BP « POWIP

28Mar/112

President In Over His Head

The Coast Guard has quietly posted their after-action report on the big oil spill from last year, and it's not exactly flattering to the CIC. The criticisms seem mainly to be about the PR disaster, which is amazing considering the White House seemed to be solely focussed on the PR aspects:

Asked about the report, sources with knowledge of White House and DHS involvement went even further, saying the administration "looked at this as a political problem, not an operational problem."

I have to admit, this isn’t so much surprising as merely evidence of what we’ve all felt from the beginning. Really, most of us here knew this before he was even elected, but this administration has repeatedly shown themselves to be amateurs. The presidency is almost always a learning experience, even for the most seasoned executives who take the office; but Obama has shown a complete inability to even keep his head above water. From the simplest events (hosting dignitaries) to the most troubling (Libya), he gets caught off guard. Two weeks ago, John Podhoretz commented that,

We’re going on four weeks now, or more, that Barack Obama has been reading My Pet Goat.

Frankly, it seems to me to have been going on for two plus years.

The thing is, we expect a president to have to learn on the job; a little. But we also expect him to actually get it figured out at some point.

Adam Wells

Living life at 84 mph and 7000 feet. All I ask is that you don't block traffic, act like a professional, and don't act all surprised when your actions have consequences. Oh, and don't complain about the refs; trust me, they don't care if your team wins or not.

Tagged as: BP, Coast Guard, Obama, Oil Spill 2 Comments

7Jun/102

Well what do you know about that…

Eat it, Suckahz!

Remember when Rahm was appointed Chief of Staff by Obama, and there was a little bit of murmering about how he lived rent free for 5 years an apartment owned by Representative Rosa DeLauro and her husband Stanley Greenberg? I mean, there was no problem-none whatsoever; how could there be among the principle staff of the Bestest!, Smartest!, most Ethical administration!, EVAH! Well, maybe a small one...

Greenberg's consulting firm was a prime architect of BP's recent rebranding drive as a green petroleum company, down to green signs and the slogan "Beyond Petroleum."

Greenberg's company is also closely tied to a sister Democratic outfit -- GCS, named for the last initials of Greenberg, James Carville, another Clinton advisor, and Bob Shrum, John Kerry's 2004 campaign manager.

According to published reports, GCS received hundreds of thousands of dollars in political polling contracts in recent years from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Probably just a crazy coincidence. But you'll never guess who was the chairman of that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dispensing those huge polling contracts to his kindly rent-free landlord.

Now, at the very least this is a problem of, ahem, optics; not only for the polling contracts but in relation to the current environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. At least, you know, for those of us who don't understand the nuances of the Chicago way. I'll leave it to the readers to decide whether there are any dots to connect.

Or is this just a case of faux-OUTRAGE! Akin to what would would be frothing from the usual suspects on the left were this picture to be of a group of Booooooooooooooosh! communication staffers?

Say No More...

Can you hear the Frat boy jokes? Can you hear the shrieking about all the President's men being out of touch with reality? Can you hear the chant,"Staffers Swill, while Oil still spills!" coming from giant paper-mache Obama heads? Of course you can't, because it's not a RETHUG! administration. Most of the press is totally down with this, just like they are with Rahm's perquisetes.

Still, for the smartest guys in any room, this crew seems pretty tone deaf sometimes, eh? But, that's probably a racists statement.

(H/T Jeff G at Protein Wisdom)