Finger Pointer-in-Chief
If you follow the news then you realize that Obama has stepped up to task and taken charge of blaming everyone else for everything. In the case of the gulf oil spill this is a particularly mind numbing strategy since BP is already getting the majority of the blame which they certainly deserve. No one is blaming Obama for blowing up the rig. He is being blamed for his shoddy reaction. Apparently bowling isn't the only thing he does like the “Special Olympics.” He is being blamed for blowing off European offers to provide boats with skimmers and taking three weeks to respond to Governor Jindal's request to build barrier islands to block the oil from the Louisiana coastline. He is being blamed for attending concerts, fundraisers and date nights with Michelle while showing absolutely no urgency over the gulf spill until a month in. In the sage like words of Kit Kat, “Give me a break.” Obama gave his first address from the Oval Office today outlining his “battle plan.” The last move was apparently, “C6, You sunk my oil rig.” The speech was more typical O-blah-ma and came across as too little too late. Our Commander and Obvious began his speech informing the country on stuff we’ve known for fifty-six days stating, “On April 20th, an explosion ripped through BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig about forty miles off the coast of Louisiana.” Then he proceeded to explain all the amazing things he has done to clean up the spill taking credit for the only good things BP has done, and even touting his approval of barrier islands in Louisiana while omitting it took over three weeks to do so. Even then he only approved a fraction of the barrier islands Jindal requested.
At this point I had a realization. Obama and truth are like oil and water. We need Kevin Costner to sort the two out. That is when he stuck it to BP again informing them that they must set aside, what is essentially an escrow account, to pay out damages to families and businesses along the coast. I don't necessarily disagree with this action and think it is something BP will likely do to save any positive image they have left. The interesting thing is that this is something Obama has absolutely no power to do. This means that if BP decides to do it of their own volition, the only way it can happen, then Obama will be right there to suck up the good PR and that is precious suction that could be used cleaning up oil. Then we get into his moratorium on drilling which so asinine it may technically be considered asi-ten or twelve. It is the equivalent of suspending driving because Toyota has unexplained acceleration problems. This means more Americans are going to be put out of work, America is going to be more dependent on foreign oil, and more oil is going to have to be shipped from overseas which is historically much more dangerous than the actual drilling. Less jobs, more dependence, and more danger, but it is totally going to be better for us.
That is when O-blame-a really hits his stride and goes after deregulation. Kevin Costner informs us though that regulation that could have prevented this is already in place. The problem wasn't lack of regulation it was lack of enforcement or oversight of EXISTING regulation. That is government failure. Why do we think more regulation is going to solve the problem when we aren't enforcing existing regulations? This is when Obama informed us that over the past ten years the MMS (Minerals Management Service) “has become emblematic of a failed philosophy that views all regulation with hostility.” Obama adds, “One of (Ken Salazar's) very first acts was to clean up the worst of the corruption at this agency, but it's now clear that the problem there ran much deeper, and the pace of reform was just too slow.” So you cleaned up the worst corruption and forgot the regulators partying with big oil, snorting coke and watching porn? Forgive me if I am a little skeptical. Forgive me for also pointing out that in the last ten years the regulations to prevent this were still in place. I know your base gets all tingly when you blame Bush but those are your regulators who weren't doing their job.
Now things get really good. Obama does a long anticipate pivot to clean energy saying, “We are running out of places to drill on land and in shallow water.” This isn't because places don’t exist, it’s because granolas and liberals won't let us drill anywhere safe or convenient. Obama explains, “Countries like China are investing in clean energy jobs and industries that should be right here in America.” Costner reminds us that in Spain each clean energy job cost 2.33 jobs from somewhere else in the economy. What a fantastic plan at almost 9.7% unemployment. China also happens to be able to afford a lot more than, for example, a country with over $13T dollars of debt.
We all want clean renewable energy. We just don't have anything that is even close to being economically viable. This doesn't make me greedy, hate the environment, or love big oil. It means I am realistic. I want the environment to be healthy as much as the next guy. That is why we simply cannot invest billions of dollars in crappy wind turbines that create very little energy at a cost no one can afford. If we want to save the environment we need viable clean energy sources. Wrecking the economy with massive energy costs and sacrificing innovation, the only real solution to our nation’s energy problems, would ultimately hurt the environment. It's like setting back the creation of the wheel by spending billions of dollars to mass produce the oval. We have tons of stop gap technology but it is only useful as a stepping stone to finding effective future clean energy technology.
Finally, Obama gets around to Cap and Trade, “a bill that finally makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy for America's businesses.” Clean energy might be profitable to clean energy companies when government makes you buy their product. The problem is it definitely makes everyone else less profitable. Is it really okay to take a disaster and use it to pimp a bad policy no one has liked since day one? Does Obama really think he can party with Paul McCartney, say he's gonna kick ass, then show up fifty-seven days after a disaster and act like a hero? The guy must be off his rocker. The one positive thing we can say about Obama is that he is consistent. He’s consistently on the wrong side of the American people. The last time the people supported Obama was on election day and that was because everyone hated the last guy. Now Obama is that guy.
Tyson Bam
