…He’s spending the holiday weekend in Chicago when he should be commemorating Memorial Day here with the families of troops killed in battle and with veterans at Arlington Cemetery. [...] … F.D.R. achieved greatness not by means of imposing his temperament and intellect on the world but by reacting to what the world threw at him. [...] … Instead of getting Bill Clinton to offer Joe Sestak a job, Obama should be offering Clinton one. Bill would certainly know how to gush at a gusher gone haywire. Let him resume a cameo role as Feeler in Chief. The post is open. – Maureen Dowd
No one is more acerbically banal than Maureen Dowd when she is lobbing word bombs at Bill Clinton. She’s made a living doing it for a long time. So to read her not only praising Bill Clinton, but suggesting Pres. Obama offer him a job to save his cold self is startling. It’s like waking up in an alternate universe finding out Hillary is president and the country is powered by nukes.
…and if that’s not enough for you, get a load of Frank Rich today. The New York times headline asks and answers a question many people are positing: Obama’s Katrina? Maybe Worse. Unfortunately for Rich, the reality that Pres. Obama hasn’t a clue what to do caused his column today to turn into a word puzzle of contorted political panic. Rich isn’t sure how to blame Bush-Cheney, while reconciling that Pres. Obama foolishly didn’t launch his own task force, as I explained yesterday through the aid of oil experts, just in case BP did what they do best, fail utterly.
I could care less about comparisons, Katrina or otherwise. I’ve been railing from the start that Pres. Obama and the feds had no plan beyond putting BP on point, then applying the hope rule. It was a colossal mistake that is compounded by the gravity of the situation.
But if Maureen Dowd is praising former Pres. Bill Clinton, while Frank Rich is having a rhetorical breakdown, I’d say Pres. Obama’s political grace time is fast approaching empty.
WoW Taylor,
Talk about the chickens commin’ home to roost. I don’t think this was his Katrina but boy was this that 3am call.
Ready on day 1..hmmmm….I think not!
dafederalist,
3am call exactly. With the clock ticking down to “high noon”. And a president now desperate to prove he’s up to the job.
I’m not an Obama fan, never believed all the hype about his being another JFK, but for all our sakes I hope he succeeds.
There sure are a lot of “quarter back” presidents in this country who know how to criticize BUT offer ZERO solutions !
Well..since President Obama is too busy fundraising to do his job….somebody has too!
He wouldn’t accept from 14 countries, I doubt he would accept him from the commoners.
I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Dowd. This paragraph says it all:
“For five weeks, it looked as though Obama considered the gushing that became the worst oil spill in U.S. history a distraction, like a fire alarm going off in the middle of a law seminar he was teaching. He’ll deal with it, but he’s annoyed because it’s not on his syllabus.”
I’m sorry people in need are such an annoyance to the fun part of being in the WH, Mr. President.
he seems to see everything as a distraction. his presser last week was okay, but it was 5 weeks too late. if he had said those things 5 weeks ago he would appear in charge. if he didn’t have the sense to address the nation then, his PR handlers should have… his PR folk are screwing him over.
I have heard some “experts” say that a bomb, even a nuke could reasonably be set off to close off the leak. Maybe its just me but the thought of that freaks me out, even worse than the oozing oil.
When a crisis hits people make choices under pressure they would not make if they were thinking clearly. I just hope and pray Pres. Obama doesn’t do something extreme, out of the sense of desperation he must clearly feel.
I agree – this is the 3 a.m. phone call. And the phone is still ringing…..
So, did Obama really not understand the significance of this event, for his and the Demo’s political lives? Did he really trust (1) pre-BP disaster assurance by petroleum industries that their technology would prevent / take care of any real off-shore drilling problems and (2) post-BP disaster assurances they’d take care of what they and other petroleum industry types said would never happen? Is he just playng on the Insiders’ team, perhaps a bit miffed that he’s had to spend a bit of time trying to look as if he’s leading / taking responsibility?
Hilarious piece Taylor! Ha! Thanks for the laugh.
“No one is more acerbically banal than Maureen Dowd ……” fabulous description of her style!
Dowd pretty much nails it and You are so right Taylor….Rich is having a breakdown.
The UAE is on standby to help- when and if the U.S. asks:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/05/30/uae.oil.response/index.html?hpt=T1
Maureen Dowd saying something good about former president Bill Clinton is shocking with in itself. Frank Rich, well I am glad he is finally seeing reality for a change. Well I am so happy that President Obama is having such a good time in Chicago with his barbecue while the people in the gulf are living in hell !! And lets not stop there, President Obama skips Arlington National Cemetery to honor the troops who gave their lives up for our country.
When Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in ‘65, Johnson flew into town and went into a shelter full of people who had been evacuated from Algiers. It was dark inside and people were scared and didn’t now what was going to happen to them. He shined a flashlight in his face and said, ‘My name is Lyndon Baines Johnson. I’m your goddamn president and I’m here to tell you my office and the people of the United States are behind you.’ Not bad, huh?”
…………….
Picked this up over at the Confluence.
Thanks, LL.
He showed he cared.
REALLY ?!?
Ready on day 1….HA
hc4bo:
LBJ, not BHO
Unbelievable- I Just watched a clip of an interview with BP’s Tony Hayward where he said all the people involved in the clean up who have been hospitalized or complaining of headaches, dizziness, nausea etc., likely have…get this…FOOD POISONING and that it’s not related to the oil or dispersant. BP is apparently not allowing those involved in the clean up to wear protective equipment such as HEPA filter face masks (or even the cheap, regular surgical masks) because it makes for a bad “visual.”
Based on that alone, not even considering all the other horrific things Hayward & Co. have done, it’s clear that BP has a conflict of interest and even now is willing to put people’s lives at risk in an attempt to limit their corporate liability.
Does Barack Obama live in a bubble? By saying that he and the feds have control of the situation what he is essentially saying is that the decision by BP to not protect the workers involved in clean-up because it makes for bad visuals, is also HIS decision. Is that what he wants? Is that what he really means? Do his people (Salazar, Nepolatano, etc.) even know that is going on?
And where the hell is the EPA?
the wh is in extreme danger. obama is in a numbing bubble of cheerleading staff. this is how presidencies are lost. obama backed lincoln, specter and opposed the base. not wise but its what happens when u are in a bubble.
Excellent Post Taylor. I don’t know if you have noticed but some of the policies that Obama has put in have been republican policies. He has followed alot in Bush’s footsteps. The republicans believe (Rush) that the Gulf of Mexico secreets that much oil every single day. So maybe Obama was listening to his republican friends and did not realize that this was not true. I grew up on the Texas Coast (Corpus Christi) and this oil gusher makes me sick and it makes me sicker that we have a democrat in the WH and one that was supposed to be left leaning and he has sat on his hands while this oil has reached the coast. I used to go deep sea fishing…a wonderful experience and to see all these fish dying is heartbreaking. I would have expected this from GWB, but this is a Democrat or is he???
That’s another thing, why is he limiting help from only Canada, Mexico and Denmark??? Surely the middle east with all their wars are capable of helping.
I’m sorry but this is just making me sick…the texas coast is beautiful and until now was untouched by all the commercialization.
hah- im in texas near houston. im going to the tx dem conv in corpus as a delegate to nominate bill white! ive said for a loong time obama is mroe like a bloomberg independant type. most democrats distrust corporate control esp in eviro issues. obama however is very trusting of corporations which has been his problem from day one. dont worry if oil gets on our beaches guv perry will seceed from t he union- and then gobble up the fed money sent here
I distrust Gov. Perry more than I do the devil..just kidding.
So the dem conv is in Corpus this time???
There are idiots out there who do not realize this spill is going to affect everything…they are under the impression that just a few animals will die…who cares right…just on Red Eye(fox) the idiots on there said “when you drill you spill”, what idiots!
They want no regulation at all….just wait til there kids get sick….they will be the first to complain…unfettered capitalism is BAD!
there are too many Clinton staffers in this administration.
when will Obama decide to be his own man???
obama’s key staff are his bubble- all from chicago most with him for years. valarie jarrett, longtime friend of michele’s and baracks, axelrod, chicagoite with longtime ties to the marchine, rahm -chicagoite who worked for clinton and then became a congressman. all from his hometown. most the staff worked for clinton bc dems dont win the wh often and clinton is the only 2 term dem president since fdr or wilson. so any dem in the 90s with a future usually went thru the clinto wh. but obama should bring in new blood asap
I have to call bullshit!! Lets face the facts…this is his administration…he staffed it….he could have had CHIEF OF STAFF HOWARD DEAN but ohhh nooo…he choose Rahm Emanuel…REMEMBER—he is still the PRESIDENT…he runs the show….opps..I forgot…BP is runnin the show….so lets not blame this on the CLINTON Administration….say what you want about former President Bill Clinton..but no one can say he doesn’t know how to manage a crisis. No one can say he would have handled this whole BP affair exactly the same…thats for damn sure.
Its not the Clinton staffers that are mucking things up, although Rahm needs to go, but the rest are good. Just because they worked for Clinton doesn’t mean there bad, they were just used to working for a real President and one that could lead…Obama can’t do either!
This is all well and good, but I would STILL like to see Ms. Dowd in one of those lil French Maids outfits you see for sale around Halloween!
I am positive she has one in her closet
Bon appateat!!