Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Plug the Hole, Laddy


Click Cartoon for Larger Size
As oil continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico, a top member of the Obama administration assured citizens that the government is "prepared for the worst," and "We have been prepared from the beginning."

But if that's true, what sort of preparation was it?

Preparation to stop the leak? If so, it hasn't worked...and some estimates now suggest that the oil could flow unchecked until August.

Preparation to contain the leak? Again, this hasn't been effective, and the plume of oil is spreading ever-further through undersea currents.

Preparation to protect waterways, shores, and ecosystems? Nope, sorry, not really happening. In fact, Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal wants to immediately build "barrier islands" to protect his coastline, but can't convince the president to expedite either federal permits or funding.

And so it would appear that this administration "prepared for the worst" only by exercising their pointing fingers. Which might have helped with a leaky dike, but offers no help whatsoever with a crisis that should have been planned for...and wasn't.



"We have been prepared from the beginning"

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"But if that's true, what sort of preparation was it?"

Nationalization of the petroleum industry?

Martial law?

DavidD said...

"Prepared from the beginning." Just saying it makes it so, at least where Obama is concerned.

"Prepared from the beginning," as opposed to BOOOOSH and Katrina....

alan markus said...

"prepared for the worst"/"prepared from the beginning" from an administration that uses "unexpected" to explain things like upticks in the unemployment rate; doesn't read well (i.e, pass ObamaCare first, read later. Jump on the Arizona immigration enforcement bill first, don't need to read it at all); and pretty much blames everything on the prior administration ("been busy with the mop").

This administration is proving that it was "unprepared from the beginning" to run this country. We are so screwed! Our only hope is that both Presidential candidates in 2012 are such that if you would cut them open, they would bleed competence.

Buzz Bannister said...

Save that last frame of your cartoon, it might save time when your topic is don't ask - don't tell

The Dark Knight said...

"prepared from the beginning" and "prepared for the worst" in the context of this administration simply means that they got everyone into a room to make sure they had their story straight...

Let BP flounder, place blame elsewhere, reassure the public that they (the admin) have always been in charge and sit back and watch the crisis unfold

The ultimate in passive behavior .. sit back, make sure your a$$ is covered and point the finger wherever you can

TheOldMan said...

"But if that's true, what sort of preparation was it?"

H.

Suzy said...

I've been shocked (although I shouldn't be) at how very little the government has done to help, as in comparison to in past crises. Granted, its not the government's JOB to "bail out" corporations...but on the other hand, when our states coastlines are at risk, it is only right that the President get his rear in gear and do what he can to expedite help to the states...such as making it possible for LA to build barriers, and maybe, gee, how about making it easier to drill in the shallows instead of making lots of "green" laws and then yelling at the oil companies when they backfire....