Gergen: Mr. President, take command

[Bluebear]

Any comments on these ideas?

====

(CNN) -- Enough is enough! After the latest failure by BP to plug the gaping hole, it is time for President Obama to take full command of this growing national catastrophe. Immediately!...

What can the White House do? For starters:

-- Set up a daily command center in Washington where a presidentially appointed leader runs the show, calls the shots, coordinates the overall effort, briefs the president and briefs the country

-- Have two deputies, one to direct the leak-stoppage and the other to direct the clean-up. Ex-CEOs and generals would be excellent candidates

-- Summon all the major oil and drilling companies to the White House for emergency efforts to get the hole plugged

-- Get BP out of the picture for clean-up; just send it the bill. If it is still needed for hole-plugging, okay, but ensure that it answers every day to directions from the government. If BP needs new internal leadership, figure out how to get that done

-- Employ the U.S. military for organizational coordination and where needed, for anything else such as clean-up

-- Make more aggressive efforts to tap the best minds in the world for help

-- Provide the country with the kind of daily briefings that the military has mastered for wartime -- bring in people who are smart, straight and tough

-- Ensure that economic assistance is provided to families, small businesses and communities that need it with dispatch and generosity

-- Call off the finger pointing until we get out of this mess

-- And finally, very importantly, exercise the powers of leadership every day from the Oval Office

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/05/30/gergen.oil.spill/index.html

[Swamp Rat]

1. We are fucked here in Louisiana.

Obama is not going to end the oil wars, and BP is a major supplier of fuel to the U.S. military.

BP is going to walk away from this by paying fines and sacrificing a few lambs.

We are fucked here in Louisiana.

:cry:

[patrice]

4. .

sorry we don't have one of these without smiles, but . . .

:hug:

Solidarity, Swampy.

[Swamp Rat]

8. .

:hug: :cry:

[ProSense]

10. Jindal

needs to quit posturing

[Swamp Rat]

11. So do you. eom

[Forkboy]

12. .

:toast:

[ProSense]

13. I see, Jindal sitting on $22 million and the National Guard is OK? n/t

[Swamp Rat]

16. I see partisans on the Internet defending or attacking politicians while my home is destroyed

Until you finally realize this, deeply internalize this, you will remain blinded by partisan politics, while your life and livelihood are yanked from beneath your feet.

[ProSense]

18. Call out your governor. He is sitting on resources, money and manpower. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

21. I'll leave the 'calling out' of Jindal to you, since you seem to know more about this than I do.

In the meantime, I will call out President Obama, who has at his command way more resources, money and manpower, until I see results.

[ProSense]

25. Well, LA State Senator

Butch Gautreux seems to know.

[Lorien]

49. Don't waste another keystroke on "Ignored"

it's been clear who they work for all along, and it sure as hell ain't us!

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

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[ProSense]

46. You know,

signing on to every bullshit criticism of the President isn't a prerequisite for caring about the victims of this disaster and environment.

[PurityOfEssence]

47. And so very few seem to even realize it.

A million gallons a day.

At least.

(That's what the current theory is, if it's 25K barrels a day.)

Meanwhile, partisans snipe at the President and others rush to justify everything he's either done or not done.

We've tussled in the past, and I hope you understand the candor of this post: we have neither the habits, technology nor resolve to properly "fix" this. The very complacency by which we think we can "fix" virtually anything places us square in the path of disaster, and those who seek to make political hay out of this deserve no quarter.

Our President cannot or will not really clamp down on a large corporation, and much as this comes from the rabid virulence of the free-enterprise-is-god reactionaries, he has charted this course for himself and is ill-equipped to sail another. The eerie business-as-usual denial in general society and the media bespeaks volumes--since the full and undeniable consequences are yet to hit--and life will forever be different. The economy of the area is going to get clobbered, and to even mention such things seems vulgar and facile in the face of the body blow that the environment is about to take.

One of the reasons I'm a liberal is an affinity with the concept of an inherent acceptance of one's limitations: conservatives and fundamentalists completely understand everything and brook no dissent, whereas a simple examination of life around us should remind any sentient being of our extreme inability to fathom the complexity of things. Now, like a massive scythe, a toxic poisoning will potentially take out a whole region, with its untold impacts on all other regions. Those in the north who think themselves immune may experience problems with their migratory birds. It goes on and on. We simply don't know, but anyone with any sense KNOWS that this is huge.

To anyone with any senses, regardless of what good things may be happening in his or her life, this looms like a fog of depression that's about to swallow us all.

I can only imagine what you and your neighbors must be going through. The very scale of the disaster saps my argumentativeness, and as you know, that takes some doing. It makes me wince to hear Katrina comparisons; there's NO comparison between even the most catastrophic hurricane and this, since even after one of those, the receding water can still support life. This is poison. This lasts for a very long time before one can even get back to the point of trying to regenerate a complex and interdependent system.

I don't know what more to say, except take care of yourself.

[nashville_brook]

32. word.

[ProSense]

37. Word: posturing

(CNN) - A Gulf Coast official is pleading with President Barack Obama to scrap the moratorium on new oil drilling and exploration as the investigation of the massive oil spill continues, saying the economic impact to her Louisiana parish would be too much to bear.

Charlotte Randolph, president of LaFourche Parish, said she spoke to Obama in person during his visit to the oil-stricken region Friday.

"I expressed to the president that we are dying because of the oil spill, but if he allows this suspension to happen it will kill us," she told reporters Saturday, noting that her parish has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.

"First I'm hearing from fisherman who are dying because of the oil spill," she said. "Now I'm hearing from the oil and gas industry and all of those associated services that they will be put out of business."

link

Armchair quarterbacks like Gergen think they have all the solutions.

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

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[SammyWinstonJack]

56. +1

:applause: :thumbsup:

[Lint Head]

15. The entire country has been fucked for a long time.

[Swamp Rat]

19. Sad, but true.

It didn't have to be this way. :(

[Edweird]

36. All I can say is "I'm sorry".

[David Zephyr]

52. Swamp Rat, this is so tragic. Beyond belief. Hyperbole fails.

This is the worst catastrophe in American history and the scope is beyond comprehension.

I am so sorry for you there. Every American will be affected by this. I am certain I will not live long enough to see this mitigated.

The human race really did a number to this planet.

[mod mom]

62. So sorry. It's beyond words horrible.

[SharonAnn]

2. So we should basically "nationalize" BP's operation? And send them the bill?

Fine by me.

Then I can think of a few other corporations where we should "nationalize" their operations.

[DJ13]

7. Not nationalize

Gergen seems to want to push Obama into taking full responsibility away from BP.

[Ikonoklast]

45. Yes, and many here are too dim to realize that fact.

U.S. Government takes over, and it is no longer BP's problem.

They then get to sit back and laugh, as the Feds have ZERO resources or technical expertise to do a damn thing about capping that well.

[csziggy]

20. Nationalize their operations including their assets

Everything within the reach of the US government. Use their assets to pay for stopping the flow, clean-up, recompense to damaged parties, EVERYTHING. Once the crisis is over, the marshes back to some semblance of normality, fishermen back to work, lives restored, if there are any assets left, BP might be allowed to start back up under very tight government supervision.

[msongs]

3. sorry gotta study it some more and get consensus so it's a win win for EVERYONE especially BP nt

[Karmadillo]

39. Let the process work and I bet we can get something implemented by 2014 or thereabouts.

nt

[ProSense]

5. I guess Gergen missed the President's speech?

"Call off the finger pointing until we get out of this mess."

"And finally, very importantly, exercise the powers of leadership every day from the Oval Office."

Fucking asshole.

[Swamp Rat]

6. Y'all can unrec this thread all you want, but I will kick it.

Maybe after waves of black death roll upon your shores, you will realize that you are expendable too.

[PufPuf23]

35. I will kick and recommend for you

as SwampRat is one of the most direct, correct, and creative posters at DU

The scale of this environmental catastrophe is extreme; easily the worst in time and space in the history of the USA.

I agree with the Reich and Powell ideas: put BP USA in receivership and the military in charge and command all BP talent and resources to the effort as well as other oil companies.

The dispersant use makes the long term and immediate problems worse and should be stopped.

I once liked Powell (before his phony UN presentation on Iraq and before I knew his involvement in My Lai mitigation) but he may well be a man than could lead a massive effort -- overwhelming force the Powell Doctrine (and find some redemption). All our full attention should be on the gusher. Federal authorities that allowed the absurd NEPA work should be imprisoned on any charges that can be connected including manslaughter at the least.

[Mojorabbit]

50. I am with you

I am waiting here in Florida for the disaster to hit and I am so depressed about it and also so enraged I am incapacitated by the whole thing right now.

[LibDemAlways]

9. Where was Gergen when the chimp was eating birthday cake

with McCain at the height of Katrina?

If he thinks he can do a better job of advising Obama on the crisis than his present team is doing, perhaps he should call him up and offer his services. This sort of back-seat driving from afar isn't helpful.

[Bluebear]

14. Gergen on Bush/Katrina: "the most stunning thing. People were relieved to see end of Presidency"

Analyst David Gergen agreed with Cooper, calling Bush's response on Katrina "the most stunning thing, I think, that happened in the press conference."

"I thought maybe that people would have some sense of warmth about George Bush as he leaves office," Gergen continued. "I think I was wrong. ... I don't think we've had a time since Richard Nixon left office ... when people were so relieved to see the end of a presidency."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Maddow_guest_Katrina_mess_shaped_by_0113.html

Since you asked :)

[O is 44]

23. I remember dead bodies floating in Katrina.....

It is tragic what is happening to our ocean and the marine animals that live there but it is not Katrina. It's sad when the left buys this BS line as well.

[Bluebear]

26. I didn't say it was. A poster asked where Gergen was during that.

[ProSense]

30. A 2008 interview? Here is Gergen

2005

David Gergen, who has advised Republican and Democratic presidents going back to the 1970s, said that "there is no question (Bush and his advisers) changed their tone. . . . That is a chastened White House talking."

Some White House aides agree the president has changed his pitch since Katrina but said it reflects the nature of the challenges confronting Bush, not a loss in confidence or a policy shift. "It's a different tone," said Michael J. Gerson, the president's strategic adviser who helped speechwriter William McGurn draft the Katrina address. "That was not a strategic or tonal calculation. This was the president himself not being satisfied with the response."

Where were the op-eds and the redundant demands?

Gergen is posturing. He is demanding that the President do things that have already been done.

[Name removed]

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[northernlights]

43. this is potentially far, far worse than Katrina eom

[O is 44]

17. Thank you, Gergen lost me long ago....

but the other night when he stated the following: "If our Gov. fought WWII like the Oil Spill we would be speaking German today" I knew he gone off the deep end with his hyperbolic analogies. Bastard!

[Whisp]

22. Gergen is a ridiculous creep

he thinks very highly of himself. posturing fuckface he is.

[Bluebear]

29. Yeah, he is a reall poopoo head, but what about any of the ideas?

Particularly about taking over and sending BP the bill?

[O is 44]

33. I have no problem with that as long as it can

be done legally, I would not put it pass BP to argue in court that they are not liable for what took place when the government took over. BP needs to pay for everything.

[zulchzulu]

24. Call off the finger pointing until we get out of this mess,Gergan

Oh wait, that's what you told the President...

:crazy:

[Bluebear]

27. Zing!

True, true!

[ProSense]

34. Weigh posturing (Gergen) against reality

In 1979, Less Complicated Oil Leak Took 10 Months To Stop

<...>

Thirty-one years later, we haven't come that far technologically with how we deal with underwater oil drilling spills. The Mexican company running the Ixtoc I rig attempted a slew of now-familiar remedies --- they pumped mud into the well, capped it with a metal "sombrero," shot lead balls into the well and drilled relief wells -- but it took 10 months to stop the leak even though the drilling was taking place just 160 feet below the surface.

The Deepwater Horizon, which blew on April 20, was drilling 5,000 feet underwater.

<...>

Gergen simply repurposed his old demands, which made him look foolish. Posturing:

-- Call off the finger pointing until we get out of this mess

-- And finally, very importantly, exercise the powers of leadership every day from the Oval Office

Who is the President pointing fingers at? Is he demanding that the President stop calling out BP?

[Feron]

28. Once again, Garland Robinette says it best:

http://www.wwl.com/VIDEO--Garland-Robinette-s-letter-to-President-Oba/7346874">Letter to President Obama

Swamp Rat is right sadly.

One thing people can do is call their Congresscritter and demand Louisiana receive their fair share of the oil royalties (50%).

[amborin]

31. for starters: STOP the Corexit dispersant! now >850,000 gallons dumped into GOM

[Bluebear]

40. +++

[Canuckistanian]

44. That's for sure

The dispersant is doing as much damage as the oil.

[Lorien]

48. Yep. It's like attempting to put out a fire with gasoline

and just another act that makes it all too obvious what their priorities are; not cleaning it up-covering it up. :grr:

[Catherina]

51. Rec'd and endorsed n/t

[emulatorloo]

53. David Gergen? You gotta be kidding me. . .

[ProSense]

55. Notice

that investigate and bring criminal charges against BP wasn't among his demands?

"...If BP needs new internal leadership, figure out how to get that done

Call off the finger pointing until we get out of this mess"

Gergen: Leave BP alone!

[Vinca]

54. It's clear what needs to be done.

The POTUS must rent a Superman costume and head out to the leak. Apparently some will never be appeased until he stands on the deck of the boat shaking his fists.

[Swamp Rat]

57. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!! WE ARE BEING POISONED BY BP RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Yes, god dammit!!! I want Obama to wear a fucking Superman costume if that is what it takes to stop a foreign entity from KILLING US!!!

[emulatorloo]

58. If anybody could pull off a Superman costume, it would be Obama

The guy is in pretty good shape. Let's get Biden something a little more figure flattering.

Edit spelling

[Swamp Rat]

59. Biden's got a big mouth. Maybe he can suck up all the oil... SUCTION MAN! eom

[emulatorloo]

60. I truly wish Obama would unleash Biden and let him cuss - a few F-Bombs wouldn't hurt

[Swamp Rat]

61. Same here... we need all the help we can get ... BP is killing us. eom

[emulatorloo]

64. I'm so sorry you all are being put through this

I'm not that articulate of a person, but my heart is breaking.

[Swamp Rat]

66. I am pretty much out of words, but this local radio and former TV anchor speaks well for us:

Garland Robinette's letter to President Obama

"Mr. President welcome back. We're not sure how long we'll be able to say you're in the "Pelican State" or how soon we'll have to call ourselves "Presidential Hopes Graveyard."

And hopefully, you'll pardon us if we remain sitting, we've been on our knees for over five years and we're really tired.

I seem to remember that at one point you pushed the idea of "hope." I hope you have some left, because we're almost out. This message has nothing to do with Democrats and Republicans. When your shrimp boat feels like its sinking partisanship seems childish at best.

We also remember you saying…."words, just words"….and you were right. We have proof. Coast Guard representatives say they're slow and dumb. The Corp of Engineers is at it again, with never ending bureaucratic delays. The EPA has no teeth. They tell BP to stop using a dispersant that BP's home country banned ten years ago. BP says no. Our governor and all the parish presidents along the coast keep saying "words," but mostly in the form of questions…and nobody will respond."

(snip)

More and video:
http://www.wwl.com/VIDEO--Garland-Robinette-s-letter-to-President-Oba/7346874

[Name removed]

63. Deleted message

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[librechik]

65. "BIG GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER!!"

for the last time, there is no way to placate the Right. ANYTHING Obam does will be wrong wrong wrong. Even if he changed color and changed his name to Reagan. NOTHING will make them stop and behave like adults with a country to run and problems to solve.

[Bluebear]

67. Gergen is a declared independent, just sayin'

[librechik]

68. Gergen's ok, but he is outnumbered by the mean-spirited rabble

and his remark is utterly sensible. But Obama can do nothing right, and the media love to parrot anything that makes them look like they are alive and functioning.