originally posted at Huffington Post
“I don’t know about that,” (Rand) Paul said, when asked about Barton’s statement during an appearance on WVLK-AM radio on Friday. “I don’t want to pile on him. … I know what that feels like. What I will say is I have never liked the tone of the president when he said things or his administration says things like he is going to put the boot on the throat of BP.” [...] “I’m not really in a position to know about what they should do to [Barton] personally. I do know what it is like to be piled on,” he said. “I do know that people sometimes can go over the top and I think he should be given the chance to explain himself.“ – Think Progress
If you want to know what U.S. energy policy would look like if Republicans take the House in November, see Rep. Joe Barton, who is the ranking GOP member on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Since 1990, he has received over $1.9 million from the oil and gas industry. Barton is also a reminder of what Pres. Obama and the administration inherited. However, that hardly gets Pres. Obama or Interior Sect. Ken Salazar off the hook, because BP’s Deepwater Horizon well was given a green light on their watch.
Even before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the use of environmental waivers was a source of concern. In September 2009, the Government Accountability Office released a report concluding that the waivers were being illegally granted to onshore drilling projects. – New York Times
As for Mr. Barton’s apology about his apology to BP, it wasn’t exactly heartfelt; very clear it was Republican political damage control in an election year. Because it’s not like he wasn’t expressing a common view of Republicans. Listen to right-wing radio and the Tea Party activists; read wingnut blogs by people like Michelle Malkin and many others who believe that our natural resources are there for us to use at will, with the corporations like BP who do the dirty work simply heroes of ingenuity.
Short take on Republican energy policy is sour and simple: let the birds die.
But before Democrats get too comfy in their environmental superiority, one needs to understand that Pres Obama’s “drill, baby, drill” policy isn’t any different from Bush-Cheney. In fact, even though Obama knew of the mess at MMS, which was perpetrated under Pres. Bush and his Haliburton-tied friend, Dick Cheney, Interior Sect. Ken Salazar didn’t do anything about it when he came in. Almost 18-months into the Obama administration we’re finding that the Obama administration simply doesn’t know how to manage this crisis.
The other problem with the Obama administration is that they’re treating the press just like Republicans do. The Columbia Journalism Review is reporting that regardless of promises, access by the press and reporters is sill being obstructed by BP and the federal government.
No one expects Pres. Obama to know how to stop BP’s blowout, because it’s obvious no one does, though Matthew Simmons speaking on Dylan Ratigan’s show almost a month ago suggested the amount of oil flowing into the Gulf was so catastrophic that military means should be used, like bombing the well, because the flow simply must be stopped. That’s a decision that can only come from Pres. Obama, which I don’t think would happen because of too many unknowable consequences. I’ve engaged with oil experts since the start of this environmental 9/11, but haven’t found anyone that can guarantee an outcome. Beyond stopping the leak, the job of containment and clean up is under Obama’s direction and leadership, so there is no excuse for not having oil-sucking barges working overtime. The latest ABC story about the delays and screw ups on the ground are understandably infuriating for Gov. Bobby Jindal. There is no good excuse for it and the lack of coordination and “command and control” issues land on Pres. Obama’s desk. Many oil experts believe supertankers should also be utilized, with the red tape keeping this from occurring bridged immediately.
The politics of energy is playing out amidst all of this.
Rep. Joe Barton is the face and future of American energy policy if Republicans get back in power. People need to digest that fact and think about it, because it’s been proven through what happened under Bush-Cheney for eight years when MMS basically became an agency of oil cronies and incompetence, corruption and malfeasance.
However, Pres. Obama and the Democrats who are in charge down in the Gulf right now, including Interior Sect. Ken Salazar, who I believe should have been relieved of his job weeks ago, still don’t have a handle on their side of this containment and clean up. That’s obvious to anyone watching this nightmare day after day.
So, it’s no wonder people are furious at government and the Congress. There is not much to recommend any of them right now.
The sad truth is we have come to expect Republicans to be incompetent and disrespectful of government. But on the other side, Democrats are expected to be competent at running the government, and so far, Pres. Obama and his team have flunked that test.
Meanwhile, as you read this and plan your weekend, tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil continue to spew into the Gulf, with no end in sight.
I am as disgusted and disspirited as it is humanly possible to be over the less then pathetic performance of President Obama and the collection of Dem. guttless wonders, professional Pols and Dinos that pass for a Congress these days.
That being said, meatpuppets like this vile piece of mercenary filth will guarentee I will STILL vote a Democratic ticket come the election.
BINGO.
That’s the beauty of this disgusting display from Republicans, but also Tea Party activists and other conservatives.
It reminds everyone of the stakes.
Taylor what scares me about them not being able to stop the oil gushing is what happens if they can’t stop it like in the Niger Delta in Nigeria. That oil tragedy has been going on for almost 50 years and no one has been able to contain it. Of course Nigeria doesn’t have the clout that the US has to demand that Shell come in and clean up the mess so the people are living with oil soaked water and land. That is a tragedy that I’m afraid might happen in the Gulf if they can’t stop this thing.
As far as Joe Barton is concerned – he needs a brain transplant as do most of the Republicans. They are without common sense and are not rational or logical people. They only see the bottom line, the hell with what could happen to the planet. And for what it’s worth Obama should get rid of Salazar.
BTW – your posts are really hitting the marks. I love the “in your face” stuff you write and I wish that you were on television. I don’t have to agree with you all the time but so far I haven’t seen you off the mark.
Hey JA. Thanks very much. The cable thing is a lot of fun, no doubt. But the work I’m concentrating beyond the blog doesn’t allow for much time to do anything right now.
Matthew Simmons said weeks ago that the real horror is that the well can’t be capped or the relief wells won’t do the job. We’ll know by mid-July.
Right now, Obama needs to just contain the oil and keep the barges moving.
Among other things, the abysmal mishandling of the Gulf Gusher is yet another indication that Mr. Obama is not the “fast learner” that some insisted he would be once in the WH. My guess is that Obama knows precisely what he’s doing (which is what he wants to do, in terms of policies that in significant ways are so similar to those of Bush-Cheney), but in terms of process and governance and management of public perception, he continues to flounder. And floundering in gushing gallons of oil is going to require extensive and long-term political clean-up, perhaps taking more time than he has.
“Right now, Obama needs to just contain the oil and keep the barges moving.a needs to just contain the oil and keep the barges moving.” TM. Sounds so sensible and simple, and yet he isn’t doing it — Because he doesn’t think it’s a good idea? Is listening to BP and the petroleum industry? Thinks with a enough time, speeches and visits, media and voters will turn to something else? Doesn’t care? Doesn’t get it?
Serious question, not snark: In terms of actions taken to this point, and the practical consequences of each, is what Obama has done better than what we’d guess Republicans-in-charge would have done? I’m not talking about rhetoric and framing, but about concrete actions and results.
Cleanup is fine, and necessary, but as long as the hole is open and gushing, all other considerations are still secondary. Plug the hole is job number one, the one whose being not done indicates the impotence of Obama and all powers.
Job #1 is figuring out a way to stop burning shit to power our automobiles. Do that and nobody would need to drill giant holes in the ground 5 miles deep. Peace
gotta agree with you there Imhotep
Did it ever occur to anyone that everyone who runs, or manages, anything becomes incompetent at some point? Add Murphey’s Law to the equation and life becomes very interesting indeed. No oil well has ever blown out 5000 feet below the surface of the ocean before. Ever. So nobody, not even the computer geeks who create probability outcomes using sequential variable arrays, knows what to do to “fix” this problem. Which means that all of mankind is incompetent when it comes to finding a solution to this particular canundrum. So why doesn’t everybody climb on down from their white horse and get real. That is not to say that the Republicans are not the worst of the worst because they are. Anyone who votes for a Republican is just plain dumb. But, to constantly deride Obama for being feckless in this matter is just as foolish. Peace
And to constantly post moronicly repititous Clintophobic screeds is just as foolish.
As for getting down off of your white horse, I thought it was more like you were monotonusly full of shit the hind quarters of a one trick pony
That is where you are wrong. He can’t plug the hole but he can get the suk up coordinated.
I will not go so far as to say that Obama CAN plug the hole. But would you not agree that it is essential that the hole be plugged.
Somehow? Some way?
Yes, I do. But he more I read the more worried I get that it might not be possible.
That is indeed the worry.
If anyone had any doubt about the sanity or morality of the repugnantklaners…..