Make no mistake, we will fight this spill with every golf club in our bag

The ladies at Potluck invited me to participate in their live-blog of Barry's Oval Office Oration on Oil.

It was good fun, with some insightful comments from all. I'll admit that I imbibed a few glasses of wine before the speech (listen up, I can't take Barry sober, OK?) so not all of my comments made their way into the live-blog stream.

Sincerity was sorely lacking. I get that this guy doesn't do empathy. But the jerky hand movements were distracting. When he said, "But make no mistake: we will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes," I interjected, "and every golf club in our bag." You don't compare this disaster to 9/11 and then hit the links. Not if you want to embody "gravitas".

Tomorrow, I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness.

Presumably he won't push for another free month of rent on Rahm Emanuel's apartment. That makes him some kind of populist, or something. Since when does the government have the authority to order a private company (or citizen) to do anything? Is he Barack the First, or Henry the Eighth?

Then he wants to know why the proper precautions weren't in place on the Deepwater Horizon rig. Look in the mirror, chief. Campaign cash buys a lot of Minerals Management Services winks and nods, doesn't it?

When he got to the "clean energy" tropes I had to wonder, didn't Jimmy Carter give this same speech some 33 odd years ago?

But the one approach I will not accept is inaction.

Hey kids, golf is an action.

And then in conclusion he gave us his prescription for salvation:

Tonight, we pray for that courage. We pray for the people of the Gulf. And we pray that a hand may guide us through the storm towards a brighter day.

Pray? That's all he's got? We should pray? Did I miss the obligatory Allahu Akbar that is the basis of all Muslim entreaties? But yet, according to my friend Rick, that is "The Saudi Way". What Allah wants, Allah gets. Man cannot fathom, let alone change, the ways of Allah. So sit back, have a coffee, and wait for what Allah divines. If Allah wills it, the spill will be cleaned up. Or not.

Replace coffee with golf, and you've got Barack Obama.

Posted at 21:51 by Chris Wysocki   [/obama_watch]   Comments | Perm Link |
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