The President canceled a trip abroad to stay home and deal with the health care bill as it worked its way through Congress, so will he cancel his trip again to deal with the country's largest oil spill in our history?
The public perception is growing that President Obama is staying way too cool and calm during this major environmental and financial disaster. He may be seething inside at BP and the oil spill, but to the average American, he looks anything but angry. The President couldn't be bothered to stay overnight in Louisiana. The President has not appointed someone of stature like Bill Clinton or Colin Powell to move to New Orleans and take charge of this massive oil spill and its cleanup.
The President says he is angry at BP -- yes, is there anyone in the land that is not mad at BP for their terrible destruction of the environment and their incompetence in cleaning up the oil spill? I can be angry at BP, but I am not the President of the United States. Enough already about anger at BP, take charge of the situation, show us you care and have some emotion about the problem!
Sending your Attorney General to start criminal investigations against BP is OK, but how in the world does that solve the ongoing oil spill? A commission is also OK, but how in the world does that solve the oil spill as every second it continues to kill wetlands and wildlife in Louisiana, and is now spreading towards Florida?
It is a sense of perception, and the vast majority of Americans do not see a president who is angry enough for them. Going to Indonesia in a few weeks, if the oil is still spurting out, would be a huge slap in the face to everyone living along the Gulf Coast and to everyone else in America. I certainly hope the president feels he needs to stay home and on top of this massive disaster rather than going abroad during the crisis.
Mr. President: Cancel your trip abroad and appoint a well-known and well-respected individual to take charge of the disaster in the Gulf. This has gone way beyond a private company -- it is a federal government concern and the president needs to do everything in the federal government's power to stop the oil leak and begin a massive clean-up. Where is the sense of urgency from this White House?
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was quite angry and spoke of the urgency to clean up this massive oil spill in a press conference on the Gulf Coast yesterday.
Governor Jindal said the federal government has done "too little too late" and went on to comment that the oil spill "is not just about our coast -- it is fundamentally about our way of life in Louisiana."
Jindal, a presidential possibility for the GOP in 2012, is gaining national recognition as he becomes the face of Louisiana in getting this oil spill under control. The governor is a believer in small and limited government, but he sees the need for the federal government to act, and act now, in this national disaster.
Jindal wants the federal government to approve construction of offshore sand berms to protect the coastline, and he cannot understand why there is not more urgency on the part of the federal government. As the former congressman and Rhodes Scholar stated, "I think there could have been a greater sense of urgency" on the part of the federal government, and "we need our federal government for this kind of crisis."
Jindal is trying to take the lead on this disaster and not be like the former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, who was nowhere to be seen during Hurricane Katrina.
The 38-year-old, first American governor of Indian descent, is making a national name for himself by expressing anger and urgency and showing some competence in solving this oil spill crisis. These are all the things that the president should be doing, but Obama seems to have lost some of his brilliant political instincts and is way behind the American public in their anger at the oil spill.
The president should take charge now. He should appoint an oil spill czar now. He should cancel his trip to Indonesia now. He should show some public anger. It is obvious BP is incompetent in cleaning up this mess -- surely the president can find someone competent to clean it up and do it now.
This is and has been a public relations disaster for the president. Suing BP -- they should be sued for incompetence -- is not going to clean up one drop of oil.
Where is the man who promised us "Change We Can Believe In" and "Yes We Can"? He seems to have disappeared during this crisis.
Hopefully the governor of Louisiana and others can step in where the president fears to tread.