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The oil spill is NOT “Obama’s Katrina”

Oil has been flowing into the gulf for over a month now and it seems that a resolution continues to remain just out of reach. The disaster is now openly being compared to Hurricane Katrina – and while both of these events have caused a tremendous amount of damage, they are vastly different. In an effort to assign blame, politicians as well as the public have lashed out in anger at the Obama administration. The president has answered his critics in a recent press conference by stating that, “I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down.” This statement is in line with his pledge to increase accountability and transparency in U.S. government.

It was not Obama who made the mantra “Drill, baby, drill” a household refrain. Sarah Palin trumpeted those words on the election trail during her failed bid to become vice-president. According to Time Magazine, Palin has now changed her line of attack by accusing Obama of being in bed with Big Oil. This is quite ironic, considering the Republican Party’s long involvement with oil — George Bush’s work with many failed companies and most notably, Cheney and Haliburton.

Rather than a display of real sorrow for the environment that is being destroyed, the concern of the Republican Party reads more like political posturing. The Republican Party chose to ignore the suffering of impoverished Blacks in the wake of Katina, and it now fails to offer concrete solutions to bring an end to the worst man-made environmental destruction on U.S. soil.

Before the oil spill disaster, Obama planned to open the U.S. Atlantic coast to offshore drilling for the first time in more than two decades. He did, however, cancel a planned lease sale in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, because it is considered too environmentally sensitive, and he delayed two others. Unlike the Bush administration, which originally planned the sales in Beaufort and Chukchi seas, the potential environmental damage was at the forefront of the decision. Proving once again that the environment is of primary concern, Obama extended a moratorium on new offshore oil drilling by six months in the wake of BP’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “Drill, baby, drill,” has never been a part of the Obama lexicon because the president understands that there are consequences to each action.

Hurricane Katrina stands as evidence of the ways in which the Bush administration privileged big business over people and thus remains a symbol of ignorance, incompetence and neglect in the American consciousness. Katrina was anticipated by top government officials and yet nothing was done to prepare the citizens for the onslaught that they would face. Shortly after the hurricane, a video surfaced showing Bush attending a top-level meeting in which he did not ask a single question. The population of New Orleans pre Katrina was predominately Black, and Bush’s reaction to the fell in line with his response to the murder of James Byrd, once again proving that Black lives meant nothing to him.

Speaking on the disaster, Sen David Vitter stated,

“It was not only predictable, it was actually predicted. That’s what makes the failures in response — at the local, state and federal level — all the more outrageous.”

George Bush’s idea of surveying the devastation involved flying over the gulf coast, peering out the window and then flying back to give a speech in the Rose Garden, to let the populace know that the administration was doing all that it could. When his war-mongering ways could be realized, George Bush visited the remnants of the World Trade Towers, thus proving that unless human suffering could somehow result in the death of more people of colour, it was deemed unimportant. Just as the brown people that have died in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to be uncounted because their humanity has been devalued – the deaths of those that lost their lives in Katrina are only important now that they can used as a weapon against an African-American president.

As of press time, Obama has already visited the oil spill twice, most recently the day after he gave a speech accepting full responsibility. Unlike Bush, Obama did not wait for public outrage to reach a boiling point, because he intrinsically understands that what many chose to devalue based in maintaining White supremacy, or plundering for the purposes of creating profit, is actually the foundation on which America is built. If America can be considered in anyway a great country, it is because of the sacrifices of people of colour and mother earth.

Obama could not predict that this man made natural disaster would occur. And while he has accepted full responsibility, the blame really belongs to the deregulation set in place during the Bush administration and British Petroleum, who has clearly been negligent.

According The New York Times a worker attests that:

” ‘[T]he rig had been drilling deeper than 22,000 feet, even though the company’s federal permit allowed it to go only 18,000 to 20,000 feet deep,’ the lawyers said.”

A BP spokesperson has vehemently denied this claim. Meanwhile, The New York Times further cites commentary from Mike Papantonio, one of the lawyers representing the shrimpers and fishermen, which claims that the company failed to install a shut-off valve in an effort to save money.

Obama is not personally privy to the operating procedures of each individual oil company and in fact, oversight is done by the Mineral Management Services (MMS). In 2005 the MMS adopted the following policy [pdf]:

“The lessee or operator is in the best position to determine the environmental effects of its proposed activity based on whether the operation is routine or non-routine.”

This effectively gives companies like BP the ability to ignore the concerns of biologists and the harm that drilling does to the environment. This policy was put into place during the Bush administration; however, it has continued during the Obama administration. In an effort to begin some sort of accountability, S. Elizabeth (Liz) Birnbaum, who became the director of the MMS in July of 2009, has been fired. Ex-Democratic Senator Bob Graham and former Republican environment Chief William Reilly, have been tapped to head an oil spill commission whose job it is to investigate the oil spill:

“‘The purpose of this commission is to consider both the root causes of the disaster and offer options on what safety and environmental precautions we need to take to prevent a similar disaster from happening again,’ the President said.”

Obama has been quick to take responsibility whereas after Hurricane Katrina, despite images of Black Americans dying in filthy water as they begged for support, the Bush administration attempted to shift blame and failed to establish a swift response to the needs of those in peril. And though the oil spill is quickly becoming the largest man-made disaster in U.S. history, only 11 people have died in comparison to Hurricane Katrina, where it is estimated that 1,836 people lost their lives.

Republicans feel safe in making the comparison to Hurricane Katrina because Black lives are devalued in the U.S. To label the oil spill “Obama’s Katrina” serves two purposes: it abdicates responsibility, and once again dishonours the memory of those who died, because the Bush administration ultimately was dedicated to big business and White supremacy. Perhaps, if Bush could have come up with a version of Operation Iraqi Liberation for the gulf coast, the death knell of over one thousand African Americans would have been heard.

Even though Obama has taken responsibility for the spill, there really is no specific action that he can take to halt the flow of oil, this is a job for engineers. The rhetoric from the administration has taken the form of veiled threats, which is completely unnecessary, as it is in BP’s interest to stop the leak as quickly as possible. Even if the administration were to involve the army, it seems reasonable to suggest that they would have to defer to the expertise of BP, because the company has the most experience with its equipment. The only thing Barack Obama can ensure is that the best engineers are dedicating their time to plugging the oil leak.

There can be no denying the fact that the MMS needs a complete overhaul, but when we consider that the administration has been dealing with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, as well as two wars, it is understandable that some of the issues that plagued the Bush administration would still be in place. It took eight years for the Bush administration to nearly bring the U.S to its knees and it is unreasonable to suggest that it can or should have been corrected in the fifteen months that Obama has been in office.

The level of accountability that has been forced upon Obama was never the standard for Bush, whose administration would come to symbolize the very worst of what Republican American governance has come to mean to the world– but then, moving goal posts has always been one of the various methods that White supremacy has engaged in to maintain its undeserved privilege.

6 thoughts on “The oil spill is NOT “Obama’s Katrina”

  1. I notice you don’t mention the miner’s who died. Didn’t Old Clean Coal run to pretendhis care for those White people. Were they undeserved in their position way under the ground so you Northerners can refuse Energy Responsibility a little longer. There is no way to estimate how many humans will die in all their varied colors, from the death of the Carribean and it’s culture.Shame on You.

  2. You are so bias, and ignorant on top of it.
    Anyone with half a brain knows obama was giving lip service to allow new oil wells to produce off shore.
    Explore yes but drill and produce are you kidding me, do you think people are really that stupid?
    well I guess some are they voted for the liar.

  3. This analysis is unsound – it is nothing but excuse-making for Obama. The uncomfortable and inconvenient truth of the matter is that Obama is completely incompetent. He is also ignorant. Finally, he is proud of himself, despite the fact that he has achieved nothing.

    That’s a bad combination.

  4. Elizabeth Plumley said: “I notice you don’t mention the miner’s who died. Didn’t Old Clean Coal run to pretendhis care for those White people.”

    President Obama attended the memorial service for the miners. Did YOU, Elizabeth Plumley, take time out your busy schedule to go? I doubt it. Also, the miners weren’t all white. Please get your facts in order before trying to play the race card.

    Regarding the oil spill, the Obama-haters should figure out what they really want. They scream for limited government, pro-business policies, less regulation, and Drill Baby Drill. But when the consequences of such things come rolling in, they scream even louder at the government to come save them from disaster.

    Make up your minds, people! Is it the government’s job to rescue you from the results of your own anti-government politics, or isn’t it? Do you want a pro-business, limited government — or don’t you?

  5. The City destroyed itself, the State denide FEMA access and the list goes on why help could not get to the people who should not have been allowed to saty there in the first place.

    Interesting news story.

    The market had already played a role in weakening New Orleans’s defenses against category five hurricanes: wetlands that once protected the city had been carved up and overdeveloped, safety standards for levees had been pushed aside as too expensive or circumvented by corruption, and the city itself had followed a path of urban development in which the safest land had been secured for commercial development while the lowest-lying, least protected districts (like the Ninth Ward) had been left to the poor (those least likely to be able to flee a hurricane).

    Bush did something in the first three days after Katrina, Obama took nine to get involved. Bush attanded memorial services, Obama went to fund raisers. Bush did not delay plans to pump ou the city, Obama has put up so much red tape people are just giving up. Bush was on the phone with the Mayor, the Governor and the DEP, Obama has not even talked to the CEO of BP.

    Obama has not taken any responcibility for anything. He has pointed fingers and blamed the White Supremisists (your words not mine) for all the problems. You are a racist, this is clear by your words in this ill researched, poorly written piece.

    The economic downturn was created by Obama and the other democrats in congress. Bush started warning them of this in 2001. If you want footage of this it’s all over youtube.

    Bush was being bashed from day one in office, come on lady where the hell have you been? Under the same rock Obama crawled out from under??

  6. Tim, I’ve noticed that you make a lot of blank assertions that seem to conflict with observable reality. I’m going to ask you to provide evidence for them:

    “Bush did something in the first three days after Katrina, Obama took nine to get involved.” How do you know that Obama “took nine days to get involved”? What does “involvement” consist of, in your opinion, and can it only take place in front of a TV camera?

    “Bush did not delay plans to pump ou the city, Obama has put up so much red tape people are just giving up.” What “red tape” are you talking about? Who is “just giving up”? Be specific, please.

    “Bush was on the phone with the Mayor, the Governor and the DEP, Obama has not even talked to the CEO of BP. ” Mayors, governors, and the people in charge of government agencies are the President’s fellow government officials, and they each have different responsibilities within the area of concern. Is there some particular reason to talk to the guy in Britain, as opposed the guy who runs BP’s American affairs? Sure, you can try to make a talking point out of this, but what will phoning yet another BP official accomplish, realisitically speaking — especially if this official is not directly in charge of operations in the Gulf?

    “Obama has not taken any responcibility for anything.” Again, what are you talking about? The Coast Guard has been working day and night on this; President Obama is their Commander in Chief. The administration has been working to get financial relief to those affected by the spill, and to find out why this well got approved in the first place (and that happened ~before~ Pres. Obama took office, by the way).

    Seriously, Tim, what do you want? BP created the spill, and BP is ultimately responsible for fixing it, cleaning it up, and compensating those affected. Do you disagree with that? It sounds as though you want to blame the government for disasters caused by the private sector.

    It’s like I said earlier. Just more evidence that when people DO get the limited government they’d demanded, they usually hate it and want the government to have MORE control, not less.

    “He has pointed fingers and blamed the White Supremisists (your words not mine) for all the problems.” Oh, really? Please provide a direct quote from President Obama in which he blames”all the problems” on “the White Supremisists” — or anything even remotely like that.

    “You are a racist, this is clear by your words in this ill researched, poorly written piece. ” Leaving aside any possible ironies, this is just name-calling. It doesn’t help your case.

    “The economic downturn was created by Obama and the other democrats in congress. Bush started warning them of this in 2001. If you want footage of this it’s all over youtube.” If there’s footage of former President Bush warning Obama and the other Democrats in Congress way back in 2001, I definitely want to see it! Especially since Congress was controlled by a GOP majority until 2006, and since the critical Glass-Steagall banking regulations were repealed by the GOP Congress of 1999, and since the subsequent banking collapse occurred while Bush was in office and his choice of Ben Bernanke was running the Fed. So yes, please do provide links to the relevant footage. This oughtta be good.

    “Bush was being bashed from day one in office, come on lady where the hell have you been? Under the same rock Obama crawled out from under??” More name-calling. Still doesn’t help your case.

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