Presidential Double-Standards

[NJmaverick]

PRESIDENTIAL DOUBLE-STANDARDS, CONT'D.... I've been maintaining a list of some of the actions President Obama has taken that have been deemed "controversial," despite being quite common and routine amongst his predecessors. Al Kamen flags another one for the list today.

As is now well known, Obama hosted a meeting at the White House with BP executives last week, and persuaded the oil giant to create a $20 billion fund to bring relief to families and businesses victimized by the company's devastating oil spill. Instead of applauding the breakthrough, the right has casually thrown around words and phrases like "shakedown," "extortion," "illegal," "power grab," and "Chicago-style political shakedown." This week, some on the right have gone so far as to equate the White House's success with Hitler and the Nazis.

But Obama's accomplishment is hardly without modern historical precedent.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_06/024445.php#more

[SunsetDreams]

1. I'm so tired of the double standards

[rhett o rick]

2. In spite of warnings of BP violations, the Pres did nothing to prevent this disaster.

What is he doing to prevent the next?

[Gordan Shumway]

5. Do you have a source link that the President

was warned of BP violations? Thanks.

[rhett o rick]

6. Everyone knew of the magnitude of BP's violations. And it was Salazar's business to know.

Salazar did a "heck of a job". I believe there are many more of these traps left by Bush/Cheney. Pres Obama needs to be fixing them. He seems reluctant to put pressure on the big corporations.

[Fire1]

8. Really?? So, if EVERYBODY KNEW BP put profit over

safety there's got to be PROOF that EVERYBODY KNEW! WHERE is it written that BP was issued warnings or violations???

[Arkana]

9. If BP lies to regulators, it does not make it the regulators' fault.

It's like the old "Hey, your shoelaces are untied!" trick--except people are trying to claim that the guy who bent down to check his shoelace is at fault.

[Fire1]

11. Oh! But SUPERMAN (Obama) SHOULD have known!!

Riiiiiight.:crazy:

[rhett o rick]

17. Where do you think the buck should stop?

Did you think Bush was responsible for not preventing 911 disaster? Or the levee failure in NO? Why doesnt Pres Obama share some responsibility here? Just because you like him? Just because he is a Democrat? How about Salazar? Is he a tool of the oil industry? Did he look the other way regarding the horrible safety record of BP?

If you try to only blame BP, you are not fixing the basic problem and it will happen again.

[Alcibiades]

21. I hold Bush blameless for both of those things

I do hold him responsible, though, for fabricating the "evidence" of Iraqi WMDs, for establishing an entirely extralegal judicial process, for passing budget-busting tax cuts, for enabling Enron's schemes to rip off the American people, for enabling Wall Street and the big banks, etc. And I blame Bush-Cheney for the BP disaster, too.

[rhett o rick]

23. I wont go as far as blameless. If it happens on his watch and especially if he was

warned, he deserves some of the responsibility. I completely agree with the remaining part of your post.

[treestar]

24. Entirely different things

911 was a terrorist attack. Repeat: a terrorist attack.

This was a oil rig that exploded. Repeat: an oil rig.

You assign to the POTUS responsibility for preventing all ills generally. No one ever held Bush to that standard.

[rhett o rick]

30. You always come up with such an intellegent discussion.

First of all, I am well aware what 911 was and what the Cheney/BP was, but your condescend-tion is so noted.

Where did I assign the pres responsibility for preventing ALL ills? Where did I say that?

911 and Katrina (poor government response) happened on Bush's watch and he was certainly held at least partially responsible by Democrats.

The Cheney/BP disaster could have been prevented if our government regulators had done their jobs. Heck of a job Salazar.

[rhett o rick]

16. Your analogy doesnt fit. It appears that the regulators were in bed with BP.

It is well documented that BP had many more sever violations than any other oil company. In fact, many more than all other oil companies put together. It appears the regulators that worked for Salazar were/ARE corrupt.

Who in your analogy, "bent down to check his shoelaces"? BP never checked, Salazar never checked.

Tell me how Salazar isnt as guilty as "you're doing a heck of a job Brownie"?

Blaming only BP is like blaming only the bank robbers when the police had their backs turned. You can punish the bank robbers (BP) but if you dont fix the problem with the police, you'll just have another bank robbery sooner or later. In other words, if we dont fix the regulations and the regulators, this will all happen again and again.

[Tarheel_Dem]

10. Link?

[rhett o rick]

19. Google is your friend. Do you think the government doesnt share responsibility

in this disaster? That we should leave it up to corporations to prevent disasters? What is the good of having regulators if they ignore violations?
Where do you think the buck stops?

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bps-dismal-safety-record/story?id=10763042

[Gordan Shumway]

13. So is there a source link?

I'd prefer a link with some sort of evidence as opposed to a post with just your conjecture. Thanks.

[rhett o rick]

20. Of course.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bps-dismal-safety-record/story?id=10763042

BP's horrible safety record was public knowledge, yet we (our government) let them continue drilling. To blame only BP will not prevent the next disaster.

[Gordan Shumway]

28. Thanks for the link

What do you think the Obama Admin. could or should have done? It seems BP was blatantly disregarding the regulations in place for the past five years. Outside of barring them from drilling, I can't think of anything they could do. Your opinion?

BTW, I like the subtitle on that article. "BP Has One of the Worst Safety Records of Any Oil Company Operating in the U.S." One of? Then a couple paragraphs down "OSHA statistics show BP ran up 760 "egregious, willful" safety violations, while Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one comparable citation."

[rhett o rick]

32. They should have insisted on a recovery plan before drilling. They should have had inspections to

insure that safety procedures were being followed. But I dont feel confident that they are even doing that today for other sites.

[Cha]

7. The Blame Obama first doesn't work.

[rhett o rick]

18. Cheap shot. I dont blame Obama first. But I also dont ignore that the government

regulators failed. Our government was aware of the terrible safety record of BP, yet did nothing. If that isnt fixed, it will happen again.

[Cha]

29. Cheap shot..it's not as if the "Government did nothing".

[rhett o rick]

31. It's a cheap shot when you infer that I blame Obama first. I am a Democrat and supported Obama's

election. I resent it when people try to stymie discussion that they dont agree with by name calling. Just because Obama is a Democrat doesnt mean he isnt accountable for his actions. Unlike republicans, Democrats should hold their own accountable.

When Bush/Cheney left office they left lots of boobie traps. We Democrats need to find those traps and fix them. I dont believe that Salazar was unaware that BP was operating in an unsafe manner. If proven, he should go to jail.

And tell me what the government did? They allowed BP to operate in an unsafe manner. They didnt insist that BP have a recovery plan. They allowed BP to compound the damage by using a crappy dispersant (a BP product) without any environmental evaluation. They allowed BP to decide who could see the damage.

Tell me what our government did.

[boppers]

15. Buh bye.

I'm preventing needless surges in blood pressure.

[Vampire Knight]

3. Ah, the double standard.

The opposition's way of saying: "Hey! YOU were the ones pissed about this last time around. Why doesn't it bother you now?"

[GeorgeGist]

4. Their double-standards bite them ...

and they whine as spoiled brats.

[amborin]

12. double standard= when Bush did it, dems protested; when Obama does it, it's our guy and it's ok

[Gordan Shumway]

14. I see you read the bizarro version of the article.

[treestar]

25. You really sound like a republican here

Unwilling to see the differences between the events and the differences in temperament, attitude and intelligence of the Presidents.

[RBInMaine]

22. ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT ! Perhaps you naysayers would like Bush back. Where's your sanity?

[tom_paine]

26. It is the double-standard characteristic of Totalitarianism, our version: Inverted Totalitarianism

The Former USA hasn't been a democratic-republic for quite some time now. Money, technology and advances in PR/marketing/advertising have nullified it.

Ironically, the Main Totalitarian Drivers in the Former USA, i.e. RW Authoritarians, have now gotten around to accusing Obama and the Democrats of behaving like Nazis. It's doubly ironic because, if there's one thing Obama and our Democratic Leadership resemble, it's the 1930s German Social Democrats.

I predcicted all of this a long time ago. Nazis ALWAYS accuse their victims of doing what the Nazis themselves are doing. ALWAYS.

This version of RW Authoritarianism that casts it's shadow over the world, housed primarily in the Republican Party it took over, is no different than any other Authoritarianism.

And the Subject Populaces in those various nations, as with 99.99% of the American Subject Populace today, can't tell the difference.

Amazing. Nothing really does change much in human history, except energy budget and technology.

[Peacetrain]

27. Absolutely there is a double standard.. K&R

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

33. I maintain that the double standards have to do with his race. If it were a women, say, Hillary,

there would be double standards that she would have to face that no man would...UNLESS,,,she's a Republican and/or conservative.

There's not much that can be done to dissuade me from this point of view. It's about RACE. Simple as that.