The recent Gulf oil spill has become more than a tragedy, and the Obama administration has more than botched the response. This crisis illuminates the administration’s lack of leadership. Unfortunately for Americans, we see a president too tangled in a web of bureaucracy, ego and inexperience to appropriately handle the situation. It was well-worded in a recent column by Mark Steyn: “He has grand plans for ‘the environment’ - all of it, wherever it may be. Why should the great eco-Gulliver be ensnared by some Lilliputian oil spill lapping ‘round his boots?”
According to documents released by the Center for Public Integrity, the Obama administration was warned within 24 hours of the initial eruption that could release more than 8,000 barrels a day into the Gulf from then on. Obama responded by spending the next two months at fundraisers, commencement speeches, parties, golf tournaments and even football games on the White House lawn. He was too busy to go to Louisiana. On the other hand, nine days after the initial explosion, Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency and requested permission from the federal government to construct massive sand berms to block the oil flow. A month later, Obama allowed for 2 percent of the berms to be constructed.
A disaster such as this is not a partisan matter – both sides of the aisle recognize its significance. I bring up Jindal not to compare a Republican’s action to a Democrat’s, but rather to expose Obama for the inexperienced “chief executive of good intentions” as Bill Clinton so aptly named him.
While Obama was tripping over his own ego on the matter, he delivered a speech in Pittsburgh that was tinged with a post-Watergate Nixonian aroma. He was quick to blame the free market and capitalism for the problem instead of pleading for partisan politics to be laid aside in favor of a solution. Obama exposed his true colors. His main goal in the oil spill reaction is not to plug it up but to move the blame from his camp to anything else it may stick to.
Then, Obama took a decidedly partisan approach at devising a plan. Federal agencies were unleashed to respond without sufficient coordination and direction. They ended up producing the slow response and inaction we see today. Solutions offered by the private sector were tossed aside for a government response. Skimmer boats from around the world await the opportunity to help the cleanup, but Obama is refusing to waive the Jones Act that would let them operate here for fear of upsetting his union supporters.
Perhaps a lesson here is that government alone is not the solution to ecological problems. The modern ecological movement began in the Capitalist West. The first Earth Day didn’t occur in Moscow, Havana or even Sweden. It began in the U.S.
As Obama grasps at straws, more people begin to see he may not have the magic touch we were led to believe. On the “Today Show,” we saw Obama squirm and flounder. After Matt Lauer led him hook, line and sinker into being disgruntled over the spill, Obama called for “ass to be kicked.” Lauer asked Obama if he had even met with the BP CEO. He had to admit that he hadn’t.
The reason for criticizing the Obama administration for its poor reaction to the spill is simple: It promised more than it was capable of delivering during the campaign, and now it won’t admit when it needs help.
Government has to establish requirements for safe and ethical operation to look out for the citizen’s interest. But when private enterprise solutions to a problem become demonized for a political agenda, we see the limits of a leftist ideology with blinders on. In the case of foreign skimming boats or Jindal’s sand berms, it is the Obama administration that is hindering solutions.
What we are seeing in the Gulf is the hollowness of the claim that the federal government is the solution to every problem. The hope and change of a government cure-all has run smack into the wall of reality.
Bryan Griffin is a first-year law student.
