DEAR MR. PRESIDENT, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE . . .

[skip fox]

Dear Mr. President,

I did not dislike your speech so much as felt it one more lost opportunity. There are not many more.

You would be best served by creating a presidential presence on the Gulf in the form of a Crisis Center (Presidential Crisis Center?), bringing in the best economic, petroleum, legal, biological minds to staff the center while living temporarily in the area. Reporters would be allowed in, especially at the weekly Presidential phone conferences with the heads of all the divisions.

Such a hive of activity could well have a division concerned only with streamlining the work, movement of equipment, information, compensation, etc. Assuring efficiency from legal areas to clean-up activities.

This needn't be The Manhattan Project in scale, but a visible and working community of engineers, scientists, experts, etc. who all exchange ideas (and living in the area understand the spill in real terms).

There would certainly be more efficiency, vital ideas, and clarity as well as political visibility, etc.

This would not be "theater" as opposed to action, but it would be visible and viable action of a higher order than at present.

Sincerely,
Skip Fox

[MineralMan]

1. Good letter. Did you send it to him directly?

I don't think President Obama reads DU.

[skip fox]

3. No. This is the third or so I've floated at DU.

Interestingly, the first was panned by 9 out of 10 respondents.

The second was reinforced by nearly everyone, though there were but a few.

This one looks quickly;y ignored.

Ah well . . . One does what one can. Carville was making a less specific case earlier but alone the same lines.

If the president is not listening to him, maybe he doesn't deserve to win. Hate to sound defeatist, but . . .

[NightWatcher]

2. Great idea now that it is becoming evident that this "spill" will be going on for months(years?)

BP's punched a hole in the Earth not unlike plunging a dagger into the heart of a living being. Due to damage below the sea floor, the idea that this "spill" might not be stopped, but come to a conclusion once the "well is dry" (ie, a year or more), it might be smart to set up a command structure to deal with the humanitarian as well as ecological disaster that is sure to come to light.

Allowing BP to control things going forward is silly and will ultimately cost billions and lives

[berni_mccoy]

4. Did you actually LISTEN to his speech or READ the transcript. Because if you did,

you'd realize your asking him to do something he already committed to doing.

See here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/16/876491/-The-Point-by-Point-on-Obamas-Oval-Office-Address

[skip fox]

6. This is too narrow in focus for the political visibility or the cross-fertilization of ideas

and methods that an overall crisis center would give. Granted, the containment division would disappear at a certain point, so it would become more narrow in scope.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. K&R