Give President Obama credit. After all, if you don’t, he will give it to himself anyway.
When things go wrong, the First Blamer in Chief wags his finger and blames people. He talks about teachable moments, when the only one needing to learn is him.
Yet when things go right, which has rarely happened during his leadership, he becomes the First Self-Praiser in Chief. Naturally, this is done in a press conference, because his lack of doing is compensated by an overdose of talking.
For those who do not remember, an explosion aboard a BP oil rig on April 20th killed 11 people and created an environmental disaster of epic proportions.
BP immediately took responsibility and got to work trying to clean up the mess. President Obama spent weeks blaming BP for the problem, which was pointless since they never disputed fault. He grew frustrated because the problem was not being solved, he had no idea what to do, and it was affecting his poll ratings.
He turned to scientists, who theorized about stuff and worked on statistical models.
He was ridiculed for turning to everybody from academics to Hollywood movie stars for answers, refusing to concede that those evil oil businessmen might be the only people to solve the problem.
Desperate for a friendly and reassuring face the people could rally around, he turned to a Walrus looking fellow named Admiral Thad Allen. I have no idea if Admiral Allen knew what he was talking about, but he looked authoritative and sounded competent.
After over three months and much innovation, BP fixed the problem.
President Obama did what anybody would do in that situation. He held a press conference this past weekend to dole out credit.
Naturally, he praised himself. He was on top of everything, and would continue to be on top of everything. Being on top of everything is not difficult to do when the heavy lifting has already been done, but let’s not confuse his speaking with facts.
He praised the scientists, although I am at a loss as to why.
I am not anti-science, which is what the left accuses the right of being whenever we question scientific “facts.” There are plenty of fabulous scientists out there.
Yet in this particular case, the scientists did nothing. They theorized, pontificated, and worked on statistical mathematical models. That is what scientists do. Yet they had nothing to do with solving the oil spill.
Given enough time, it is possible they could have come up with a solution, but BP fixed the problem first.
People should be praised for results, but in typical liberal fashion Mr. Obama rewards intentions.
BP deserves zero praise for fixing a problem they created. They did what they were supposed to do, which was clean up their mess.
Yet Barack Obama deserves as much credit for fixing the problem as he does for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
The more Barack Obama and his supporters prop him up, the more he looks foolish when people cut through the fog and realize that on this issue, he did nothing.
He was not on top of things. His supporters argued that he was simply because he said so.
This was a debacle. Mr. Obama got lucky. What would have happened if BP had not fixed the problem? Most likely, the scientists would still have been theorizing, and he would have just gotten angrier and blamed everybody else.
Barack Obama, like any other man, deserves full credit for getting things right and solving complex problems when he actually does so.
The more he continues to try and take credit for things that have nothing to do with him, the more he turns into the boy who cried wolf.
Mr. Obama did not cause the oil spill. He did not solve it either.
He did what many people did. He sat and watched, and hoped for the best.
He ran on a platform of hope. In this case hope meant crossing his fingers that somebody would bail his hide out of a political dropping in the polls. Nobody accused him of causing the problem. They just knew he did not have any solutions.
Lady luck came through for him on the oil spill. He will not be so lucky on the economy or foreign policy.
If he does some things right, he will get the credit.
He needs to stop giving it to himself.
The people are not fooled, and they haven’t been in months.
Results will change that. Self-adoring press conferences will not.
eric
Wow. I’ve never seen history rewritten with quite such speed and inaccuracy! BP lied about the flow-rate from the beginning, in the beginning rightwingers – inclusing this blog – suggested that perhaps sabtage or terrorism was involved, with Limbaugh suggesting perhaps it was environmentalists or even the administration itself, Haliburton and Transocean blamed each other for the explosion and spill, it took BP two and a half months to get the darn spill stopped, the entire episode was preventable, BP releases a report in late July essential absolving itself of any negligence for the spill – STILL NOT TAKING THE BLAME. And this blog paints completely the opposite picture.
Amazing.
Never let facts stand in the way of ideology.
JMJ
It wasn’t just BP who lied about flow rate – it was also the federal government agency who lied about flow rates – and continued to lie about them. And what a great catastrophe it was, but not nearly as great as made out to be – watch and learn as nature will take care of itself in a couple short years – or sooner.
Preventable? absolutely. BP should pay, and they are. But the point of this particular blog is that the President is taking credit for standing on the sidelines looking arrogant.
He did what he could. There wasn’t much he could do. We were unprepared. The regulatory structure he inherited was a corrupt failure. But the point I’m making is that BP lied, did a lousy job of fixing the mess, knew better, and to this day refuses to take the blame – all of which Eric is denying here!
JMJ
“Never let facts stand in the way of ideology.”never let you actually address the fact displayed in the post that hes as useful as a bump on a log.
Got anything to prove that BP “intentionally” lied about flow rates.
Or just conflicting reports ?
“STILL NOT TAKING THE BLAME. And this blog paints completely the opposite picture.’
I guess you havent seen the massive PR campaign/BP commercials where they always say its theirs to clean up.
Obamas a poser, at best, and its getting old.
Funny how you dont mention the “Obamas” Minerals management dept. looking the other way during supposed inspections.
But its cool, he went swimming at the private beach off Alligator Point in St. Andrew’s Bay which…wait for it… wait for it… is technically is not part of the Gulf of Mexico!
Sigh
I think eric is right here. BO posed, postured and took advantage of a very bad situation to try make himself look important. He failed miserably.
Remember when GW flew the jet fighter and told the world “mission acomplished”. He also posed, postured and took advantage of the situation. Although the U.S. military had just took Baghdad and unseated a dangerous dictator and his murderous regime. Still he posed and postured. Some hated him for it and some liked it.
The difference here is that GW used a military victory and BO used a tragic accident. GW’s motivation was political and to boost military morale. I assure you that the soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen around the world ate it up. Obama’s motivation was political and to impress…well whomever he tries to impress. From most accounts he impressed very few.
Toma