I've gone through a lot of emotions in the past few weeks as I watch report after report on the horrific oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. It started with concern, progressed through alarm, then horror, then dread, then more horror, then outrage, back to dread, then anger, a couple of days of numb shock, and now I've settled into a kind of simmering fury, although to be honest, distinguishing that from my normal mood is a bit tricky.
Were I the president, I'd be ordering Navy SEALs to blast their way into BP's corporate -headquarters, haul the officers and the board of directors out onto the street in handcuffs, and start shooting one an hour until they stopped the leak.
This is why it's a good thing I'm not the president.
The cries for the man who actually is president to "Fix it! Fix it now!" have spread beyond the usual "Blame Barack First" contingent. When pressed for details, however, you can usually get them to admit that, well, it's true, the U.S. government isn't failing to deploy some sort of supersecret well-capping sub that could stop the leak.
And yes, they'll admit when cornered, "kicking BP off the site" would be counterproductive. For good or ill, the oil companies who do the drilling are the only ones who have the deep-sea technology to even try to stop a leak like this.
So, struggling for some way to make this all Obama's fault, they complain that it's not enough to have deployed the Coast Guard, sacked the head of the Minerals Management Service, suspended further deep-water drilling, frozen new deep-water drilling permits and opened a criminal probe into the accident that caused the spill. Because gosh-darn it, he's just not mad enough about it.
James Carville huffed, "This president needs to tell BP, 'I'm your daddy,'" which frankly is pretty creepy even for Carville. Film director Spike Lee urged the president to "go off, one time!" The New York Times' Maureen Dowd referred to him as "President Spock" and complained, "Too often it feels as though Barry is watching from a -balcony, reluctant to enter the fray until the clamor of the crowd forces him to come down."
When assured by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs that the president was "enraged" over what was going on, CBS correspondent Chip Reid eagerly asked, "Can you describe it? Does he yell and scream? What does he do?"
Folks, this is beyond silly.
Part of the reason people voted for this guy is that, in contrast to the mercurial, erratic and often grumpy McCain, Barack Obama was the one who seemed calm, collected and in command of himself. Remember when McCain "suspended his campaign" and rushed back to Washington with his hair on fire over the financial meltdown? Once the big meeting that McCain insisted President Bush convene was over, it was Barack Obama who came out of the fray looking like the guy who ought to be in command.
I voted for Obama because he acted like a grownup, and while I've been disappointed with him in some ways, he hasn't yet let me down on that one.
So when David Broder of the supposedly liberal Washington Post starts comparing him unfavorably to Louisiana Rep. Charlie Melancon, who had to stop a -hearing on the oil spill's impact "because he was weeping so hard," I have to wonder:
With all due respect to Rep. Melancon, exactly what would be the reaction of all of these complainers if they turned on the TV and the leader of the Free World was weeping so uncontrollably he'd lost the power of speech? Or if he were pounding his fists on the lectern and screaming with rage? I suspect it would be divided between "Obambi, in over his head, loses control" and "Oh, lord, this must be even worse than we thought."
I'm reminded of a scene in the movie "This Is Spinal Tap" when, after a particularly hilarious fiasco, the band's manager defends himself by saying he was only following the instructions of their dimwitted lead guitarist. "It's not your job to be as confused as Nigel!" one of the other band members snaps.
Likewise, it's not the president's job to be as crazy with anger and despair as we are. Do we really need a president whose motto is, "When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout"?
Dusty, this was just a perfect blog post. I agree with everything you said.
ReplyDeleteAnd you even quoted a line from my favorite movie of all time.
This man is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. But luckily for us, he's able to shoulder that load.
Yup, what you said.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the "Cinderella" cartoon going around Facebook? It about sums up the whole thing. Obama is pictured on his knees patiently cleaning up a messy floor, and he's surrounded by the voice bubbles of people demanding: "Cinderella, fix the economy," "Cinderella, fix the oil spill," "Cinderella, fix the problem in Afghanistan," "Cinderella, bail out the banks," etc etc...you get the picture.
Yes, this is yet another reason to be glad that Honorable John McCain is not President.
ReplyDeleteGood grief. As if tears -- crocodile or otherwise -- would plug the leak and clean up the mess. Good column, as usual, and I join you in being glad we have Obama and not McCain at the helm.
ReplyDeleteYou have stated what I was thinking too, very succinctly. It is amazing how Mr Obama has been demonized. Back before the election they were saying he couldn't hit the ground running. When Health Care passed, he was hurrying too much. With other things he wasn't fast enough. Now, he is not emotional enough. I get the feeling that because he arrived with the nation in such shambles for many reasons, he is the whipping boy for everything that doesn't go just perfectly, whether he was even in the building at the time or not!
ReplyDeleteI swear, sometimes these folks are incredibly childish. Swinging from "stay out of my life/health care/banks/etc" to "get over here and fix it right now and right away and where the hell ARE you?!" does so very much remind me of teenage drama. It was exhausting on a personal level, and on a national level it's beyond belief.
ReplyDeleteGreat column, Dusty!
Great post, J.D. 'Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteResults are all that matter, at least to history. Erection campaigns are built on emotion. Our descendants will be able to look back on this and see the results and evaluate how well he handled this situation, or didn't. Until, image is everything. Leaders should govern with an eye to history, but we're living in the here and now. He'll suffer politically if he doesn't throw the public a bone to make them believe he cares as much as they do. He doesn't have to rant or scream or, dear God, not cry; he might want to kick a little ass beyond what he has so far.
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