To all the men and women serving our Armed Forces, but also the families who support them and do without, a grateful nation can never repay your sacrifice.

edited & updated version cross-posted at Huffington Post

via Huffington Post

We’re now all caught in a horror film entitled Waiting for BP.

The whole problem with Pres. Obama’s continued reliance on BP is that it simply won’t get the job done, because contrary to the mantra coming from federal officials, BP simply cannot be trusted. They have been in a place of epic corporate damage control that prevents them from being transparent about how this blowout happened in the first place. Everything from that point is mitigating the damage that can be seen.

Gov. Jindal should be given every resource he needs and then some. Arguing with him on technicalities of Corp of Engineers is petty and small. Give him everything, sand barriers, anything else.

From the New York Times.

Internal documents from BP show that there were serious problems and safety concerns with the Deepwater Horizon rig far earlier than those the company described to Congress last week.

The problems involved the well casing and the blowout preventer, which are considered critical pieces in the chain of events that led to the disaster on the rig.

The documents show that in March, after several weeks of problems on the rig, BP was struggling with a loss of “well control.” And as far back as 11 months ago, it was concerned about the well casing and the blowout preventer. [...]

I also find the juvenile back and forth between Robert Gibbs and James Carville not only beneath the debate that needs to take place, but nakedly political on the part of Gibbs. The only thing that will help Pres. Obama is if this leak is stopped. Saying that Carville, who is on the ground in Louisiana, doesn’t have the facts to weigh in is insulting, elitist, and arrogant.

What the White House does not get is that all anyone is seeing is BP’s floundering. There is no federal effort that Obama is overseeing that offers another point of information, study or fact gathering that can lead the public to believe Pres. Obama is in charge. People need to see Obama’s leadership in action. Watching BP fail over and over again is going to start sticking if he’s not careful.

Oil experts I’ve emailed or with whom I’ve had dialogue offered some suggestions, which I believe would make a huge difference. That’s because it begins with getting BP off point. I’ve compiled some, which includes my own interpretations of what was written or said, to prove that it’s not that hard for the Administration to show visible signs of leadership that would have an impact immediately.

Aid to businesses: Obama needs to get the ball rolling on economic damages immediately. This takes BP, Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron International Corp (who supplied the rig) working together. Get the money flowing now. Immediately. This should be Obama’s number one priority. Use last year’s tax return as jumping off point.

Plugging the well: Obama needs to assemble a task force of oil and drilling company CEOs beyond BP. These individuals will come up with a plan of action beyond “top kill.” This group will also decide what role BP will play. A spokesperson from the group will report.

Clean up the gulf: All the governors of the states impacted, plus scientists and environmentalists in another group. Same thing as above, get a plan of action together, one person report.

Wildlife and bird rescue: International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) needs all the help they can get. Pick a team, the best team should be assembled, plan of action, one person reporting to Obama, as above.

Once we get into next week, if BP fails, which I’m expecting, Pres. Obama’s problems rise exponentially. People have to see the feds doing something. They need evidence of teams responding beyond BP. The time is now.


UDPATED: It’s now time everyone remember what Matthew Simmons said on Dylan Ratigan’s show several times this week: “… The thing you need to be terrified about is there might be no way to put this out other than waiting for the giant oil (inaudible) to deplete, which would be 9,000 days. So what they’re already worried about is that it’s going to take (the oil) out of the Gulf of Mexico.”

The evidence was out there from the start, according to experts, including those I was engaging, that BP was not the company that could solve the catastrophe they’d caused by what is likely criminal corporate malfeasance. The latest statement from BP proves what these experts have said from the start; people who were out there, but the Obama administration chose not to tap, because they put all of their hopes on BP. As we all know well by now, hope is not a plan. Now we’re getting “we tried” from BP, when the worst was foretold by their negligence from the start, which is coming out in documents. The incompetence is overwhelming on all fronts. Once it surfaces that Pres. Obama has no plan b, but that this is only going to be oil containment, his problems are going to multiply exponentially. Not having multiple options already in motion is simply horrific crisis management. An epic failure that will hobble Pres. Obama if he doesn’t start issuing directives, getting small tankers at the very least in the area, as well as putting the options I listed above in motion immediately.

“I can say we tried. But what I can also say is this scares everybody, the fact that we can’t make this well stop flowing, or haven’t succeeded in that so far,” Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, said in a late-day news conference. – BP must fall back on oil spill containment strategy

This essay has been bumped and edited for update.

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BREAKING (10:29 am): First head rolls… Elizabeth Birnbaum fired as director of the U.S. Minerals Management Service, sources tell AP.

–Updated: “Top kill” reportedly working–

He blew it. Obama faces a meltdown akin to the unraveling of his predecessor, George W. Bush. A press conference and a visit to the region are simply too little too late. It doesn’t matter whether government could do any better than the oil companies. The political fallout has taken hold. Obama failed to manage a massive crisis. There’s no fixing this failure. … – Craig Crawford

Full coverage at Huffington Post

According to a new USA Today/Gallup poll, 53% of Americans give Pres. Obama a failing grade on his handling of the BP blowout. It’s been earned.

So, on day 38, Pres. Obama is finally standing before the press to answer questions. This after an embarrassing Bushesque moment that found him at a San Francisco fundraiser for Sen. Boxer, while Gov. Bobby Jindal, James Carville, Donna Brazile and a chorus of others were screaming bloody murder for Obama to act.

What could he have done before today? This is what a president does who feels the nation’s pain, but also the screaming cries in the Gulf.

- Four weeks ago he should have done a closed-door meeting with the families of the 11 men who died, but also others on the BP rig, bringing experts with him so that he could hear and someone could record what is known about what happened before this accident occurred.

- Two weeks ago Pres. Obama should have taken BP off point, come before the people to announce it, putting the U.S. military in charge, with BP as back-up, also bringing in leading experts from every American oil company in the country.

- Two weeks ago Pres. Obama should have gone before the public to express what is now a scream from the people. That BP fouled our Gulf Coast, but also illustrating his own pain at what’s happening. It’s Pres. Obama who should have been the point man from the start, instead of sending bureaucrats out weeks later, people who either read from prepared speeches or droned on like robots, without adding anything but political gibberish to the horrific story.

- Instead of sending the esteemed Thad Allen out to delineate the civil and federal separation of duties, as has been done, Pres. Obama should have told BP from the start that they and their affiliated companies would not have primary decision making, evidence taking, or fact gathering. Then he should have made sure that independent people and entities were on point with the U.S. military.

The list goes on from there.

What can he do today?

- First, Pres. Obama should appeal to the Senate to immediately lift the liability caps on damages, naming names of senators who stand in the way of this important move.

- Pres. Obama should bring down the permits Gov. Bobby Jinal requested and personally put them in his hands. Then he should ask Mr. Jindal what else is needed. Obama should then get on the phone and demand everything that Mr. Jindal needs is given to him, without hesitation. A joint press conference should then be done, with Obama asking Jindal if there is anything else he needs. If Jindal says no, then Obama should say the governor has the number of the White House task force and he is to call if anything else is required.

- Most importantly, he should announce that he’s asking Congress to outlaw ultra-deep drilling off the coast of America’s shores. The 6-month moratorium on offshore drilling is now in place way too late. However, that’s not near enough. Ultra-deep drilling like what BP attempted should be outlawed.

- Pres. Obama can announce a townhall in Louisiana, then invite every fisherman, business owner and anyone else to it.

- Obama should also say that now that the federal gov. and the U.S. military is on point, there will be complete transparency on the science, the wildlife and natural habitat stats, as well as what happened and how it happened.

- Obama then should announce a team of scientists who will transparently asses the damage to the Barataria Estuary, as well as the wetlands, but also areas where oysters and shrimp live, to assess the damage of the dispersent chemicals on these areas, but also the dangers to people who eat the fish in the Gulf Coast zone impacted by BP’s corporate malfeasance.

- Pres. Obama should announce that not only will BP pay financial damages, but when the time comes BP executives could be liable for much more, hinting that criminal charges could be coming, though it’s obviously not the time to announce them now. But he should make the threat clear.

Oh, and one more thing. If Pres. Obama can announce that BP’s “top kill” is working so far, which reports breaking are now saying is true, it would help immensely. However, there will still be questions about why it took so long to get the material in place for the “top kill” and why the federal government didn’t insist that there be a worst case scenario plan in place in case what we’ve seen happened occurred. A “solution” on day 38 after the Barataria Estuary has been destroyed, chemicals polluting seafood and ruining businesses, plus people now getting sick, simply isn’t all that impressive. We can talk about how it could be worse if the “top kill” doesn’t work or hold, but that hardly makes up for BP and the feds not being prepared to protect the Gulf and the way of life of the Americans hurt by BP’s criminal negligence and the federal government’s obvious paralysis in a crisis.

There are more things that need to be done, especially since Pres. Obama has up to this day, handled the BP blowout like it was one in ten events on any given day, instead of the most important national emergency on his plate. He can never undo his hands off lack of leadership, the mistake to leave BP on point for 37 days, or his coldness to the impact of this tragedy and his lack of empathy, let alone the San Francisco photo op that lingers in many minds.

It’s clear that Pres. Obama doesn’t do empathy willingly. If it is revealed later today at his press conference, which will be held at 12:45 pm, it’s only because he was pushed, because somebody in his political office informed him that his presidency is on the line.

Obama-oil soaked dead water fowl photo compilation by the New York Times, using photos from Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press, Cheryl Gerber.

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Now The Daily Beast has obtained a document—displayed below—that goes to the heart of BP procedures, demonstrating that before the company’s previous major disaster—at a moment when the oil giant could choose between cost-savings and greater safety—it selected cost-savings. And BP chose to illustrate that choice, without irony, by invoking the classic Three Little Pigs fairy tale. – The Daily Beast

“The political stupidity of this is unbelievable. … I have no idea of why they didn’t seize this thing. I have no idea of why their attitude was so handsoffy here. … The president of the United States could’ve come down here, he could’ve been involved with the families of these 11 people… He could’ve demanded a plan in anticipation of this. It just looks like he’s not involved in this. You got to get down here and take control of this, put somebody in charge of this thing and get this moving.” – James Carville

A majority of people now disapprove of how Pres. Obama has handled BP’s blowout calamity. The bad reviews from Americans, regardless of political party, has been earned.

On the BBC’s program “World Have Your Say” yesterday, the two experts on the show, one from a spill company, the other from academia, seemed not only at a loss to take on BP, but seemed to have no idea of how some corporations work in cover up situations where the liability can be catastrophic. The spill expert saying that BP was one of the best, which experts I’ve talked to have rebutted, but also that they have a financial stake in solving the problem. What neither of these people get is that BP is in damage control to limit the damage people can see, which is why chemical dispersants were chosen by the ton, even though Louisiana officials begged the EPA not to allow the dumping, as Joe Scarborough reported today on “Morning Joe,” after seeing documents that prove it. The feds allowed the action by BP anyway, becoming complicit in destroying an ecosystem more than the oil itself. I also said that BP had done this well on the cheap, to which the spill company representative disagreed totally, saying by using Transocean that charge was simply untrue. Experts give a side of things that is important, but they are too naive by half when it comes to the politics of catastrophe, so are worthless in giving the public the reality of what’s playing out before our eyes.

Now we learn that BP ignored the warning signs that a blowout was coming. From the New York Times.

In the hours before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded last month in the Gulf of Mexico, there were strong warning signs that something was terribly wrong with the well, according to a Congressional committee that was briefed on the accident by executives from BP.

Among the red flags, the panel said, were several equipment readings suggesting that gas was bubbling into the well, a potential sign of an impending blowout. Investigators also noted “other events in the 24 hours before the explosion that require further inquiry,” including a critical decision to replace heavy mud in the pipe rising from the seabed with seawater, possibly increasing the risk of an explosion. [...]

When a company knows or gets warnings that puts people’s lives in danger, but they ignore those warnings and people die, the only question is whether it’s pre-meditated murder or simply manslaughter, though I imagine it’s the latter. We need to quit playing footsies with corporate criminals and instead hold them accountable by a standard that fits.

As for Pres. Obama, last night he was yucking it up at a fundraiser for Sen. Boxer. It was a deplorable spectacle as bad as anything George W. Bush did during Katrina.

I also find the reported “plug the damn leak” line from Obama, delivered with clenched jaw, unimpressive.

Another real issue is that over decades, going back to Ronald Reagan, we have deregulated and hobbled federal agencies, something on which the Democrats are complicit in order to gain corporate money and support, making the oil industry a self-regulating business.

Pres. Obama proved it by allowing BP to take point in a disaster they caused through what is looking like malicious intent and corporate indifference at the outcome of cutting costs and safety.

Part of what BP’s job is, besides stopping a leak on a well that should never have been drilled in the first place, is to keep as much visual damage from meeting the public’s eyes as possible. It’s one reason why disperants were used by the ton, to keep it under the ocean, even as the chemicals destroy an entire ecosystem that may never come back. It’s why in Mobile, AL it was reported that BP was using companies associated with them to count wildlife and birds killed from the oil coming on shore, so they could cover up how badly the natural habitat has been decimated by their callous corporate malfeasance.

Pres. Obama has not acquitted himself well so far during this national calamity. Dropping by the Gulf on Friday giving a speech isn’t likely to change the reality that he has remained paralyzed since it began. Every representative from the Obama administration who has been presented on camera has been an embarrassment. The fact that the federal gov. is a monstrosity with no power, having ceded it to the oil industry decades ago, doesn’t excuse having bumbling bureaucrats on camera play acting the role of outraged Obama minion in place of the Barack Obama doing it himself. The part where Mr. Obama is supposed to feel our pain, feel the dying life in the Gulf Coast region and transmit that outrage into immediate action, has been completely missing. The man can still make great speeches, but as a leader in crisis he has failed miserably.

“Eleven people are killed because of multinational corporate greed, malfeasance and possibly criminal negligence? I think Franklin Roosevelt would have jumped out of his wheelchair and run down here to be in the middle of this.” – James Carville

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