The Oil Spill and the Republicans

[undeterred]

Robert Creamer Political organizer, strategist and author
Posted: May 31, 2010 06:48 PM

The frustration and anxiety of Americans about the horrific oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico grows by the day. Those whose livelihood is tied to the Gulf -- or who live in the wetlands of Louisiana, and communities along the coast -- are justifiable demanding the deployment of war-time levels of personnel and equipment to stop the dark, deadly oil that is invading from the sea.

In times of national crisis, Americans look to the President to lead -- and to deliver. That's why President Obama was absolutely correct to make it crystal clear that he is personally responsible to deal with the oil spill crisis -- and has told his Administration to spare no effort to stop the leak, oversee the cleanup, and assure that BP completely compensates the massive number of victims.

Increasingly sharp criticism has been leveled at the President because BP has so far been unable to stop the leak. The problem, of course, is that most of the critics have few suggestions about what the Administration might do that it isn't doing. And it is down right remarkable that the critics, include Republicans like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who less that two years ago were joining Republican oil industry "expert" Sarah Palin in the juvenile Republican convention chant "Drill Baby Drill!"

"Drill Baby Drill!" was not just intended to promote more offshore oil drilling. It was intended to mock Democratic concerns for the environmental impact of offshore drilling. It was intended to dismiss their opposition to drilling as stupid, "tree-hugging," anti-growth, "elite" concerns. It was intended to mock those who feared that offshore drilling would despoil our natural resources. It was intended to label them -- in the words of the late Republican Vice-President Spiro Agnew -- as "effete, nattering nabobs of negativism" -- part of the "chablis and brie" set that is completely disconnected from the lives of ordinary Americans who drink beer, work hard and get their hands dirty producing the products and the food we need in our everyday lives.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/the-oil-spill-and-the-rep_b_595481.html

[tex-wyo-dem]

1. Best on word description of the "drill, baby, drill" mantra...

"Juvenile."

Adults (liberals and environmentalsts) vs. simple-minded children (con-servativesy who were, unfortunatrly, in power much of the last decade).

Oh well...reap what you sow, so to speak :mad:

[undeterred]

2. I wish somebody had called it juvenile at the time.

How can they not be embarrassed and ashamed?

[depakid]

3. Surely would have been better than appeasement and triangulation

[glitch]

4. They built up a defense for that when they hit adolescence and stopped maturing. nt

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. Very good take on the now infamous chant. Thanks for posting.

[JohnWxy]

6. don't forget they also threw in that questioning off-shore drilling was 'un-American' to boot!

"DONTCHA THINK I'M SEXY?"

[CAcyclist]

7. BP isn't trying to stop the oil leak; it's trying to save the well

<Increasingly sharp criticism has been leveled at the President because BP has so far been unable to stop the leak.>

That's the problem - people assume BP is trying to stop the leak , but it's not. Everything BP has done has been to try to save the oil or siphon it off, not stop the leak, and any halfhearted attempts at stopping the leak were already known to be likely to fail, as they similarly failed in 1979 in a leak in just 200 feet of water as Rachel Maddow reported on her show.

The various things that BP is doing is mainly to try to run the clock out until a new well taps the oil field - once a new well is there they will be home safe and "need" to keep drilling. They know darn well if they actually manage to shut off the oil flow without first tapping a new well they might not be allowed to keep the oil lease there at all.