Is The Gulf Oil Spill President Obama’s Hurricane Katrina?

It's time to Break It Down!

Well, it depends on whom you ask. There are countless talking heads on virtually every news network, and a gaggle of other commercial and cable channels spouting their “sage” counsel on the subject.  The range of choices runs the gamut, from absolutely to absolutely not.

Yesterday President Obama addressed the nation regarding the April 20th explosion that resulted in the loss of 11 lives, 17 injuries, and untold millions of gallons of spilled oil that continues escaping unabated. Having recovered from his “Whose ass do I need to kick” moment, POTUS used his best cool, calm, & deliberative demeanor to try to restore, in some cases, and instill, in others, confidence that the President and his Administration can take control of this catastrophic situation, and resolve the crisis.

I have already noted there are lots places to go read or hear what the pundits think about the question the subject poses. I have included a few examples below of varying points of view, for your perusal. Primarily, however, this post is intended to provide my answer to the question.

I will never be as smart or as polished as President Obama. But then, who is? The first hyperlink below will take you to a video of the President’s remarks. His comments provide a relatively straight-forward discussion of the issue, the fallout, the challenge ahead, and how he is proceeding to deal with the matter. By all means, click on the link and view the video if you missed the speech last night. At least that way, you can decide how well or poorly he did, based on the merits of the speech, not as a result of your preferred commentator’s spin.

At this point, I am going to rewind, and revisit the original query. “Is The Gulf Oil Spill President Obama’s Hurricane Katrina?” First, in the wide world of geo-calamitous events, few tragic episodes are directly comparable. Yet for the purpose of a broad assessment, I will stipulate that direct comparability is not necessary. Suffice it to say, Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill both qualify as horrendous disasters. Close enough to at least evaluate the question posed above in a single conversation.

Having said that, I will tell you that while both events were catastrophes, the Oil Spill was not only no Katrina, but it was certainly not this President’s version of the same. Katrina was a natural disaster. As such, it matched man against nature; no contest! I could go on and on about the timeliness of then President Bush’s response, or the lack thereof, but that is really not the point. At least it is not my point.

The Spill, as I will call it, was a result of a series of human judgments. Those decisions are a reflection of a prevailing and fundamental aversion to governmental regulation, equaled in some instances, only by the propensity to blame government when it does not effectively rein in and manage what has become; in the minds of the people, some rogue industry. See Banking Industry…Financial Crisis, or in this case, The Petroleum Industry…The Spill.

I have close friends who believe Barack Obama is President, ergo, this is his crisis. And in absolute terms, that is correct.  In fact, that explains a key aspect of the motivation for last night’s speech. The President held himself accountable. But let me be clear, the reality is, The Spill belongs to BP. Period!  If you are keeping score, that places me squarely in the absolutely not camp.

BP is one of the largest business conglomerates in the world. The corporate giant has spent billions of dollars fighting new laws and regulations, wrangling to escape the scope and parameters of existing rules, and even spinning and otherwise attempting to minimize the all too obvious effects of this cataclysmic devastation. So to summarize, when it suits their interests, detractors and poseurs enthusiastically castigate President Obama for being a Socialist. Conveniently, when confronted by a surreal crisis, such as The Spill, their free market bravado is displaced by a sense of expectancy that the same President, whom they have fervently pilloried for his activism, should come to the recue, or garner the blame.

Of course in 2010 we are accustomed to fine art of duplicity. But disingenuous practices are not new. In 1965, Marvin Gaye coined a phrase that aptly responds to such behavior, and turned it into song. Click on the link and listen to his timeless A cappella rendition of “Ain’t That Peculiar.” Though Marvelous Marvin was not talking about politics then, by the time he penned “Mercy Mercy Me” in 1971, it is clear the ecology was on his mind. I wonder what he would write today, in the wake of The Spill.

Obviously there is no way to know what Marvin would say. Whatever it would have been, I am sure he would have said it well, and that he would have sung it melodiously. Moreover, I am equally convinced that in response to the question “Is The Gulf Oil Spill President Obama’s Hurricane Katrina?” The answer, by all objective measures, emphatically, is no! The Spill is the province of BP. President Obama has not risen to the level of Knight in Shining Armor as it relates to this subject, but he is clearly part of the solution; not the problem.

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/06/15/obama.speech/index.html?hpt=C1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/14/AR2010061404432.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/opinion/30rich.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-27/gulf-crisis-isnt-obamas-katrina-911-or-even-his-oil-spill-/

http://businessandmedia.org/commentary/2010/20100526143624.aspx

http://current.com/news/92458281_bobby-jindal-showing-louisianas-oil-crisis-is-not-obamas-katrina.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-shearer/why-this-is-obamas-katrin_b_589763.html

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30258085.htm

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/05/28/obamas-crucible-oil-spill-isnt-his-katrina-yet/

http://www.theloop21.com/news/gop-attempts-smear-obama-with-gulf-oil-are-bogus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpWyhRI7baY

http://s0.ilike.com/play#Marvin+Gaye:Ain%27t+That+Peculiar:129327:s45972.4724.15283498.1.2.14%2Cstd_ca3572ad1ef14991955b4581676e15ba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDtg_ElK-Y&feature=related

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP