UPDATED: The frustration on the part of Gulf Coast residents is growing and Obama is setting the stage for his own Hurricane Katrina equivalent if he and others in Washington, D.C., do not wake the Hell up quickly. This from CNN:*
Frustrated Louisiana officials Sunday demanded the federal government approve their plans to dredge up walls of sand to protect delicate inland estuaries from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
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"Either the Coast Guard has to side with its American citizens and protect its communities, or it has to side with a major world corporation named BP and betray American citizens in that process," St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro told reporters.
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"Either the Coast Guard has to side with its American citizens and protect its communities, or it has to side with a major world corporation named BP and betray American citizens in that process," St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro told reporters.
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In what is obviously a pattern by now, President Barack Obama is waiting for someone else to solve the problem rather than involve himself and his administration in taking a leadership role regard to the continuing environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico and along the U. S. Gulf Coast. Just as Obama failed to lead on much of the health care reform debate, has done nothing substantive to repeal DADT, and continually allows the GOP to forge ahead on talking point issues, Obama seems busy contemplating his navel as instead of demanding and taking strong steps to get the BP well plugged and ensure that negligent corporations and individuals are held accountable. As one Huffington Post story relates, James Carville - never one to hold his tongue - and others believe that Obama is failing to act and enlarging the disaster. Many of us believed that we were electing a strong leader when we voted for Obama, but feel increasingly that we were sold a false bill of goods. A president much have the backbone to lead as opposed to sitting back and hoping others will somehow fill the leadership void. Here are some highlights:
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Democratic strategist James Carville and MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews, two reliable supporters of President Barack Obama, have issued withering critiques of the administration's handling of the Gulf oil spill.
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Carville, the famously outspoken Louisianian who was a chief political aide to Bill and Hillary Clinton, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday that the administration's response to the spill has been "lackadaisical" and that Obama was "naive" to trust BP to manage the massive clean-up effort.
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BP is trying to save money, save everything they can... They won't tell us anything, and oddly enough, the government seems to be going along with it! Somebody has got to, like shake them and say, 'These people don't wish you well! They're going to take you down!'" Carville also accused the White House of going along with what he called the "let BP handle it" strategy.
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[C]rude oil has now been erupting into the Gulf of Mexico for over a month, and the sense that the Obama administration is treating the spill as an urgent national emergency has diminished even as the impact of the disaster has magnified. Not until yesterday, critics note, a full 30 days after the oil rig explosion, did federal officials establish a technical team to measure the full extent of the spill.
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Carville says the government's primary failure was trusting BP to handle the clean-up in the first place. "Right now I wouldn't trust BP to do anything," he said. "And nobody does."
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In terms of the increasing magnitude of the disaster, the reports seem to only get worse. Thus, leaving the solution to those who created the problem through carelessness and indifference is not a proper approach. Indeed, new reports indicate that it may be impossible to clean up some of wetlands that have already been inundated with oil sludge:
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The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.
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More than 50 miles of Louisiana's delicate shoreline already have been soiled by the massive slick unleashed after the Deepwater Horizon rig burned and sank last month. Officials fear oil eventually could invade wetlands and beaches from Texas to Florida. Louisiana is expected to be hit hardest.
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To keep oil from pushing deep into Louisiana's marshes, Gov. Bobby Jindal and officials from several coastal parishes want permission to erect a $350 million network of sand berms linking the state's barrier islands and headlands. That plan is awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After surveying oil-stricken areas Saturday, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said the berms were the marshes' last hope. "It's getting in between all the cane and it's working through from one bayou to the next," he said.
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Democratic strategist James Carville and MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews, two reliable supporters of President Barack Obama, have issued withering critiques of the administration's handling of the Gulf oil spill.
*
Carville, the famously outspoken Louisianian who was a chief political aide to Bill and Hillary Clinton, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday that the administration's response to the spill has been "lackadaisical" and that Obama was "naive" to trust BP to manage the massive clean-up effort.
*
BP is trying to save money, save everything they can... They won't tell us anything, and oddly enough, the government seems to be going along with it! Somebody has got to, like shake them and say, 'These people don't wish you well! They're going to take you down!'" Carville also accused the White House of going along with what he called the "let BP handle it" strategy.
*
[C]rude oil has now been erupting into the Gulf of Mexico for over a month, and the sense that the Obama administration is treating the spill as an urgent national emergency has diminished even as the impact of the disaster has magnified. Not until yesterday, critics note, a full 30 days after the oil rig explosion, did federal officials establish a technical team to measure the full extent of the spill.
*
Carville says the government's primary failure was trusting BP to handle the clean-up in the first place. "Right now I wouldn't trust BP to do anything," he said. "And nobody does."
*
In terms of the increasing magnitude of the disaster, the reports seem to only get worse. Thus, leaving the solution to those who created the problem through carelessness and indifference is not a proper approach. Indeed, new reports indicate that it may be impossible to clean up some of wetlands that have already been inundated with oil sludge:
*
The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.
*
More than 50 miles of Louisiana's delicate shoreline already have been soiled by the massive slick unleashed after the Deepwater Horizon rig burned and sank last month. Officials fear oil eventually could invade wetlands and beaches from Texas to Florida. Louisiana is expected to be hit hardest.
*
To keep oil from pushing deep into Louisiana's marshes, Gov. Bobby Jindal and officials from several coastal parishes want permission to erect a $350 million network of sand berms linking the state's barrier islands and headlands. That plan is awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After surveying oil-stricken areas Saturday, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said the berms were the marshes' last hope. "It's getting in between all the cane and it's working through from one bayou to the next," he said.
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