IT IS STILL NOT TOO LATE, MR. PRESIDENT!

[skip fox]

Dear Mr. President,

Your presidency is slipping away. Like many, I realize you had nothing to do with the BP oil spill and that you could have done little after the spill, but James Carville's observations are accurate. You seemed distant, aloof. I know you were deeply concerned, but that is not what the public saw. I am afraid that (even ignoring Fox News) your reaction is doing grave damage to your presidency and our party's chances in the mid-term elections.

But it is still not too late. By discernibly and energetically engaging with the disaster you might not only save your presidency but turn around the mid-term election polls.

Be seen actively taking charge, doing whatever you can, even making a few mistakes, but forging ahead. Call in the best minds, pre-empt tankers, walk the beaches, talk with fishermen and oil men, etc. (This disaster might be exponentially worse than any we've had before. If that is the case, what do you want history to remember in terms of your actions and the public's perceptions?)

Best of all, contact Carville.

Your presidency and our country may ride on it,

Sincerely,

Skip Fox

[TheWraith]

1. That's absolutely idiotic.

It's just parroting Fox News talking points about "Obama's Katrina."

[skip fox]

5. Carville was not only responding to Fox but to an awareness of

overall public perception, deserved or not.

There are times for reserve and behind the scenes efforts and times for a visible hand on the tiller. They are not mutually exclusive of course.

Calling something idiotic without consideration or clear refutation. . . . Well, I'll not do the same.

[TheWraith]

6. Carville was shooting off his mouth because it got him attention.

There are times when the man is right or has a valid perspective, but lately he's always tended toward being an attention whore. He doesn't like that he's not on the inside anymore running things.

[countingbluecars]

2. His presidency is NOT slipping away. n/t

[MindandSoul]

8. That's right! When I hear that kind of talk, I wonder if it is intended as a demoralizer and

planted by "nay sayers???"

[Jennicut]

3. Contact Carville? I wouldn't give that media shill the time of my day.

And per Gallup today, the President's favorability ratings are the same as they were months ago. Guess what on the midterms? Many races are closer then thought, even Reid is pulling even. Don't let the media make you think for you.

[Blue-Jay]

4. derp.

[AtomicKitten]

29. +1

[ecstatic]

7. It sounds like you're asking for theatrics... Theatrics mean little to

me. And for the other things you've mentioned, he is ALREADY doing it. Try actually listening for content next time instead of screening for how Oscar-worthy his body language is.

[skip fox]

9. Carville could be an attention hound, but that doesn't make him wrong.

Think of this. People are saying today that BP may NEVER get this stopped. Not with the second drilling in August. Never. (That's why people are currently askinbg BP for estimates of the total reserve in the well.) That is, The Gulf of Mexico could be effectively gone (dead) for decades, maybe longer. I live in Southern Louisiana and I understand Carville's frustration because of that, but he is echoing the frustration of the entire region, Republicans and Democrats. If the oil cannot be stopped, this frustration will not be restricted to this area but will reflect the nation's mood.

How do you want Obama to be seen in that context? And if it doesn't come to that (and BP stops the well) what has he got to lose??? By visibly acting he can only win.

(I don't mean to suggest this is a purely political consideration. I think if Obama actively engages, more solutions are possible. Perhaps he is actively engaged, but Bill Maher and many others are wishing he'd visibly take control. Why is that?

[mitchtv]

10. Now where did you get that mime?

Let me guess. Most people know what;s going on. and where to lay blame, and it's not Obama nor the govt

[skip fox]

13. It's not just Fox.Try Meet the Press, CNN, NY Times, etc., etc

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31spill.html?ref=us

Why does everyone assume that is is only coming from Fox? It may have started there but it's across the board now. And if the spill keeps getting worse . . .

[lamp_shade]

11. Oh God.

[volvoblue]

12. I have noticed that everytime someone on the left becomes henny Penny

declaring the sky is falling and the president is toast....the media piles on him more then normal....the repubs think they smell blood and the toadies of the right who call themselves democrats like Carville, well something happens.
Obama manages to make all of the above look like fools.
Stay tuned for fool alert soon. The President seems to already have cut the press out and gave them zero access or photo ops in Chicago this weekend. Pay back

[skip fox]

15. Headline on today's NY Times: White House Tries to Regroup as Criticism Mounts Over Leak

They must not be as wise as those on this thread. Or they might be aware of politics.

[HughMoran]

14. A hearty unrec for this uttlerly pointless attack

I'm simple, I let the media shape my thinking.

NOT

[skip fox]

16. more deep analysis!!

[HughMoran]

17. 10x deeper than the "I saw it on da TV news" O/P

:eyes:

[skip fox]

18. But I gave a NY Times link.

Perhaps everybody else is wrong.

[HughMoran]

19. Then it must be true

after all, NYT are our overlords.

[skip fox]

20. Then there's Newsweek.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/obama-s-top-kill.html

Headline: Obama’s ‘Top Kill’: As BP tries to plug the spill, the White House tried to control a spreading political slick.

Perhaps it's easier to listen only to ourselves.

On edit: There's also Reuters's headline: Oil spill's political consequences rise for Obama

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64K12520100521


And Slate's: The Buck Stops Over There: Whom should we blame for the oil spill in the Gulf? Take your pick.

http://www.slate.com/id/2254979


Is no one reading the news???? Maybe Beck's approach to facts is not so unique after all.

[HughMoran]

21. keep digging

You may be the first one to reach the bottom of the well - we could use a little relief!

[skip fox]

22. Another substantive response. I guess I expect too much.

[skip fox]

23. I'm guessing that most everyone who responded to me so far are not

living along the Gulf.

Our frustrations are echoed nation-wide (NY Times, Newsweek, etc., etc.) Why no one can hear these echoes(even after I've provided links) makes me think people are not interested in the situation but only what they think the situation should be.

(Reminds me of Fox News.)

[skip fox]

24. A substantive response would engage these:

One mght say they are all wrong, all parroting Fox, all too anxious, but to say the political perception of the way Obama is handling the affair is fine without looking at that perception is as simplistic as a Gl;enn Beck monologue


Try these (I won’t even mention Rasmussen or CNM News):


The Week:

BP oil spill: Obama's 9/11?
The New York Times' Thomas Friedman says the president is squandering an opportunity to mobilize Americans toward far-reaching goals in the wake of disaster — as Bush did after the 2001 terrorist attacks

http://www.slate.com/id/2254979



NY Times:

White House Tries to Regroup as Criticism Mounts Over Leak

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31spill.html?ref=us





US News & World Report:

Gulf Oil Spill is Tarring Obama's Approval Ratings

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2010/05/26/Gulf-Oil-Spill-is-Tarring-Obamas-Approval-Ratings.html





ABC News:

'Political Stupidity': Democrat James Carville Slams Obama's Response to BP Oil Spill

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/bp-oil-spill-political-headache-obama-democrats-slam/story?id=10746519


1. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/obama-s-top-kill.htm...
Headline: Obama’s ‘Top Kill’: As BP tries to plug the spill, the White House tried to control a spreading political slick.

Perhaps it's easier to listen only to ourselves.

On edit: There's also Reuters's headline: Oil spill's political consequences rise for Obama

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64K12520100521


And Slate's: The Buck Stops Over There: Whom should we blame for the oil spill in the Gulf? Take your pick.

http://www.slate.com/id/2254979

[earth mom]

25. Obama needs to contact Al Gore, RFK Jr and get Kevin Costners technology to the gulf STAT. nt

[skip fox]

26. Yes. Even mistakes, misdirections, dead ends . . .Never let a crisis go unexploited (R.E.)

Don't they listen to what they say?

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. Reagan was the actor, remember? Carville? You're kidding right?

The "democratic" strategist who basically told the world that the president should come to the Gulf and put on some award winning performance? How do you think the media will spin that? This president is not Carville's puppet, and I hope he ignores his attention seeking ass, even if that means losing the mid terms, and his own second term.

I find this president to be genuinely empathetic, and attuned to the plight of most Americans, which is why he won a resounding victory in the first place. He can't spend the next two(+) years being the media's bitch, no matter what the headlines. Can you imagine the security & logistical nightmare of the President running to the Gulf every other day, for what would in essence be a photo op?

:edited to add "UNREC"

[K8-EEE]

28. He is right to not engage GWB type photo ops and besides

The "librul media" wouldn't play along anyway. "Seeming aloof" is not really a serious issue to me, we have important things to worry about sheesh.

[skip fox]

30. Maybe we are meant to lose.

sigh

On edit: This in on CNN right now and not only Bobby Jindel is angry at "the government."

Are we politically tone deaf?