Thoughts on The President's remarks about "whose ass to kick"

[saracat]

I purposefully have not commented on the Presidents remarks because I wanted to take a few days and think about them. I also really wanted to hope for the best. But I cannot, I am really angry, particularly following his remarks that the Gulf will "bounce back".

Why does the President feel a need to find out "whose ass to kick" when the answer is obvious? The drilling permits with the exemptions should NEVER have been issued. And BP was obviously negligent. Every American with even the smallest bit of common sense if aware of that. Yet he is very quiet about Ken Salazar and only expressed concern about M+M. Salazar "knew" the condition of M+M before had taken over and also promised a fix a year ago. Nothing was done. And even after the spill contracts and exemptions kept being awarded, and press releases contradicted the drilling moratorium.

The only solution seems to be throwing BP money into the disaster. Really? Fining BP brings the Gulf back? I don't think so. And much as I despise BP, what about the government responsibility here? What about those contracts? What about the president being sufficiently uninformed, or misinformed as to declare the drilling safe a few months ago? Do we not have a responsibility to the earth? The President has promised to make those affected "whole". Really ? How? Can BP fine money restore anyone to life as they knew it? Will it resurrect the extinct wildlife and restore jobs that no longer exist?

Why have offers from other nations been refused? This is a universal problem and we should all be working together. We are not going to "bounce back", and it isn't going to happen in our lifetimes.

This administration campaigned on transparency and accountability. So far we have seen very little of either. As the President would say "I am beyond livid".

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lerkfish]

3. I rec'd

but its still zero. However, I wanted to say that I cannot argue with any you've said. It was substantive, fair and something that needed to be said.

[DURHAM D]

4. His comment made me think: "All hat and no cattle." nt

[freddie mertz]

5. K & R. Of course it is obvious. Will the president rise to the challenge?

We just don't know yet.

This is sort of thing we look to him for leadership for.

I wish him well, but feel...uncertain about how it is going.

[rudy23]

6. He comes off as playing dumb. He knows exactly whose asses he's supposed to kick. He just can't.

Hard to kick somebody's ass when they've given you all that money.

[ProSense]

11. Yeah, he should have started accusing specific people of crimes

before obtaining all the facts. That's what I want in a President.

Why bother having a commission and investigation? Everyone know who should be held accountable.

[rudy23]

14. Yeah, that's not what I said, but I know you're here to twist arguments, so why do i bother? nt

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[flyarm]

34. You certainly do not put the people who caused the Gusher in charge to find out who is guilty of

a possible crime do you??????????

That would be like putting the bank robber in charge of the bank he robbed, to see if he committed a crime??????????..and Pushing away any expert Bank Robbery investigators ..or anyone with expertise in bank robberies!

Does that make any sense to you?????????

Well it is exactly what was done here..and all the experts world wide that offered their help were told..no thank you!!

With your explaination..we should just scrap the FBI and CIA and Policemen, and Prosecutors..and anyone involved in criminal investigations!

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rudy23]

19. Oh, he's NOT the biggest recipient of BP money in the last 20 years?

Correct me if I'm wrong. Who is?

[phleshdef]

21. He is the biggest recipient of everyone's money in the history of the US.

And I'm not going to bother explaining the same god damn thing over and over again. My local BP gas station attendant contributed to Obama. And that counts as a BP contribution. I'm only explaining that much for the benefit of others who might not know better when reading your purposefully deceitful bullshit. Obama hauled in a lot of campaign cash from every single non-PAC (the real corporate money) source in the country. Its not a crime. Get the fuck over it and stop lying.

[NanceGreggs]

45. Care to be specific ...

... about "all that money"?

How much? Where did it come from? Name names and amounts - and back it up, please.

[phasma ex machina]

59. BP seems willing to sacrifice everything

GoM destroyed. No problem. Their man Obama gets voted out. No problem. BP's top people thrown in jail. No problem.

The corporation would probably even standby while its top people "took one for the team" by getting publicly executed.

BP must be sitting on the mother of all gushers. Provided BP can get the little people tamped down BP can then cash in and give the banksters a run for their money.

Meanwhile the powers-that-be arrange things so that the sole alternative open to we the people is the "drill baby drill" crowd.

[waiting for hope]

7. K&R ..

I would like instead of grand standing on kicking ass, telling the truth about the situation and following through with some action.

[Deep13]

8. Kicking ass is not a solution.

That's what I thought when I heard him say that.

[laughingliberal]

9. Oh, I thought he meant it figuratively. nt

[Deep13]

33. Well, obviously. ...

I didn't think he was actually going to hit people in the buttocks with his feet. Only slap-stick comedians and John Bolton do that.

I mean assigning blame and punishment isn't a solution. No matter what kind of justice is done, the ocean has still been poisoned.

[ProSense]

10. Some more thoughts on the President's

comments.

[emulatorloo]

22. Good to see the context. Strange that the TV doesn't show the context.

[Spheric]

12. It's not ass-kiciking time. It's stop the fucking gusher time.

And, yes I do understand that it is not possible to stop this thing in any reasonable time frame. We have already made this bed and there is no getting out of it, no matter how full of shit it is or how much additional shit keeps gushing into it.

But honestly, I had about all the BS bravado I could take and more in the previous eight years.

"Actions speak louder than words." Such a simple concept that I was taught when I was around five years old.

Or "Speak softly and carry a big stick." None of this stuff is new.

What really bothers me is that later on, when it truly is ass-kicking time, that we and the president and our glorious congress will probably decide it's now time to look forward instead of back. And the beat goes on.

I say hold onto this rage we all feel right now. Nurture it. Keep it safe in a place that no one can touch. When it's time we will need it. And we will unleash it. And no president or any other political figure or talking head will be able to talk us down.

In the mean time, keep the faith. As much as we argue and fight with each other, most of us are on the same side. Let us remember that above all.

[Lorien]

54. We honestly don't know if the gusher could be stoppped in a reasonable amount of time

Who is advising Obama on this? If the trend holds true, then it's industry insiders or "scientists' who are owned by industry insiders. We've had no independent assessment of anything because BP decides who gets to see the data and who gets to visit the site. Experts from other Nations were turned away, Cameron was turned away, no one else's ideas, knowledge or equipment is permitted. We're just told by the criminals who caused the problem that it's almost impossible to solve, so we're just expected to accept that without question. We can't let up on these thugs; keep demanding real solutions from parties without conflicts of interest (what our government was SUPPOSED to be) NOW.

[Spheric]

57. Good point. I stand corrected.

However, historically, this type of disaster has always required relief wells (sometimes a few) to stop the gushing oil.

[laughingliberal]

13. I agree he should know it's BP's ass that needs kicking. I will say,

though, there is also the issue of Haliburton and, possibly other companies involved in the failure. More action is certainly needed.

I keep asking myself why no one has called the crew who cleaned the Aramco spill (800 million gallons)in 1993. BP won't return Pozzi's calls. But why in hell would the government not call him and have him give them his assessment?

[Spheric]

17. You know how much that would freeking cost?

Get your head out of the clouds.

I'm just playing with you.

But really, it seems to me that BP is fighting for survival at this point, at least BP America is. This thing is going to cost them an arm and a leg no matter what. But, certainly they are all about keeping the cost down. They have a fiduciary responsibility to their stockholders. It's the law. They could go to jail if they ignore it (How fucking backwards is that?).

:pals:

[laughingliberal]

23. I wonder, though, about that fiduciary responsibility. If they are subject to huge fines that would

be more than the costs of doing the cleanup correctly, would it not be more in the interests of the shareholders to do the cleanup properly? Of course, that would assume the fines are sufficient to make cheating more expensive than doing it correctly. Probably still dreaming.

[gravity]

15. Obama isn't going to say that "all hope in the gulf is lost"

which is why he said that it will bounce back.

Seriously, if you say that he gulf isn't going to bounce back in our lifetimes, then nothing will get done about it because no one will have anything to look forward to.

[phleshdef]

18. Its petty nitpicking bullshit and the OP knows it.

[emulatorloo]

20. It is willful misinterpretation. Everybody knows what Obama means, except those who choose not to

We see a lot of this among the right wing politicians and bloggers. They take a quote and misinterpret it and act like it means something different than what most people with common sense know it means.

I'm not surprised to see that kind of thing coming out of GOP Press Releases. I'm sad to see it come out of DU. But life goes on.

[Hugabear]

49. "Nitpicking bullshit" - then why aren't we doing anything?

I am sick and tired of Obama and crew giving speeches about how they're going to get tough, kick ass, hold BP responsible, etc. While Obama gives speech after speech, BP continues one failed attempt after another.

I want ACTION. How long are we going to let BP continue to fuck things up? We're talking about the worst environmental disaster in US history. The federal government should have stepped in right away and taken control of efforts to stop this.

[phleshdef]

51. And do what? Send the army in to shoot at it?

[Hugabear]

52. BP is trying to salvage as much of the oil as they can

Seems to me that would have to be affecting their decision making process.

[phleshdef]

53. Get off of it. They aren't trying to salvage shit at this point.

I would have bought that accusation during the first week of this thing, but not even BP is stupid enough to think salvaging that particular oil well is worth the costs of what the continued crisis is doing to them. This is likely going to destroy their company altogether.

You are just frustrated to the point that you aren't thinking clearly on this at all. The US government can't do a damn thing. We are IMPOTENT to stop something of this magnitude. There is hardly a scientific mind with knowledge of the subject that disagrees.

[Catherina]

25. Well said Saracat.

I could not have written that as calmly as you did.

I am angry, hurt, outraged, pained, disappointed, sickened more, every day.

[saracat]

26. Thank you. I think I am becoming numbed.

[defendandprotect]

42. I'm with you on that . . . this one is the bottom of the barrel for me . . ..

So much of it has been so, so bad --

but I think Obama has really revealed himself here --

and it's shockingly pitiful!!

But . . . I have to say "thank you" for letting me know!!

And for your very wise comments on all of this -- !!

:)

[sabrina 1]

27. He is getting very bad advice, starting with whoever

advised him to lift the ban on offshore drilling and then to lump environmentalists together with the 'drill, baby drill' crowd by saying he was tired of 'both sides'. As if one side was not correct?

He went on to make a particularly, in retrospect, erroneous claim which was that 'things are different now than back when the ban was put in place' ~ he told us that with new technology oil rigs were far more safe than they were back then. His whole speech was directed at those who now have been proven to be right, in a subtly derogatory way. Implying they were 'out of touch with modern times' that they needed to 'look forward' etc. etc.

He does that a lot, lumps his base, the people who elected him, together with tea-baggers and acts as though he is above it all.

Who told him that oil rigs were safer because of new technology? Did they also tell him, or is he incapable of figuring it out, that new technology or not, the safety of oil rigs depends on the trustworthiness of the Oil Corp and if I knew that BP has a terrible safety record, why didn't he?

My question is, is he so easily manipulated that he could go from opposing Offshore drilling to not only supporting it, but arguing against himself in the campaign?

He is definitely getting bad advice, but he is taking it and he is not stupid, so I have to believe he likes the advice he is getting.

As for fining BP, fine, fine them. But what about the Government developing the technology needed to deal with any future disasters like this? Why has he not demanded that, rather than the government figuratively standing there saying 'we can't do anything, BP has all the equipment, we don't have any'. This is just plain irresponsible. We should never again have to rely on a foreign oil company in a situation like this.

[amborin]

28. K&R Obama said: "I'm not interested in words, I'm interested in actions." : rolls eyes:

Is Obama parodying himself?

[HughMoran]

29. There's a surprise

You're normally such a staunch supporter of Obama and Democrats.

















:yoiks:

[bvar22]

30. Whose ass to kick????

Start with the people Obama hired to "oversee" the Oil Corporations who are operating on land owned by the American People.

Start with No. 1, Department of Interior Ken Salazar.
Salazar has had well over a year to let the mining industries that it is no longer "Business as Usual".
Salazar has FAILED.

Next, Kick the ass of the guy who put a Business as Usual Corporate Toady like Salazar in the position to "oversee" BP.
That guy FAILED too.

Then, backtrack all the way to the BP senior management who made some very poor decisions while preparing to temporarily plug this well and move the rig off location.

THEN, after kicking his own ass for failing to protect the interests of the American People and our Commonwealth, Our Leader needs to spend some time in serious reflection about some of the other people he has put in positions of protecting the interests of the American People.


The DLC New Team
Chamber of Commerce approved ONLY.

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)

[saracat]

31. +1000

[emilyg]

37. +1

[Hatchling]

41. K&R!!!!!

Both the OP and this post.

[eleny]

32. It doesn't really work out for Dem moderates, does it?

This ought to be President Obama's "lesson learned".

The lesson for Republicans is that Democrats can't clean up every mess they make.

Did you hear Senator Sessions' statement at the beginning of the liability cap hearing today? He had the gall to say that the government oversight should be examined. Yeah, right - now that his overlords are out of office.

I'm still reeling from Rachel Maddow's report last night about how we aren't even using the weak technology available for the best effect. And it's all Obama's problem no matter who caused the mess. That's why he said he was responsible. He knows. If only that was enough.

[flyarm]

35. K&R..absolutely Saracat, the Gulf is my back yard and we have been subject to horrible air

because of the dispersants BP used..the air was rancid for almost a week early on..we had no idea what we were breathing..and I am 300 miles from the gusher..the smell went from Tampa to Ft Meyers ..almost 4 hour drive south of us..the air made your eyes and throat burn..and was giving so many people horrible headaches.

We were not told if the air was toxic..we were told nothing by our government..only our local news said they were getting thousands of phone calls about the god awful air!

We still to this date have not been told if we were breathing toxic air by our government!

We don't know how it will effect people with compromised immune systems or breathing problems or lung problems..we have been told nothing by our government!

I held my breath alot when running out side for a few seconds..I tried to stay indoors when the smell was in the air..but it came through my glass doors..I live directly on the Gulf..so I got it full force..but it was in the air all the way inland.

I won't wait for BP to tell us jack shit..because everything they have said has been a damn lie.

And here in the Tampa area our news reported shortly after the explosion..within days that this would not be stopped until late Aug and possibly as late as December...and The president knew this ! It was on all of our local news...all the bullshit about capping it was Kabuki theater!

It was also reported almost from the get go that the main pipe was damaged and they were very afraid that the main pipe ( sorry i forgot th tech words) would blow and it would just gush with no way to stop it.

We have just been totally lied to and the national news and the cable news bullshit..is just that..bullshit.

But shortly after the locals were broadcasting this info..the real news just seemed to stop..and they were getting talking points.

What we are getting now is nothing but damn propaganda...count on that, and take it to the bank!

We the people have been lied to from the get go ..by both BP and our nations leaders!

[Individualist]

36. K&R

[defendandprotect]

38. "Gulf will bounce back" . . . . ????? Whose science is that . . . ???

This is an Obama far, far from the one I want to know!!

Wow!!

Talk about drinking the BP Kool Aid!!

[Individualist]

40. It's pseudoscience.

[Bluebear]

39. Smoke 'em out of their holes!

[Hydra]

43. As usual, Sara, you had to fight the current to get some recs

I get the feeling all of this is damage control, and will continue to be.

Profit is holy, no matter how many people have to die in the process.

[earth mom]

44. Obama should be ashamed of himself. I'm not buying his bullshit-nobody should.

How god damn difficult is it to tell BP to get lost and accept all the offers of help that have been pouring in from around the world?!

If Obama had actually DONE something about the spill-and I'm not talking about him fixing it himself, so don't even go there-the gusher may have been stopped weeks and weeks ago!!!

I'm so mad and upset about this that I can hardly stand to read the threads about it here on DU anymore! :argh: :cry:


K & R to the OP-thanks for the OP and for not giving up! :grouphug:

[NanceGreggs]

46. Oh, you tell it, sistah!

You tell the world about how the gusher could have been stopped weeks and weeks ago! And don't forget to include all the details about how that could have been done!!!

Could it be more obvious that Obama is doing everything he can to keep this gusher spewing, his motivation in doing so obviously being ...

Exactly what is the motivation again? Sorry for asking, but I forgot.

You can post the response to that question along with the details about how Obama could have put an end to all of this weeks and weeks ago.

Thanks in advance!!!

[Lorien]

56. She did: by accepting the help that was offered by other Nations weeks and weeks ago.

What's his motivation for not doing so? Ask BP. They're obviously to one's calling the shots here.

[Lorien]

55. +10000.

[inna]

47. K&R+27. Good post. nt

[Luminous Animal]

48. K & R!

[Whisp]

50. heheh

sure you took a few days....


:rofl:

[AngryAmish]

58. He needs to crush his enemies

Make them fear us. Crush them and their ugly families.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

60. How about the regulatory people who sat on their asses even when whistleblowers

were forthcoming?

http://www.examiner.com/x-4002-Green-Living-Examiner~y2010m5d21-BP-whistleblower-ignored-for-years-Consumer-group-files-suit-against-Feds