"The Biggest Environmental Disaster Happened Under Obama's Watch"

[Pryderi]

Will this be Barack Obama's legacy?

[rocktivity]

1. The biggest environmental disaster was conceived under Bush II's watch

It's only Obama's response to it that will make it his disaster.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Cali_Democrat]

2. Whom are you quoting?

[Pryderi]

9. You mean "Whom"?

[Cali_Democrat]

16. I edited it for you...

Now will you answer my question?

[Pryderi]

25. I'm quoting the growing meme.

[Beartracks]

3. I didn't realize Obama had received a report in advance...

... warning him of the imminent threat of oil rig operators who were going to ignore safety regs and engage in reckless decision-making at the Deepwater Horizon. Because then, perhaps he could have mobilized some kind of response and stopped the disaster, just like Bush did with 9/11!

:eyes:

------------------

[Pryderi]

8. PDB on lax oversight of energy corporations? If he didn't know, he should have.

[Beartracks]

13. I see your point, but that's not nearly as specific...

... a warning as Bush received in his daily threat assessment.

That's my only point: If anyone is trying to compare this disaster to 9/11 by saying "it happened on Obama's watch" -- much like people remind eachother that 9/11 happened on Bush's watch -- well... the comparison simply isn't there.

Where did this happened-on-Obama's-watch meme come from, anyway?

--------------------

[boppers]

4. Perspective:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spills#Largest_oil_spills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills

Is Carter remembered for Ixtoc?

[scheming daemons]

5. On FreeRepublic it will be

.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

41. Did they change the url of freerepublic?

It seems to come up whenever I type "http://www.democraticunderground.com" into my browser. Sadly, I don't think it's a glitch.

[HughMoran]

6. it burns

[zulchzulu]

10. Was George Herbert Walker Bush pinned with the blame for Exxon Valdez?

NO...

[doc03]

11. It is looking that way to me. I see Republicans and Democrats

both criticising the Administrations response. Where are the Democrats that should be pointing out the mess was the result of 8 years of Cheney. Again the Republicans have won the PR war.

[Tutankhamun]

44. The problem is that our leaders are all Republicans now. Some just put a "D" after their name.

Yes, there are a few Dems left such as Kucinich and Grayson.

[Pryderi]

12. There's going to be a sh*t slime from Texas to Maine.

[maxsolomon]

14. thanks for your concern

this place never stops being concerned.

the laxity in both regulation and oversight is clearly the legacy of the cheney administration. the oil WILL stop (eventually) and the clean up WILL happen (eventually). the gulf of mexico will not die.

obama will leave office in january of 2017 and the world will weep that he can't have 2 more terms. get on the fucking team.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cha]

24. Yeah, the sincerity is just

dripping.

[CreekDog]

17. and the worst military attack on our soil happened under Roosevelt

and the worst war ever fought by Americans happened under Lincoln.

and that river in Ohio caught fire under Nixon (who signed into law the EPA)

and the Watts riots happened during LBJ who had arguably the best civil rights record of any president.

and the worst hostage situation in our history happened under Jimmy Carter, who was one of the best defenders of human rights ever to hold office.

and the most banks collapsed under Roosevelt, who was the key to saving our financial system.

that's the problem with your framing.

in short, it's wrong.

[Pryderi]

18. Are you saying that blaming Bush for 911 is wrong?

[CreekDog]

19. depends

because simply because things happen on a president's watch doesn't mean they were responsible for it.

but i was pretty clearly stating that your approach was wrong --just to automatically lay whatever happens at the feet of whomever is president --like i said, blame Lincoln for slavery then.

[Pryderi]

20. Ok. I'm just frustrated and feeling really shrill. The oil that's gushing into the Gulf is

impacting friends and family that suffered through Katrina.

When the Rev. Wright controversy emerged, Barack came out and gave one of the most passionate speeches on race. I want to see that same thing happen about the disaster!

[CreekDog]

21. fair enough

that's sentiment I share. :hi:

[Pryderi]

23. *taking a deep breath*...

Hi. :)

[totodeinhere]

39. A passionate speech about this disaster won't stop the oil from gushing out. n/t

[MadMaddie]

22. The Biggest Environmental Disaster happend due to BP negligence!!

Oh by the way BP has another spill up in Alaska going on right now....

[depakid]

27. BP negligence allowed to occur through well known and documented regulatory failure

[MadMaddie]

28. Agreed but the regulatory failures started 30 years ago

with deregulation, Obama isn't responsible for the deregulation of industries. I do believe that Americans have to also stop giving corporations passes on their criminal and costly mistakes.

[depakid]

30. And they should have been dealt with well prior to announcing support for more offshore drilling

And at the very least after the disastrous Montara rig spill in August and the GAO report condemning the illegal exemptions in September, 2009.

[phleshdef]

31. More offshore drilling that never actually happened.

It seems you are more interested in spinning political narratives than the reality of events.

[depakid]

32. It ratified the previous administration's (and the Republican's) policy- with assurances of safety

And it was done without having taken steps to be sure that the administration's own regulatory house was in order- despite knowing or having every reason to know that widespread malfeasance was occurring.

That my friend, is straight up and objective negligence by any account, based on well documented, irrefutable facts and statements on the record.

If the Bush administration had behaved in the same manner- you'd be screaming bloody murder about it- and rightly so.

[phleshdef]

33. The stupidity in your line of thinking is that you expected the entire executive branch and all dept

that operate under the executive branch to be in tip top shape in 16 months. Combine that with having a great many of your appointees blocked in the senate, having 2 wars to make decisions on, having a healthcare bill to get passed (Agree with the final product or not, that was a huge fight), having an economy to stabilize and having to deal with all the other day to day unseen things that have came up. Those kind of expectations have no place outside of political fairy tales.

There was not "every reason to know that malfeasance" was occurring. You claiming to even think you know that is an outright lie.

The announcement of the new possible drilling is drilling that wouldn't even take place until several years from now. So to claim they should have had all the kinks worked out of the Bush regulatory nightmare the day they announced something that wouldn't even happen until well into the next Presidential term isn't just lacking in fairness buts its arrogantly stupid. No one who has actually given it any though would actually think that.

[depakid]

36. Spin and denial won't make facts and statements on the record go away

You can go look up the September 2009 GAO report on the MMS' exemptions for yourself. It's damning.

Your problem is- like some others who tend towards sycophancy, that you simply refuse to accept the fact that the administration screwed up BIG TIME -both with respect to the steps that should have been taken to prevent this catastrophe (itself a near repeat of the Montara rig disaster) - but also with respect to their choice to triangulate and pander to the right- one too many times it seems- on offshore oil drilling.

Since they lost any claim to the moral high ground due to that decision, it's even more imperative that they own up to the mistakes and missteps- something Republicans would never do - and ensure the nation through concrete actions that these fiascoes never happen again in any agency.

Far from being "punished" for that, the vast majority of the public will appreciate it and recognize that while the policies and cowboy callousness were holdovers from the previous administration- honest reassessment, acceptance of responsibility and problem solving is change we can all believe it.

On the other hand- if all that results is cowering, covering up, finger pointing (BP did it! we had nothing to do with it)- shifting blame to others (Oh poor, poor us- look what we were left with) etc. etc. this administration's going to look -not sure how one can euphemize it: a lot like Bush II.

Bottom line: All of this stuff and more will be coming out as this unfolds and in the aftermath. There's no political upside here for the Obama administration. No pivoting- no reliance on the abject stupidity or bizarre public statements by political opponents. Only damage control.

America is in the midst of an unprecedented environmental disaster- one that will likely continue to grow worse every day unabated for several months- and more likely years and years.

Better to grasp that fact, suck it up and DEAL with the failures early on, rather than end up being rolled by what's inevitably to come.

[dave29]

26. The biggest Environmental disaster is the ongoing story of the human race

but thanks for pinning it on Obama

[tranche]

29. To Teabanners and Pumas it will be. For the majority, not so much.

[dionysus]

42. ding ding ding

[jberryhill]

34. And your legacy will be...

The most pointless post on DU in history?

Keep trying.

[JCMach1]

35. Unfortunately as he also intended to extend Bush era policies on drilling

[FrenchieCat]

37. Actually, not really......

but some want to think so, as it helps them shit on this President
as a pastime.

If you voted for him, then you heard him in August of 2008.....
Yes, he believed that compromising was the only way to get anything done.
I'm sure had he known that there was going to be a giant volcano oil leak,
he would have held off. What he understood, and what you obviously don't is
when one is dealing with an opposition not ever willing to move, if you don't make
movement either, than nothing happens, and that sure ain't called solving problems.


From Politifact:

On Aug. 1, 2008, Obama said he would compromise and support the New Energy Reform Act of 2008, a bipartisan bill that, in addition to spending $84 billion on the development of better batteries and energy-and-fuel saving technologies, would have allowed for drilling for oil and natural gas as close as 50 miles from Florida's west coast.

"Like all compromises, it also includes steps that I haven't always supported," Obama said in his announcement. "I remain skeptical that new offshore drilling will bring down gas prices in the short-term or significantly reduce our oil dependence in the long-term, though I do welcome the establishment of a process that will allow us to make future drilling decisions based on science and fact. But I've always believed that finding consensus will be essential to solving our energy crisis, and today's package represents a good faith effort at a new bipartisan beginning."



http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/mar/31/barack-obama/once-wobbly-obama-not-inconsistent-latest-oil-dril/

What Obama said in March of 2010.....
"I made a general point about the fact that we need to provide the American people some relief and that there has been constructive conversations between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate on this issue," he said during a press conference in Cape Canaveral.

"What I will not do, and this has always been my position, is to support a plan that suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems," Obama added.

-----------------------
Back to 2008....

"If we've got a plan on the table that I think meets the goals that America has to set and there are some things in there that I don't like, then obviously that's something that I would consider because that's the nature of how we govern in a democracy."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/02/campaign.wrap/

[uponit7771]

43. Hate facts?

[BlueIris]

38. He'll have a different legacy, I think.

And it will be defined by things arguably worse than this. But I doubt historians will fail to mention this travesty.

[dionysus]

40. uh.. no.