Anger Should Spill On BP - Not Obama

[Political Tiger]

Fed up with BP and all their BS in this oil spill mess? You are not alone - about as not alone as not alone can be. And you and all that good, angry company need to keep your sights set on the true villains in this story.

<snip>

With its coverage shifting away from BP's criminal negligence to the Obama administration's response to the crisis, much of the media has been forming and fueling a growing public perception that the White House has been part of the problem. Fox News and congressional loudmouths who spent the past year screaming against "big government" interfering in the private sector, are now all for it.

So President Obama held a press conference today to refute charges he wasn't doing enough to take charge of the situation. He made it clear the federal government has been fully engaged and in charge of BP's actions from Day One, while admitting painful mistakes have been made, and learned from. He slammed and pledged reform of the federal Mineral Management Service that for many years has been in bed with the oil industry, rather than providing oversight of it.

The president explained that it is BP, not the federal government, that has the equipment, expertise and responsibility for stopping a spill that is incredibly difficult to stop - and for cleaning up the mess left behind, and for paying damages to all affected individuals and entities. He made it clear that while it was BP that had to stop the spill, there will be more active federal involvement in the cleanup, and strict oversight of every aspect of BP's handling of the entire mess moving forward.

It's now time to take the media's overblown coverage of the Obama oil spill response storyline and put it in proper perspective - keeping an eye on it, but devoting far more attention, anger and action to BP, and an oil industry determined to keep drilling off our coasts, at any cost. If ever there was a time for Floridians to unite in political action on an issue, this is that time, and offshore drilling is that issue.

http://www.examiner.com/x-9540-West-Palm-Beach-Liberal-Examiner~y2010m5d27-Anger-Should-Spill-On-BP--Not-Obama

[goclark]

1. K

[RoyGBiv]

2. Something pointed out on The Oil Drum ...

Almost from the beginning, BP has been releasing/leaking information early in the morning that get filtered out through the media. Most of it is offered with an optimistic editorial slant or is constructed in such a way so as to cast blame elsewhere or to contradict/confuse government sources and statements. Then, in the afternoon, they send out an official statement that generally contradicts what they themselves said earlier in the day, but all the talking heads and government sources have been reacting to or basing their own comments the earlier released/leaked information.

In the end, it results in everyone else looking bad, and while they don't come off smelling like roses either, the blame at least gets spread and takes them out of dead center.

This is the sort of thing Obama was in fact late to respond to, probably because he and other administration officials weren't aware it was happening or at least didn't know how to deal with it. One thing they did to respond involved the comment some days ago that got so many critics in an uproar about transparency and said words to the effect of it being premature to issue a statement on official estimates of the rate of leakage into the Gulf. The revised, hopefully more accurate (if far more depressing) figures we've been seeing lately are a result of the Obama administration locking this crap down and putting to work people who have a clue and aren't on BP's public relations payroll to figure estimates.

The Oil Drum, despite the political leanings of some of its members, has been a wealth of information on this. Whether intentional or not, they've put the lie to pretty much all the major myths surrounding what is going on, e.g. the notion that the "top kill" could/should have been tried earlier. Apparently they got this all put in place just to try it in record time, largely under the direction of the Coast Guard and EPA.

[treestar]

3. That is of course true

It is appalling that they don't get as much attention on that score!

The media always does this to the President, even Republicans.

I remember a local reporter after some incident at a school asking people what they thought of Bill Clinton after that incident! I laughed so hard. Bill Clinton had just been elected and he was responsible for local schools and to look to when something went wrong.

[NJmaverick]

4. I love your tag line at the bottom of your posts, would you mind if I also used it?

[Political Tiger]

5. Please do!

n/t

[Cha]

6. The corporatemedia wants to shift the blame

to Obama so BP won't be held criminally negligent.

This country could do nicely without the mediawhores like norah o'donnell on msnbc.