Gulf oil spill: Obama lands for a third visit

President Obama, on his third visit to Louisiana to oversee oil spill operations, landed at an airport in Kenner, a New Orleans suburb, and met there with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Louisiana Gov. 
Bobby Jindal, Sen. David Vitter, Admiral Thad Allen, EPA  Administrator Lisa Jackson, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, and other parish  presidents. Obama is now getting an update from Allen on the latest attempt to contain the oil spill.

Briefing reporters on Air Force One during the flight, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs refused to speculate whether BP will succeed in stanching the leak with a cap. "I'm long out of the prediction business on this," Gibbs said. "Everyone is hopeful this works."

The weather is poor, with intermittent rain. Instead of a 20-minute  helicopter ride to his next stop, Grand Isle, the president will  travel by motorcade, a trip expected to take more than two hours.

Asked about cancellation of the president's Indonesia trip, Gibbs said: "The president made a decision with all that's going on with our response right now, it would be difficult to go." Obama made the final decision to call off the trip on Thursday afternoon or evening, Gibbs said.

He would not say whether the president will make weekly trips to the gulf region. But no trip is planned next week, Gibbs said.

Even some allies of Obama are critical of his performance in the wake of  the oil spill. Ted Sorensen, a speechwriter and aide to former  President John F. Kennedy, said that Obama let too much time pass  before taking command of the crisis. "Trouble was, for a long time we didn't hear from him at all," said  Sorensen, who received a humanities award from Obama in February. "He didn't really seize the leadership on that issue."

A model for presidential leadership in a crisis of this kind was Kennedy's response to the steel industry's price increases in 1962, Sorensen said. Kennedy marshaled the full weight of his administration, giving  speeches and pressuring steel executives with the threat of criminal investigations. In the face of such a challenge, the steel industry buckled and rescinded the price hikes.

Sorensen, an Obama supporter, said Obama may have missed the moment.  "Frankly, now it's a little late to be assertive," Sorensen said.

Environmental groups and newspaper editorialists have also been pressing Obama to use the national outrage at the oil spill to build support in Congress for comprehensive climate and energy legislation that would move the country away from oil and toward renewable energy. Chances for passage of the climate legislation, now pending in Congress, had been waning before the spill in the face of an onslaught of industry opposition.

-- Peter Nicholas in Kenner, La., and Margot Roosevelt in Los Angeles

Comments

[Merle Savage]

The crude oil is toxic, and anyone who cleans the oily Gulf beaches needs to know the danger. Don't become BP's Collateral Damaged, like Exxon did in 1989.

Article from Las Vegas Review Journal:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/exxon-valdez-oil-risks-spur-warning-for-gulf-cleanup-crews-93258964.html
http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/former-valdez-cleanup-worker-warns-of-toxic-dangers-in-the-gulf

My name is Merle Savage, a female general foreman during the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) beach cleanup in 1989, which turned into 21 years of extensive health deterioration for me, and many other workers. I am one of the 11,000+ cleanup workers from the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS), who is suffering from health issues from that toxic cleanup, without compensation from Exxon.

Dr. Riki Ott visited me in 2007 to explain about the toxic spraying on the beaches. She also informed me that Exxon's medical records and the reports that surfaced in litigation by sick workers in 1994, had been sealed from the public, making it impossible to hold Exxon responsible for their actions.
http://www.rikiott.com

Exxon developed the toxic spraying; OSHA, the Coast Guard, and the state of Alaska authorized the procedure; VECO and other Exxon contractors implemented it. Beach crews breathed in crude oil that splashed off the rocks and into the air -- the toxic exposure turned into chronic breathing conditions and central nervous system problems, neurological impairment, chronic respiratory disease, leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, liver damage, and blood disease.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5632208859935499100

My web site is devoted to searching for EVOS cleanup workers who were exposed to the toxic spraying, and are suffering from the same illnesses that I have. There is an on going Longshoreman’s claim for workers with medical problems from the oil cleanup. Our summer employment turned into a death sentence for many -- and a life of unending medical conditions for the rest of Exxon’s Collateral Damaged.
http://www.silenceinthesound.com/stories.shtml

[EKALOGIC]

Here is a non toxic cleaning substance that could help save the gulf!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbTglNfEMTI

[Just ME in TJust ME in T]

Sieze the moment.......

Were you taught whilst growing up that Real Men Don’t Cry Mr. Obama? Well let me tell you now – that is a fallacy! Emotions right this moment, are what will touch those suffering on the Gulf Coast the most, and give them a sense of your love for them.

I believe they are sick and tired of the same old lines. “We’re making good progress” just does not cut it any longer.

http://just-me-in-t.blogspot.com/2010/06/its-ok-for-men-to-cry-note-to-president.html

[Andrew]

How much oil is President Obama wasting on this visits? Think of all the planes, helicopter, vehicles, and all the other people that can to see him used in this trip. Unless he is going there to work in clean up, he is not doing much that a phone call could do. If the president wants to go green it should start with him.

[TheIdahoKid]

With all these politicians present, how many will kiss his (censored) ring?