Online retailer Zazzle now sells T-shirts that read, “Plug the hole with BP executives.” That suggestion—however implausible—is significant in that it captures the public’s frustration over the Gulf oil spill. People have resorted to such ridiculous slogans to vent their frustration because they have no credible solutions to offer. There are no credible solutions.
There is only a sickening slick of oil, reaching through our fragile marshlands, washing ashore our pristine beaches and threatening our wildlife. It has flowed through every contraption conceived to stop it and will continue to flow for months, until BP is able to permanently seal off the leak.
Hopefully, larger portions of the oil will eventually be able to be diverted to tankers resting above the gusher, but there is no guarantee.
Which is why the population is helpless in trying to figure out who is to blame for what.
Confusion is compounded by the bumbling effort to contain the oil on the sea level. The Mobile Press–Register reported Tuesday that a $4.6 million system of steel boom is being built across half a mile of Perdido Pass in Alabama’s beautiful Orange Beach. The pipes were being installed in response to reports that oil had already appeared in the inland waterways beyond the pass.
Which begs the question as to why the system was not put in place beforehand.
For such shortcomings, people accuse BP, the government and even President Obama of negligence. To a certain extent, they are right.
If the President had made the disaster an urgent priority in late April and if the federal government had coordinated its efforts more effectively, skimmers, boom and other essential supplies could have been used to fortify coastal areas sooner. These efforts, however, would have only helped at the margins. As long as thousands of gallons of oil are gushing daily from a well 5,000 feet below sea level, no system is going to be able to contain the entire slick.
President Obama could, however, control his image. His tragic mistake has been not appearing more upset, more emotional and more focused. People don’t want him to just “understand” their emotions; they want him to share them, to feel as they feel, and to give a voice to their concerns.
That President Obama doesn’t do those things is perhaps his greatest political vulnerability. He seems aloof, detached and even oblivious to the mood of the country.
Tuesday night, when the President delivered an address from the Oval Office about the leak, pundits and reporters noted the difference between his lawyerly response to the oil crisis and President Bush’s “Bullhorn Moment.”
That impromptu moment, which occurred in the rubble of the World Trade Center three days after September 11, 2001, rallied the country and defined Bush’s leadership after the attacks. That is what people want in times of crisis. People want a bullhorn.
All of this is somewhat unfortunate for Obama, who, by his mere presence and emotion cannot change the underlying realities of the oil spill. There are, however, things that, as president, he can change with profound implications.
After September 11th, Congress chartered the 9/11 Commission to report on why the government’s national security apparatus failed to anticipate and prevent the attack. Congress followed that commission’s recommendations and established a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to oversee the nation’s 16 spy agencies.
In 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives created the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina. That committee also produced recommendations concerning how to better manage emergency response resources.
In his speech Tuesday night, the President told the country he has “established a National Commission to understand the causes of this disaster and offer recommendations on what additional safety and environmental standards we need to put in place.” The President continued, “One place we’ve already begun to take action is at the agency in charge of regulating drilling and issuing permits, known as the Minerals Management Service. Over the last decade, this agency has become emblematic of a failed philosophy that views all regulation with hostility…
“So, (Interior) Secretary Salazar and I are bringing in new leadership at the agency – Michael Bromwich, who was a tough federal prosecutor and Inspector General. And his charge over the next few months is to build an organization that acts as the oil industry’s watchdog, not its partner.”
There have been three national catastrophes in the past ten years, and each time the government has been forced to establish a commission to figure out what went wrong. Some on the left have used these events to advance the idea that the government is too small. Some have even exploited this crisis as justification for giving the same government that failed to regulate BP the power to regulate the carbon emissions of the entire economy.
If President Obama really wanted to take meaningful action, he could start by recognizing that legislating something does not guarantee it will happen. There are limits to what the government can do. Yet, there are also things the government has to do, such as responding to oil spills and hurricanes.
So let’s focus on making sure we are prepared for the worst: from nature, from enemies, from negligence. Then maybe we won’t need a commission the next time something terrible happens. Meanwhile, those other things the President is so fond of – healthcare, cap-and-trade, financial reform – may just have to wait.
Tray Smith is the opinions editor of the Crimson White.
