing. Jim also offers links to other insightful observations.
It does seem that the MSM used Katrina to do what they had failed to do in 2004, bring down George W. Bush. And with that good man, but flawed executive, then having an inept communications operation, they succeeded. (If not in throwing him out of office, in at least, portraying him as inept.)
RELATED: “OBAMA’S KATRINA: ‘The media started riding Bush about his response to Katrina within a couple of days. Obama got a pass for over a month.'”
Peggy is on the oil spill and Obama’s competence, as well:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704269204575270950789108846.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
Comparing katrina to an oil spill is deliberate stupidity. One is a human tragedy with a death toll in the thousands, the other is an environmental calamity for which there are no quick fixes. The conservatives’ reaction here is predictably whine and unreservedly smug, as if they would have been on top of things and managed to not only plug the hole by now, but also prevent the oil from coming ashore. The party of personal responsibility loves nothing more than leaning back in their armchairs when out of power and claiming to have all the answers to every problem. The republican party is a hyper partisan organization doing what it always does; framing every issue and problem as unfavorably for their opponents as possible while completely and shamelessly disregarding their own past behavior and inability to solve problems.
I don’t think Obama has done very well as a leader on this problem or on pretty much any other issue wince he’s been president, but to compare his reaction to bushs during katrina is to demons
trate how little you understand about either of these disasters.
It should also go without saying that the logic here is extremely stupid; the only similarity between this disaster and katrina is geographic. If this spill occurs in the Atlantic or in Alaska, there would be no one seriously offering katrina as a comparison.
levi – it’s really simple. Obama is catching hell for this because he sold himself as omnipotent – Mr. Competent. These would be trying times for a competent president (FDR, Reagan, Truman). Obama and his crew are way in over their heads.
If Obama would have simply said that industrial accidents happen (unfortunately) and that the gubmint was prepared to work with industry to do whatever it takes to “plug the damn hole” then, IMHO, no one would have a legitimate gripe.
Why? Both proved liberals are incompetent, bumbling idiots and self-serving assholes.
1) In what alternate universe does 1,836 = “thousands”?
2) What were the “quick fixes” post Katrina?
3) If there are no “quick fixes”, and I agree that there weren’t, why are liberals bitching at BP about it?
Bush federalized the Exxon Valdez response 14 days later and the liberals whined that it was too late.
The liberal party is a hyper partisan organization doing what it always does; making every issue into a political game and doing their damndest to make it worse for the American people.
And I’ll tell you one damn thing, the Republicans wouldn’t have forced the oil companies to drill in such deep water while screaming “we need energy independence, but no rigs in MY back yard!”.
I don’t believe Clinton had anything to do with this until this week. So what do they have on him that they could blackmail him into being the fall guy?
Buddy of mine back in Jr. High had a drilling rig in his back yard. It wasn’t so bad. Wasn’t as noisy as you might think. When you consider the mad money his family got for the inconvenience, it was even less of a hassle.
I’m glad that Obama is staying out of it and letting the free market decide. BP should be the ones to decide if and when the oil spill gets cleaned up. If cleaning up the spill impacts their profits, well, tough. If you don’t like the way they leave an oil slick over the Gulf of Mexico, don’t buy your gas from them. But I think we should all just leave BP alone–if BP starts feeling pressure to clean up the spill, they might start bringing in illegal immigrants to do the jobs normal people don’t want to do, and that opens the door to terrorism.
I don’t live near the Gulf and I don’t care what happens to it. If the people there are unhappy, they can move. I don’t want my hard-earned tax dollars to go to a situation which doesn’t concern me. That’s socialism. And it’s just one small step from using the government to clean up the oil spill to having the government run our health care system.
Great job, Obama! Keep the government out of this.
Re comment #8:
Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain. – Friedrich von Schiller
H/T: Radio Derb
After 41 days Obama, vacationing in Illinois, announces he is trippling the manpower in the gulf. Hummm after being on the job since day one, why tripple the manpower now?
HAVE YOU PLUGGED THE HOLE YET DADDY? hehe
Levi is right, at least Bush flew over NOLA after a day, It’s taken Obama 41 days to get partially involved. There’s no comparison. Wonder if the people cleaning the beaches today in the gulf are imagining Obama bar b queing some ribs this afternoon in Illinois?
Why should the government get involved? Isn’t that socialism?
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?hpf=1&a_id=93915
Good job, a-hole!
Interesting point. Except the big difference is that Katrina was a natural disaster that was no one’s “fault.” The oil spill is BP’s fault, and they need to be the ones who fix it, or who pay to fix it and the cleanup.
Wow the liberals who post here are truly “retarded”!! Take for example comments by dumbo Ashphanez. How pray tell, is doing the job assigned to the federal government on a short term basis socialism? What a load of crap!!! It goes to show that most liberals have not a clue about economics and politics if they go around claiming that doing a job that is lawfully a part of govt responsibility is socialism!! Bah.
The federal government response should have been along the same lines as that which is required after any natural disaster. The clean up is in fact the responsibility of the Feds, since they have the equipment necessary for the action to be taken. The Feds are also responsible for things like permits to build the sand berms…. which they have prevaricated about giving for more than one month… and the list of responsibilities is quite long.
As to loss of life: I guess the 11 lives lost do not matter.
The point is that allowing the oil plume to get worse will impact upon the food chain in the gulf. In the long term it will ruin the fishing industry, forcing the USA to buy supplies from China and elsewhere. The oil damage will also impact upon the coral reefs in the area. It will harm the marine life as well as the bird life of the region.
Whilst the Feds have the responsibility to respond to the clean up in a timely fashion, ultimately BP must pay the price of the clean up. For now though, everything must be done to ensure that the damage to the coastline is minimized.
The problem is that poop-head is using this to try and push his crap and tax. In other words everyone in the USA will pay quadruple for this particular disaster because poop-head and his unintelligent minions did nothing except to dither and play golf. Where was that whiz, Chu? Not a peep out of the wunder-kid Nobel prize winner. Rather we find out that Chu is also in the pocket of BP – via funding at Berkeley.