Obama's speech: There's a pipe spewing a gazillion gobs of oil into the gulf, so let's build more windmills

Gov. Charlie Crist checks a Florida beach for signs of oil

For all his reputation as the nation's Top Talker, Barack Obama took his sweet time giving a maiden Oval Office address to the country. And waiting another nearly 60 days to speak nationally about the oil spill that’s become the worst environmental disaster in the nation’s history.

Obama, the first modern president to pass his first full year in office without addressing the country from his historic desk, had the setting right. Just back from a day-and-a-half on the gulf coast listening, reassuring, talking tourism, eating seafood. He wore the proper suit, had the requisite flags and family photos in the background.

For 18 minutes he delivered the words crisply and forthrightly, though too often distracting anxious viewers with his fidgeting hands like the lecturing professor he once was. Or wait! Was Mr. Cool nervous? (See video below.)

Obama had the firmness down OK: Make no mistake etc. We will hold BP accountable etc. He....

...had the God references. The talk of real live shrimpers devastated. An American way of life threatened. And though he likened the spill more to an epidemic, he also brought in the requisite battle metaphors. And, has Obama ever mentioned, there's another Nobel Prize winner in his cabinet, Stephen Chu, who hasn't been able to stop the oil leak either?

But there was something wrong. The first two-thirds of the president's remarks read just fine (Full text over here on The Ticket as usual). By golly, we’ll get the money, we’ll clean it up, no matter how long it takes.

But watching the president and hearing him was a little creepy; that early portion of the address was robotic, lacked real energy, enthusiasm. And worst of all specifics. He was virtually detail-less.

After almost two months of waiting through continuously contradictory reports, an anxious American public wanted to know, HOW are you going to accomplish all this?

Even Obama's cheerleaders over at MSNBC were complaining. "Where was the How in this speech?" demanded Keith Olbermann. Seriously.

Everyone's assumed that fixing the leak was a given since Day Four, which was still five days before the Democrat got his big plane and presidential entourage down there.

Local gulf coast officials are tearing out their hair trying to comprehend and comply with seventeen (as in seven more than 10) federal agencies falling all over themselves to do The Boss’ bidding and help and impose and superimpose their visions and regulations on what is a war zone with hundreds of ships and some 30,000 people involved, many of them frightened. And all of them inexperienced on a disaster of this scale.

Trust me, the president said, tomorrow I'm going to give those BP execs what-for. As CBS' Mark Knoller noted on his Twitter account, the president has allotted exactly 20 whole minutes this morning -- 1,200 fleeting seconds -- to his first-ever conversation with the corporation responsible for the disaster.

Then, he's got an important lunch with Joe "I Witnessed the World Cup's First Tie" Biden.

Well, just-believe-in-my-change-to-believe-in may have been good enough to win Obama's party primaries and the general election in 2008 and drag along into office enormous congressional majorities of fellow party travelers.

But after yelling "JOBS!" for a year and getting a protracted Democratic intra-party fight over Obama's beloved healthcare instead, Americans wanted some Oval Office specifics Tuesday evening on stopping the uncontrolled undersea oil escape.

Instead, Obama was like a Harvard-trained nurse talking vacation to a new patient bleeding all over the ER floor. Hello, could we please stop the blood flow here before we discuss the long-term recovery?

Obama’s delivery did not really come alive until the end when the ex-community organizer got into his favorite Big Picture stuff. Memo to American Homeowners: Do not call Obama over to fix your leaking roof – or pipe. Have him design a new house, no, better yet an entire neighborhood or city from scratch.

Following the advice of his chief of staff, Rahm "I Got a Rent-Free Apartment from a BP Adviser" Emanuel, Obama is determined to leave no crisis unused. When he got into the decades-long fossil fuel addiction rehab stuff, his eyes shone. His delivery punched up.

Now, that is an issue that requires greatness. Another galactic reform out of Hyde Park. It sounds swell unless mega-trillion-dollar federal deficits are on your mind, which voter polls now show ranks with terrorism as Americans' top fears.

Obama’s historic presidential campaign was not only big in terms of an unprecedented three-quarters of a billion dollars to win. It was about Big Promises. He was going to change America, radically reform the entire education system, healthcare, comb the entire federal budget line-by-line, oh, and change the 200-year-old partisan ways of the capitol. About the only big change the White Sox fan didn't promise was getting the Cubs a World Series ring.

It was all impractical, of course. But the country wanted to believe....

....in his change to believe in. And it did, handing complete control of the federal government over to Obama and his Democratic party. And today, after 17 months of lop-sided Democratic majorities now nervously confronting midterm elections Nov. 2, about 60% of Americans would like the new healthcare bill repealed. And they're hinting they'd probably like some more Republicans in Congress too.

President Obama has said he doesn’t sense an appetite to address something as large as the illegal immigrant issue this year. But suddenly – watch the left hand over here because he wants you to not focus on how long it’s taken him to take charge of the spill – he thinks there’s a compelling need to spend a motorcade full of moola that the federal government doesn’t have in order to change the country’s energy habits.

And we've gotta start that right now because of an underwater leaking pipe 40 miles off Louisiana that we haven't plugged and don't really understand how it broke in the first place. So let's do the electric car thing and build more windmills now.

And if, by chance, the nation’s politicians end up fighting over an energy plan during the next five months until the voting, maybe the politically damaging healthcare regrets and hidden costs will drown in all the words like so many thousands of seabirds in all the gulf’s still-surging oil.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images; Rod Lamkey / AFP / Getty Images; Getty Images (pool).

Comments

[Tom Degan]

The president is being too damned politically expedient. Last night's address to the nation from the Oval Office was a real let down I expected the guy to hit one out of the ballpark last night and he barely got to first base. I know it's too early to judge his administration, but it seems to me that he could be another Franklin D. Roosevelt if he really wanted to. Instead, he seems hell-bent on becoming another Bill Clinton.. He needs to take bold action. Who is advising him?

Don't get me wrong, I voted for Barack Obama and never for a moment regretted doing so. Let's face some serious facts here: We can all sleep a little easier tonight knowing that John McCain is not running things and that Fascist Barbie is not a heartbeat away from the presidency. But where is all of this change I could believe in? I'm hesitant to criticize the president. He gets hounded day and night by the right wing and don't wish to add to the pile-on. But I wish the guy would show a little more courage.
Tom Degan

[Ogre]

He was SO not looking for oil.... unless he was making sure that girl had enough on her.

[JOEB]

Gov. Charlie Crist checks a Florida beach for signs of oil - he's checking her real good.

[BreakingNewsBlog.us]

---
---
unfortunately, Obama can't promise that all these problems will be solved "within a few days", since
BP hasn't proposed NEW, BETTER AND FASTER SOLUTIONS, as clearly required by U.S. Coast Guard
but ONLY some NEW "PROMISES" to solve the problem more quickly... just another couple of months
---
so, I've developed a new and BETTER "super cap" that can be built and installed in a couple of days
---
read a description with the drawing of my new idea in my article latest update: http://bit.ly/c8y9GX
---
the only other alternatives to my simple, cheap, fast to build and install proposal to fix the leak are:
---
1. the (unknown) new "cap" ready for mid-july after 50,000,000 more gallons of oil spilled in the Gulf
---
2. a drilling of the two relief wells finished in mid-august after 100,000,000 more gallons of oil spilled
---
---
however, the Gov. doesn't seem look "signs of oil" (in the above photo) but something better... :-)
---
---

[metalguru]

Tom Degan,

Maybe YOU should show some "courage" by critisizing your big mistake of a vote. You seem to have plenty of courage critisizing McCain and Palin who a majority of Americans this morning would gladly hand the reigns to those two to have some leadership in fixing this disaster.

Obama's message was clear last night: Using a huge environmental disaster to promote more taxes and regulation and the fantasy green jobs with windmills in which BP and many others like GE (Big Obama campaign contributor) have vested interest in.

"Never Let a crisis go to waste"
Rahm Emanuel

I would be ashamed to say I voted for Obama. More so if I still supported him and even more if I dared critisize others who certainly could do no worse than this disgrace of a commander in chief.

Give your head a shake.

[LogicalUS]

"it seems to me that he could be another Franklin D. Roosevelt if he really wanted to"

Why?

You are one of the tools who Andrew is talking about. There is NOTHING in Obama's background to suggest any of the nonsense you spout. He failed at everything which he ever tried yet bozos like you got it into your minds that he was the one who was going to completely change a country which does not need to be completely changed?

Obama failed as a investment analyst, "community organizer", attorney, on to chair of the Annanberg Challenge and sorry to break it to ya, but he is already a disaster as a President, so you can take down your "Obama exiting the sea" poster. Why anyone would be surprised is the real question?

As for your comment about McCain and Palin, yeah who would want to have experienced people who understand the needs of the American people and someone in the case of Palin who has already had multiple experiences with dealing successfully with exactly this type of situation? Turn off the lunatics at MSNBC and pick up real Alaskan news to find out how Sarah Palin took on the oil companies there and handled them to accomplish things. Your ignorance is blinding.

[Vera]

I'd take McCain, Clinton, or Clinton's Fascist Barbie wife Hillary any day over the present empty suite. Obama is no FDR. FDR actually took action his first 18 months in office.

[Scott M]

As much as I disliked a lot of what both Clinton the man and Clinton the president stood for, at least he got some things accomplished. Or, rather, was forced to participate in by the '94 GOP congress, a la successful welfare reform.

I didn't vote for President Obama. I didn't believe a word he said about bipartisanship, but I still went into wait-and-see mode once he took office. It sure as hell didn't take long to see that our country had given the levers of power to a group of inexperienced and bumbling amateurs. Thin-skinned, politically naive, amateurs at that. I mean, come on...GEITNER for Tres Sec? The health care debacle just sealed the deal. President Obama does seem to be accomplishing one major thing...he's waking the American people up to their civics and they're apparently not happy about it.

Even so, I still have a modicum of hope that he's going to come out and take charge...it just seems like the easier and, yes, proper thing to do. Instead, he goes right back to the ideologue handbook and tells us that we need to start building windmills. Aside from at least one outright lie, he has the gall to mention the Chinese and their pursuit of green energy (as if we're supposed to do it because we want to be cool too) WITHOUT MENTIONING China's proclivity to build coal-fired power plants in droves. A lie of omission if nothing else.

Very disappointing, but not very surprising at this point. As far as losing MSNBC's support, I figured it was only a matter of time before even Tingles realized the shine was off.

[Monty]

RE: "I expected the guy to hit one out of the ballpark last night and he barely got to first base."
-Tom Degan
--------------------

Dude, he struck out swinging last night.

[EMD]

Methinks Tom doesn't know what fascist really means.

[Fallon]

Tom. Bill Clinton? I think you meant Jimmah Carter. I would have thought you'd have started regretting voting for Obama at the first bow, but whatevah.

I see the soft bigotry of low expectations is deeply ingrained in some of Obama's most faithful followers. I don't sleep easier with Obama in the White House.

Tom, your fear of competent, proven leadership speaks volumes. Words aren't actions. They are "just words: if you can't back them up and Obama can't.

[jsmith]

Today, Jimmy Carter is secretly delighted.
Thanks to Mr. Obama, Carter is no longer considered the worst president in American history.

[USA]

Hussien the deceiver has no stake in America, except to usher in its demise.

Every word an empty lie - beyond scary and pathetic.

[Original Pechanga]

Andrew, wonderful column.

Our President is an empty suit. Maybe he could borrow one of Jimmy Carter's sweaters?

[knottypine]

I listened to the embedded Obama video and he is either: A) A totally uninformed, ignorant ignoramus or B) A liar

He says the Gulf has been the victim of "decades of environmental degradation". I have worked in the environmental field for over 25 years. I have done environmental work in the Gulf. There is no question that year after year for the past 30 years state and federal environmental regulations have gotten more strict; wastewater discharge limits, air emissions limits, filling or impacting of wetlands, EVERYTHING. That is why the governor of Louisiana could not just go out there and build temporary berms.

So what is this moron Obama saying? That all of these environmental regulations were pointless. That environmental regulatory agencies are staffed with drooling idiots? I guess when you know your constituency consists of people who will elect Alvin Greene by 60% or that have no idea what a fascist is you can say just about anything.

[Charles Kent]

Tom, Obama is destroying the Gulf Coast by his inaction and bungling and your hung up on Palin? You're sick.

[Jeff {SkAtEbOaRd}]

Tom you are a HOMER. This administration is going on Carteresque mode. It is a complete joke to date and the head guys is THE JOKER. Some 60 days after our biggest environmental disaster we get that excuse of a speech! Are you on vicodine. Does it numb the pain of watching this utter disaster at sea unfold as well as the saga at the White House?

This will be THE NOVEMBER to REMEMBER 2010. Real change is coming and it better come quick.

[myohmy]

Dream on. We need a president with executive experience, not an oracle.

[mwbri]

"Fascist Barbie is not a heartbeat away from the presidency."

No initiatives to overturn Roe v. Wade in Alaska, no initiatives to teach creationism in Alaska public schools, there was no banning of books, and we could go on and on, but she is a fascist. Does her personal decision not to abort Trig make her a fascist, Tom?

Fascist, like the way the word “Nazi” is thrown around, is being emptied of all meaning with such vacuous insults. By the way, real fascists nationalized industries in the 1930s, which is what the White House's left leaning friends would love to do with the oil industry.

[Paul B]

Superb expose' of an empty suit. Good luck, America. You best return to the Rock from which you were hewn, and quickly.

BTW, what one earth do girls think they gain by dressing like the two in the Charlie Crist pic? That's supposed to be attractive? Yuck. Another sign that we have lost our way.

[metalguru]

Let's see some more opinions LA Times, you lefty cowards!

What's wrong? Can't find any favorable comments except the timid and semi critisism of poor dillusioned Tom Degan here?

Pathetic!

[Steve Larbig]

No, Obama can’t fix the leak. Neither can his non-petroleum engineer Nobel Prize winning Energy Secretary (a designation that seems to be trotted out as some sort of talisman). But, the President can show leadership on this issue. He can lead by designating one person to lead this effort, set a clear line of authority to which all relevant departments must report and give that person the authority to cut through the bureaucratic roadblocks and institutional inertia that have delayed preventive measures from being taken (remember how long it took to get a tiny fraction of the sand berms approved?). We have too many fiefdoms which sometimes work against each other (EPA, Homeland Security, Energy, etc). He could set up (and chair!) a crisis group that would have participants from state and federal governments as well as the private sector to monitor and advise on how to stop the leak. There are a lot of things that he could be doing but he hasn’t because he has zero executive experience. A fact widely overlooked in the campaign. His lack of experience in managing anything is leading directly to the destruction of millions of people’s lives.

One of the most important aspects of the Presidency is leadership. President Obama has now been tested and found wanting. The residents of the Gulf and the nation are now paying the price for his incompetence and inexperience.

[Ed Wallis]

This author describes well the "sleight of hand" (formerly known as "distractions"!) of this President. "Inspirational" chatter might have a touching gesture on Day 1...but, at Day 57, quite a bit more is not only reasonably expected but also necessary. Words fail to describe the weakness, vacuity and corruption exhibited by Obama in this speech. His Administration cozied themselves with this company and waived regulations for them at this site. They are in deep, they know it, and have no way out. Accountability is for adults; let's see how Obama and Co. take their own medicine.

**************

@ Mr. Tom Degan...it's a tragedy to read how someone is *still* struggling so hard *NOT* to see the danger in the fraudulence in this President.

[Frank Sorbello]

Hey, Tom, I'll bet the "Fascist Barbie" would at least know how to handle an oil spill..it comes with actually having experience in governance, something this President surely does not have.

[joe jackson]

I did not know Andrew Malcolm until this morning(linked in here from another site).

Malcolm has it right..ALL of it.

Quite an impressive analysis and article.

Thanks,

Joe in TN

(AM responds: Nice to meet you, Joe. Hope you'll bookmark us and become a Ticket regular.)

[Bill]

TomDegan:

He can't show any courage because he doesn't have any. You are seeing that the vote for him you are so proud of was wasted on an petty, ignorant, arrogant, know-it-all prick who does not love this country and is intentionally dismantling it brick by brick. Congratulations, and I hope you enjoy all the change.

[kuhnfreein2012]

This is what happens when you elect affirmative action presidents....

the knee grow fiddles as the gulf coast burns..

[typical white person]

let me be clear............ i have no idea what i'm doing, but never let a crisis go to waste.

[jnsesq]

Now that first pic has THE caption of the day! LOLOL

[Adlib]

I'm sure he'd show more courage if he had any. This guy is all about passing blame, and while he golfed the weeks away before even getting to the Gulf, people wanted action. Remember when Bush golfed maybe once or twice before people criticized him for doing so during a war? (and he subsequently stopped.) Obama golfs/parties/vacations all the freakin' time. Pretty sure I'd be fired if I golfed that much.

Don't be hesitant to criticize the president. Tons of people are having voters remorse. It's your country too, ya know. Is it this president you are hesitant to criticize or just the president in general? I'm sure I know which it is. He's doing a horrible job, and come November, it's the Day of Reckoning.

[Brooke Wright]

It is easy to scream, "Do something!!!" from the cheap seats.

What is your suggestion?

I hear nuthin' but crickets...

[dt]

From the picture, it appears he is looking at something other than the beach.

[Superpower]

Obama wants to turn public anger over the oil leak disaster into grounds for a massive energy tax, resulting in higher electricity prices, slashed income, a million jobs lost, soaring national debt and the list goes on and on. This is incompetence at the highest levels of our government...sad.

[welovetheUSA]

Windmills and solar will not run this country.....period. Cap and Trade will destroy this country, driving gas up to 7-8 dollars a gallon, utilities doubled in all homes...not to mention killing all small business..Wake up America...we have enough oil on our own land here in America to supply our needs for thousands of years to come...this climate change trash over Carbon is a scam and a hoax on the American tax payer....We have 4,000 deep water drill in the deep ocean now...the EPA is the Only ones to blame in this oil mess...EPA forces oil companies to drill where accidents can happen and we have this mess. Would you rather look at a drill rig on shore...or have an 800.00 a month electric bill?

[Dennis]

I can't believe I am actually starting to feel sorry for Obama. He seems genuinely over his head. Such weakness in a President is not good for our country whether he be Dem or Rep. This doesn't bode well for any of us.

[Matt]

Tom Degan is Partisan Blogger who is unflappably an Obama Minion. Too bad the wheels on the Obama Hell Bent On Destruction train are coming off, huh Tommy Boy.

[Hortio Smythe]

of course you dont regret voting for him, you're just as big an idiot as he is tom Degan

[John evans]

I hope for change in November mid terms and 2012 cant come soon enough.

[jnsesq]

Amazing! This is the SECOND item I've read in the LA Times this week that hasn't gushed (oops, that term) or fawned over our TelePrompTee-in-Chief. Might even The Times be finally seeing through (easy enough since there's no substance) our Chief Apologist?

[Mike]

Dear California,

No one cares what your bankrupt, pathetic excuse of a state thinks, anymore. Please do the rest of America a favor, and fall into the Pacific.

[Don in LA]

I don't think Charlie is looking for crude oil - maybe massage oil?

[DD]

Wind power, at least from my view living smack dab in thousands of generators in the San Gorgonio pass, is a sick joke.
Do a basic census of them out here and only about half of them are even operable, and the abandoned wind arms look like
candidates for EPA superfund sites. I don’t think these morons have a clue how much oil it takes to keep one lubed, or the magnitude of maintenance (performed ad hoc) to keep all the seals holding that oil in from leaking and blowing all over the desert out here. Just a simple drive by on the I-10 will show rivers of oil running down the support columns.

Anyone from the Times, anytime gets a free windmill tour from me showing them precisely how futile this form of power, and the costs involved to the environment it is, with a personal tour.

[Katie]

Seriously, it's taking you guys THIS long to realize that Obama is not good with specifics... It's been this way since his campaign... Which is why people like me did not vote for him (and do not take this admission to mean that I (or anyone for that matter) automatically voted for McCain either, because there were more than two people on the ballot in my State).

Oh and Tom Degan, Facists can come from the left as well, since Facism has elements of socialism and even communism in it as well. So being on the far right does not automatically make a person a facist.... a little loony maybe, but no better than the extreme Progressives on the far left.

(AM responds: Seriously, it's taken you this long to realize we are over here? Finally, time to bookmark The Ticket and become a regular so you won't be so shocked. Thanks for reading.)

[Joseph Blough]

That's your stupid guy, you stupid paper.

[jon]

This is probably the best piece the LA Times EVER published!Obama is the triple threat: Incompetent, dishonest, egotistical to Nth degree. God help these United States because Obama won't.

[richard]

This would be funny if it wasn't so true.
Our country is screwed.

[Glubber]

What is MORE frustrating is that I watched Hannity last night and he had that guy, Frank Luntz, that gets 50% Democrats and 50% Republicans and uses that dialer to measure responses. He then asks the group questions. It was about Obama's speech. The FRUSTRATING part was that blacks in the group were STILL defending this turd of a president. Folks, this is NOT a black or white issue. This is a competency issue! We will NOT get any racial harmony in this country until blacks in this country RECOGNIZE and ADMIT that they voted for Obama because he was BLACK!

As for Tom, I can see that his Obamabot feelings run strong. Maybe ONE day he will recognize what the right has been saying about Obama. WHERE is his competency? What in his background SHOWED that he had ANY ability to do ANYTHING? You VOTED for a persona without RESEARCHING. YOU, cancelled my well informed vote. PLEASE don't do it AGAIN!!

[Mr. Z]

What happens when a plane crashes into a windmill? Do we abolish windmills and go back to horses. But then animals release gas which hurts the envoronment. It is my understanding that if we covered every square inch of the United States with windmills and the support equipment we would still have energy shortages.

Lets harness the power of volcano's, we can put a massive tea pot on top of each volcano and attach a massive spout to the spout. The hose would power turbines and save the world. I digress.

[Jeff]

Hey Tom, if FDR's bold actions were sooo great for this country, then why did the Depression last until 1946? Bold actions aren't good enough. You need proper, RATIONAL steps taken. Just the simple fact that we've TURNED AWAY help offered to us from the Dutch as well as help from other states speaks volumes about this administration. Gov. Jindal wasn't even allowed to construct sand burms before the leak reached shore. I found the speech rather frightening since the power he wants to use is not given by consent of the governed (i.e. read the Constitution!). The question I have for environmentalists is this, if we had drilled off the continental shelf, say 500 feet deep, not 5,000+ feet deep, wouldn't it have been easier to contain? Furthermore, if we had drilled on land, wouldn't a spill have been even easier to contain??? I only ask because I find no rational thought patterns by ANYONE from the left, only decisions being made purely on emotion.

[Carl Parsons]

Every bad bill signed into law in the previous administration was voted for by Barack Obama. Everything good was voted against. Did you really expect positive change here folks? The guy is the most unquallified person to walk into any room he visits with no real-world experience. Let that be a lesson, EXPERIENCE MATTERS!