38 SHAFER from 10
ever happening. There’s a cozy relationship between the regulators (the MMS) and the oil companies and the oil rigs they are sup- posed to regulate. But what has angered
Americans even more than the oil gushing into the Gulf is the response to the spill. BP has had a lot of trouble and have failed to plug the leak on the oil rig. This is no doubt a difficult task and I don’t share as much anger at BP for its efforts to stop the oil from flowing as others (though I am very angry that they ignored safety standards that could have prevented the spill from happening in the first place). This is not an easy job: trying to stop oil from flowing thou- sands of feet underwater. The federal govern- ment’s response has been abysmal. The Obama Ad- ministration has simply not been on the ball. First, Obama hardly visited the Gulf Coast region at all in the first 40 days after the spill. He only dispatched some Cabinet officials to the region. He didn’t call
THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, July 15, 2010
for a gathering of every relevant government of- ficial, scientists and other experts in the first few days after the spill. He did, however, spend a lot of time playing nearly 20 rounds of golf, holding ceremonies for multiple sports teams and vaca- tioning a few days. When he did finally go to the Gulf to visit, he heard multiple complaints from Louisi- ana Gov. Bobby Jindal of the failure of the adminis- tration to sign waivers on over 20 barriers to protect the marshlands from oil. Many Gulf Coast gover- nors have complained about a lack of assistance from the Feds and a lack of an effective chain of command for resources and response efforts. Re- sponse efforts require a solid chain of command, readiness, and on-scene visits- the President and his administration did not do these critical tasks. The President has been erratic: first, he was pretty hands-off when it came to BP, letting them do most of the clean up with mini- mal supervision or as-
sistance. Then, he lashed out at BP, pledging to “kick ass.” This was not a shining moment for presi- dential leadership that truly requires working with, but keeping strong watch on BP. The people don’t want
Pres. Obama to “kick ass.” They want him to lead. Obama has been great at spreading the blame around and not taking responsibility for his own administration’s failures in its response. They don’t want anger. They want competent leadership. But let’s be clear: this is not Obama’s forte. He was a community orga- nizer and a senator. He voted “present” multiple times as a state and U.S. Senator. His community organizations specialized in attacking, not respond- ing to crises. He is not Mr. Fix-It, even though he campaigned as one. He is a politician—a lot of talk, not much effective action. The only action he re-
ally took was the ban on offshore drilling on all oil rigs in the Gulf (includ-
ing those that have no connection to BP) which hurt Gulf Coast residents economically even more than they were already. Pres. Obama’s $20 billion escrow fund for victims’ claims against BP was mostly a good plan, but I fear it will transform into a slush fund since it is run by the government and will end up being raided by Congress in the future. Worse still, he has taken
the oil spill crisis as justi- fication to push for his po- litical agenda of cap and trade that has been re- jected by most Americans. That won’t help clean up the oil in the Gulf or plug the leak on the rig. It is Obama the politician, not Obama the crisis manager at work here.
Kevin Shafer is a political
science major at Florida Gulf Coast University, a member of Young Repub- licans and is working this summer for Marco Rubio’s campaign in the U.S. Sen- ate race in Florida.
ADVOCATES from 8
ing” many duties and services performed by union personnel and the thugs pulling the strings of government. We need more privatization at the local, state, and national levels. And like Laco- nia, Franklin, Dover, and Rochester - the NH cit- ies with strong tax caps reigning in spending to mirror the ability of the taxpayers to pay - the NH government and Federal government should do the same. Lynch: stop spending and borrowing money. Obama: stop printing money and get out of the way of Amer- icans who know how to solve problems. We know what ther plans are: create an environ- ment where we need a new revenue stream or even more dependence on government. First we make the right choices in the primary - and then we take back our govern- ment in November!
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