Why I Fell Asleep During the President’s Oval Office Address

I anticipated the President’s address with a measure of hope and skepticism. I hoped there would be some new and refreshing actions to bring relief to the people of the gulf coast, and to somehow accelerate the process of stopping the leak- now estimated to be as much as 60,000 barrels a day- 12 times higher than initially estimated. Is this the last new estimate? Could the problem get much worse?  

I was skeptical that he would do or say anything new. I was right.  All I heard the President say before I fell asleep is BP screwed up and we’ll make sure they pay reparations to the good folks in the gulf coast who are devastated by the spill.  The President also made an audacious claim that “in the coming weeks and days” 90% of the oil leak will be trapped, but if PB isn’t successful the President will be further assailed for not being on top of the problem.  

Then my eyes started to glaze over when he declared a renewed urgency to wean America from dependence on oil.  As a Democrat and supporter of the President, even I winced at the political bent of the discussion. While I agree with him, his emphasis diverts attention from the immediate problem.  He should have focused on just three things:

1)     Stopping the weak

2)     Cleaning up the mess

3)     Assisting the people of the gulf

I’m all for weaning America off oil, but let’s plug the leak before we do anything else. If this gusher is not plugged soon, Obama will be another  Jimmy Carter- quick to identify solutions, but completely helpless or unable to implement them. What started out as a disaster born out of a poorly regulated industry, largely under Republican encouragement, is now seen as a national brush fire the President can’t extinguish, and the Republicans will get yet another boost in the mid-term elections as a result of this fiasco.  He will likely lose control of both the House and the Senate to the very Republicans that were instrumental in creating the problem with laissez-faire oil regulation. 

He needs to step up his actions, not words. He needs to be quick, directive and decisive. First address the national emergency, then address our longer term energy needs. The oil spill is languishing longer than we can tolerate and without clear actions, and soon, President Obama will be painted with Jimmy Carter naiveté and a curse of ineptness will haunt him and his entire agenda for his remaining term of office.