Thursday, June 03, 2010
What could have been, should have been, etc...
I asked earlier for some substantive critiques of the Obama administration's handling of the BP oil spill crisis. I'm not sure if this completely qualifies, but at least Rudy Giuliani provides Fox News' Sean Hannity with something:
Colby Hall, who posted the video over at Mediaite, seems to have difficulty overcoming the two men's obvious biases. I'll try to focus a bit more and welcome any attempt to quantify what exactly Obama could have done differently, if anything.
For Giuliani, symbolism matters. So, as a leader, if you look like you'd rather be doing something else than deal with a crisis, so will the bureaucracy you lead. Valid point. And I think that Mr. Giuliani has at least some credibility on the issue, even if Colby Hall might not think so.
Hannity also adds that various requests and suggestions to mitigate the disaster have not been acted upon, such as using chemical disbursements, building barriers, and providing booms.
Also touched upon is the Obama administration's evolving posture towards BP. Even the left is questioning the close ties between the two. So, in reaction, what does Obama do? He promises criminal proceedings against the very company he's relying on to deal with the mess. Fascinating.
For what it's worth, I personally believe that much of the questionable PR from Team Obama from the very start has been motivated by their fear of being seen as too close to BP. Instead of just doing the right thing, they may have worried about looking like they were doing the wrong thing. Not exactly a recipe for success.
In closing, I still welcome substantive critiques, or praise, of the Obama administration's handling of the crisis. I get a bit tired of the predictable remarks from either side of the political divide, so anything more than that would be a nice change, if you ask me.
However, when all is said and done, I believe that Obama will have a hard time explaining his government's position in all of this. There's just too much that has gone wrong, and a lot of people will have to answer. It's a reality he'll have a hard time escaping.
