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Instead of YOU LIE, someone should just shout out KEEP IT REAL SON.
He says the drilling to such depths to find oil is proof that we need to transition away from oil, yet the reality is government has forced oil companies to such depths.
By JENNIFER LOVEN and TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writers Jennifer Loven And Tom Raum, Associated Press Writers – 1 min ago
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama defensively and sometimes testily insisted on Thursday that his administration, not oil giant BP, was calling the shots in responding to the worst oil spill in the nation's history.
"I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down," Obama declared at a news conference in the East Room of the White House. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill dominated the hour-long session.
He called the spill, now in its sixth week, an "unprecedented disaster" and blasted a "scandalously close relationship" he said has persisted between Big Oil and government regulators.
Obama announced new steps to deal with the aftermath of the spill, including continuing a moratorium on drilling permits for six months. He also said he was suspending planned exploration drilling off the coasts of Alaska and Virginia and on 33 wells under way in the Gulf of Mexico.
The president's direct language on being in charge of the spill response, which he repeated several times, marked a change in emphasis from earlier administration assertions that, while the government was overseeing the operation, BP had the expertise and equipment to make the decisions on how to stop the flow.
As recently as Monday, the top federal official in charge of dealing with the oil catastrophe, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, declined to broadly say the federal government was "in charge." Instead, when asked about that, Allen told reporters that BP was responsible for the cleanup and the government was accountable to make sure the company did it. "I would say it's less a case of 'in charge,'" Allen said when asked about that phrase.
Yet with each passing day, public frustration with Obama's administration has grown, and his poll numbers on the matter are dropping.
Claiming control carries its own political risks for Obama, because any failure to stop the gusher will then belong to the president. But he could suffer politically if his administration is seen as falling short of staying on top of the problem or not working hard to find a solution.
"The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort," Obama said. He was reacting to criticism that his administration has been slow to act and has left BP in charge of plugging the leak.
Obama said many critics failed to realize "this has been our highest priority."
"My job right now is just to make sure everybody in the Gulf understands: This is what I wake up to in the morning, and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about. The spill."
"There shouldn't be any confusion here. The federal government is fully engaged," he said, underscoring his central point.
As he spoke, BP worked furiously to pump mud-like drilling fluid into the blown-out well.
It was an untested procedure but seemed to be working, officials said Thursday, even as new estimates showed the spill has surpassed the Exxon Valdez in Alaska as the worst in U.S. history.
Obama said while the "top kill" procedure being used by BP demonstrated his administration's willingness to try "any reasonable strategy" to stop the gusher, the process "offers no guarantee of success."
Asked about inevitable comparisons between his handling of the disaster with his predecessor's handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Obama said: "I'll leave it to you guys to make those comparisons and make — and make — and make judgments on it, because — because what I'm spending my time thinking about is how do we solve the problem?
"And I'm confident that people are going to look back and say that this administration was on top of what was an unprecedented crisis," he added.
"This has been our highest priority," he said. He conceded that "people are going to be frustrated until it stops."
As an example of the government's hands-on approach, Obama said that BP had wanted to drill a single "relief" well in an effort to eventually stop the leak in several months if all else failed. Instead, the administration insisted on two relief wells being drilled, Obama said.
Over and over, the president sought to counter criticism that the administration was giving too much leeway to BP PLC. "Make no mistake, BP is operating at our direction," he said.
"We will demand that they pay every dime they owe for the damage they've done and the painful losses that they've cost," he said. Still, he acknowledged, "We've got to get it right."
He denounced what he called "the oil industry's cozy and sometimes corrupt" ties with government regulators.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg , D-N.J., a critic of offshore drilling, said Obama had taken an important step to halt the most imminent environmental threat to the Atlantic coast, but he said the danger will remain until there is a permanent ban on drilling in the Atlantic.
"BP's oil catastrophe in the Gulf is a wake-up call for our nation. Giving Big Oil more access to our nation's waters will only lead to more pollution, more lost jobs and more damage to our economy," Lautenberg said.
Obama said the federal government "has acted consistently with a sense of urgency" on the spill. But, he acknowledged a "sense of complacency on the government's part in planning how to deal with the worst-case scenario" before it happened.
He said a cozy relationship between industry and government didn't change when he came into office.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar "came in and started cleaning house. But the culture had not fully changed at MMS. And surely I take responsibility for that."
But, he added, "there is no evidence some of the corrupt practices that took place earlier took place under the present administration's watch."
He spoke shortly after the head of the troubled agency that oversees offshore drilling, Minerals Management Services Director Elizabeth Birnbaum, resigned under pressure.
"I found out about her resignation today. I don't know the cir stances under which this occurred," Obama said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama
Instead of YOU LIE, someone should just shout out KEEP IT REAL SON.
He says the drilling to such depths to find oil is proof that we need to transition away from oil, yet the reality is government has forced oil companies to such depths.
Please -- if it wasn't profitable, they wouldn't drill there. All the government handouts and assumption of risk made that possible.
Keep it real, son.
You know, guys, I really don't get Obama on this one.
I consider myself a moderate, politically. I have voted for people from either party from time to time and reserve the right to do so in the future. So I don't belong to either political party. I don't give money to either.
I don't hate Obama. I don't love him.
But I swear I don't understand him on this.
His own 'Crisis manager', the Coast Guard guy, says, "The federal government has neither the equipment or the resources to fix this problem. Private industry has to fix it because noone else knows how."
Well, that makes some sense to me. I think it is unfortunate in the extreme, but it makes sense.
So, how can the government 'be in charge'? And if the government were really 'in charge', wouldn't that be socialism or nationalism, or somehow illegal?
Isn't the most the government can do in this situation is try to get money out of BP when it is finally cleaned up?
Am I missing something here?
No, this disaster has extended well beyond private property, so if the US had the resources readily available, there would not be any infringement of anyone's rights here for the government to step in and clean up......if that was your concern....
problem seems to be that the government just does not have the resources available to do just that and has no choice but to rely on BP to continue doing what they are doing.
I would imagine in this case, that if BP failed clean up the spill properly, the federal government would threaten to pursue criminal charges of some sort.Isn't the most the government can do in this situation is try to get money out of BP when it is finally cleaned up?
As it is, as long as they continue to make continued concerted efforts to clean, I would think that fines will simply be assessed in the end.
I wish Obama could just flick his magic wrist to make it all go away.
Thanks, Blake.
I wish it could all go away, too. The beaches I grew up on are being despoiled.
But I don't think that anyone but BP can fix it. And I think Obama is insane for suggesting he is in charge.
Technically, the government has to approve everything BP tries -- but it's not like they are in a position to do much different themselves.
Unless jack would care to elaborate his "flick of the wrist" comment.
Just quit driving, using energy, and buying products and we won't need oil.
What does that have to do with anything?
Did it just make you feel better?
Darrin, are you capable of being anything but an ass?
People were actually talking to each other, having a reasonable discussion without resorting to too much hyperbole, and then....Darrin.
the corporate lobbyist party(GOP), has found a way to blame Obama and not BP.
I hope you all aren't that stupid.
After getting called out by Carville, Obama had no choice but to make some sort of political gesture to assure people he was engaged, and to impart the impression that he wasn't pulling a Bush Jr. and dismissing the debacle.
That said, I just don't see BP worming their way out of the hot-seat on the basis of this.
You're almost there. The government does have to approve everything BP tries. Obama could have easily said "fill the damn hole" over 30 days ago but he didn't. He listened to the hand that helps feed him.
Noone expects Obama to put scuba gear on, summon lighting bolts from the skies, stuff BP executives down the hole until it finally stops but we sure the expected him to tell BP to "fill the damn hole" after a few days. It took 37 days for him to finally flick that wrist of his and now BP is trying to stop the leak instead of salvaging it for more profit.
That's the dumbest thing you have ever posted.
They've been trying to stop the leak since it began.
They been trying to save the oil.
By stopping the leak, genius.
Genius, saving the oil should have been the last thing on their minds. Obviously.
Stopping the leak in any way would save the oil, genius. Obviously.
Not for use, genius. Obviously.
So there is one place and one place only to drill an oil field? You can't stop something up and drill elsewhere to "drink its milkshake?"
Yes, for use, genius. Obviously.
Be sure to update us when that happens. Nice to see Obama own this disaster.
When oil is available to be pumped again? That will happen as soon as the leak is stopped. I'll give you that update if you really need it, genius.Nothing like that happened with the previous administration.Nice to see Obama own this disaster.
Please do, genius. Bush was a much better president.
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