Why are so few pointing finger at Obama and Salazar?

[thestain]

While many on Internet are aware that without the efforts of Ken Salazar at the bequest of President Barack Obama on behalf of BP to allow them to drill the Deep Water Horizon in the first place, there could not have been a disaster. While fingers are pointed at MMS which is over seen by Salazar and BP's U.S. operations that are overseen by Tony Heynotmewood, Not many have dared to question Obama on his involvement in getting drilling and variances approved for BP. On top of this and after Obama got the salt water in the Gulf of Mexico poisoned as a direct result of going to bat for BP, now he is going for our fresh water, and Nuclear. If he and Salazar cannot be trusted to get Big oil to follow the rules for safety, what makes people think he will get Big Nuke to follow the rules... and before he is through, who knows maybe he can wipe out our salt water and fresh water and destroy the environment and economy of the United States. When will he be questioned in regards to what his agenda is and why he went to bat for BP and now is going to bat for Nuclear.. and why the delay in responding to the disaster in the Gulf, why the cover up.. why the dispersants to hide it and why not bring in other oil companies and let them and the Government take over, not sure Thad Allun will be able to cut it. Hurricane season is not far off, maybe drilling moratorium should be from say March-October to take this into consideration in the future? Also, how about those White Sox, Obama has time to enjoy a little baseball and Haywood has time for other entertainments... who is really in charge?

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Yeah, I can't remember the last time someone pointed the finger at Obama. Incidentally, I also suffer from severe brain damage and can't remember where I am.

 

[Craig234]

Obama said he was wrong to accept assurances of the safety of the drilling. Liberals say 'I told you so', right-wingers say 'sorry BP for Obama's actions against you'. And what else?

 

[umbrella39]

I just wanted to get in on the ground floor of this thread.

 

[sandorski]

My head hurts

 

[theeedude]

Cus of librul media, obviously. Everyone knows that

 

[TridenT]

Yeah, I can't remember the last time someone pointed the finger at Obama. Incidentally, I also suffer from severe brain damage and can't remember where I am.

I'll agree with this statement. You do indeed have sum brawn daumuge. OBAMA NEVER GITZ A FUNGR POINTED AT HIM... Only a gun. :hmm:

 

[StageLeft]

I'm not sure of which regulations should have existed and which were laxly ignored. My assumption is that government regulation severely dropped the ball on this spill and I think the whole thing points to that.

 

[Jaskalas]

Obama said he was wrong to accept assurances of the safety of the drilling. Liberals say 'I told you so', right-wingers say 'sorry BP for Obama's actions against you'. And what else?

I think it was wrong for BP to accept drilling at 5,000 feet of water instead of 500 feet.

 

[heyheybooboo]

More blame and finger-pointing will fix everything.









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[Darwin333]

Bec@ause we are busy trying to save what is left of our coast and more importantly our inland waters. There will be plenty of time for finger pointing and bullshit politics later.

If you just can't wait to point fingers then how about giving us a hand and reading up on the piss poor performance of the CG, COE, and EPA. All kinds of stuff to point fingers about there and it might (not likely but just might) get them to fix some of the problems that would greatly help the people fighting this spill right now.

IMHO, the political bs is a big reason why the response has been a huge clusterfuck. Everyone seems to be playing CYA and that is slowing down and even preventing shit getting done. I really don't care whose fault it is at this point just fix the damn problems and help us "get shit done". At the very least they can stop getting in the damn way and stop letting BP dictate to them. BP is even worse of a clusterfuck and they have proven it time and time again, stop letting them call the shots cocncerning the cleanup.

 

[nonlnear]

While many on Internet are aware that without the efforts of Ken Salazar at the bequest of President Barack Obama on behalf of BP to allow them to drill the Deep Water Horizon in the first place,...

Behest or request, not bequest.
Unfortunately behest + request != bequest.
A bequest is a piece of personal property which was bequeathed.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I just wonder why Rand Paul might be considering blocking foreign ships from operating in the gulf, just because they won't let his board certify them.

He's also consistently failed to deny that he helped Glenn Beck dispose of the body of a young girl in 1990 in exchange for certain erotic favors.

 

[Lemon law]

The fact is and remains, much of the oil drilling regulations we had in place when Clinton left office we later dismantled by GWB&co. Even after this BP crisis, Obama and the democrats will have an uphill fight with the GOP to get better oil drilling regulations in place.

But point granted, when Obama took office he should have been prepared to hit the ground running to get better oil drilling regulations in place Obama did not, and now this just accident waiting to happen took place on the Obama watch.

Nor is it any accident that it happened to BP, that had already compiled the worst safety record in the oil industry, but still, it could have happened to an even safer oil company. Meanwhile, investigations seem delayed, so we can determine exactly what all went wrong and why. And even worse, BP short cutting of safety may rise to a criminal level.

Meanwhile, Obama has slapped a ban on all drilling, almost certainly wise until better regulations can be put in place, but meanwhile it costs other jobs in the same gulf coast States. So I ask, why are we slow tracking these investigations?

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Behest or request, not bequest.
Unfortunately behest + request != bequest.
A bequest is a piece of personal property which was bequeathed.

I was also very confused by that wording....

 

[Darwin333]

The fact is and remains, much of the oil drilling regulations we had in place when Clinton left office we later dismantled by GWB&co. Even after this BP crisis, Obama and the democrats will have an uphill fight with the GOP to get better oil drilling regulations in place.

But point granted, when Obama took office he should have been prepared to hit the ground running to get better oil drilling regulations in place Obama did not, and now this just accident waiting to happen took place on the Obama watch.

Nor is it any accident that it happened to BP, that had already compiled the worst safety record in the oil industry, but still, it could have happened to an even safer oil company. Meanwhile, investigations seem delayed, so we can determine exactly what all went wrong and why. And even worse, BP short cutting of safety may rise to a criminal level.

Meanwhile, Obama has slapped a ban on all drilling, almost certainly wise until better regulations can be put in place, but meanwhile it costs other jobs in the same gulf coast States. So I ask, why are we slow tracking these investigations?

Exhibit A: http://energycommerce.house.gov/doc...email.from.MMS.approving.permit.revisions.pdf

Seems to me that even if GWB&co slashed regulations it wouldn't have mattered if MMS approves the casing changes which could have been the cause of the blowout. Those changes where approved days before the blast so its hard to push the actual regulators off on anyone but Obama.

Please don't misunderstand me though, BP designed and implemented an unsafe well plan BUT they did so with the full approval of the regulators. It doesn't appear that the "regulations" played much of a part in this mess, it was the actual "regulators" that rubber stamped BPs change of plans. Again, BP is ultimately responsible, my only point is that increased regulation would not have prevented this if the same regulators would have allowed BP to do whatever they wanted anyway.

It is very safe to say that had the MMS not approved the casing changes we would likely have a much better situation even if the explosion had still occurred. Right now they are concerned about putting too much pressure on the casing/cement (better casing job would have meant a better cement job) because it might rupture. That is why the abruptly stopped the top kill procedure.

I agree that we need better regulations but they won't do a damned bit of good if we don't get better regulators. That is why I think the "gang of 66" plan is so good. There isn't anyone to pass the buck too if they fail to do their jobs as they are directly in charge of a specific rig during a specific time frame. I bet we already have a law on the books that would allow us to charge one of the 66 with a crime if they intentionally or negligently approve of unsafe procedures (such as the MMS with the casing plan). Without accountability it is very difficult to prevent the regulators from allowing the oil companies to do as they please and "losing their job" isn't good enough.

Edit: The drilling moratorium is a lot of things but "wise" isn't one of them. We have a better plan than all the regulation in the world that can be implemented very quickly. The "moratorium" will do nothing but kill the industry (at least the deepwater drilling part) so that there is very little left to regulate for many years to come (could very well be a decade before we see a significant number of the rigs return, there simply aren't that many in the world).

 

[Jhhnn]

Why are so few pointing finger at Obama and Salazar?

Because most people know it's a little more complicated than the usual simpleton ravers let on.

Decades of incestuous relationships have been required to achieve the regulatory capture that Big Oil enjoyed up to this point, something not exactly discouraged by the whole "Cut red tape! Git 'Er Dun!" attitude from the Bush Whitehouse wrt anything business related.

Obama and Salazar can't exactly turn that around in a mere 16 months.

The technology of oil extraction is also changing rapidly, and there's little to no expertise wrt it outside the industry. Regulators must, by definition, have experience and know what they're talking about to do their jobs effectively, so they'll come from the industry itself. Not really any way around that.

And they'll do their jobs as instructed by their superiors in the executive branch. Under the bush Admin, all the boss wanted was for the paperwork to be expedited, and that's a tough sort of bureaucratic trajectory to reverse, bet on that.

I mean, uhh, y'all didn't realize there might be unintended consequences to "Drill, Baby, Drill!"? Maybe the same kind we're experiencing wrt self regulated banking and cutting red tape for the ownership society?

Shame on ya, then. Not that such comments matter much for the faithful, the true believers- their ideology calls for blame to be externalized, always. It's the only way that such faith can be maintained, and the phenomenon of exploding heads avoided...

 

[HomerJS]

Here's the reason...

If a morbidly obese 400 lb man changes doctors and has a heart attack 3 months later how much of the fault lies with the new doctor??

 

[Taejin]

theshitstain?

 

[wirelessenabled]

... who is really in charge?

Dick Cheney?

Oh .... sorry. Last Administration