Friday, April 30, 2010

Where Has President Obama Been As BP Oil Spill Disaster Unfolds?

Washington Times article wonders if this oil spill from BP rig (made by Transocean) accident is Obama's "Katrina".

I decided to check the schedule of the POTUS of the past 10 days to gain any insight (if there's any). CBS News has a nifty summary of the presidential schedule on their site, and I used that information, plus statements posted on the White House website and other public news for the list below:

4/20 (BP rig blew up around 10PM CST)
on the way back from fundraising in California for Senator Barbara Boxer

4/21
regular meeting with cabinet members, greeting G20 labor ministers

4/22
in New York to deliver remarks on his financial reform plan (Goldman Sachs was made a boogieman on the previous Friday)
Earth Day reception (remarks have no mention of oil spill)

White House Press Secretary's statement: the rescue response "as the number one priority" for the President. (First mention of the oil spill since the rig blew up.)

4/23
left for "middle class" weekend getaway in Asheville, North Carolina

(The US Coast Guard reports that there is no oil spill the sunken rig.)

4/24
vacationing in Asheville

(The Coast Guard changes the story, and now says oil is leaking at 1000 bpd (barrells per day).)

4/25
vacationing in Asheville

4/26
meeting cabinet members, receiving NY Yankees

4/27
embarking on his Main Street Tour of Midwestern states, townhall meetings with friendly audience

4/28
continuing Main Street Tour

(The Coast Guard upps the estimate of oil spill from 1000 bpd to 5000 bpd.)

4/29
attending a funeral, honors 2010 National Teacher of the Year
starting daily intelligence briefing on the oil spill (after 9 days)

4/30
tours the training center for the Secret Service in Maryland
The presidential statement about oil spill released (after 10 days).

A flurry of statements started to appear on the White House website on 4/29. The president has yet to tour the disaster area, and his press secretary says there's no plan.

He's been busy, as you see, campaigning and vacationing.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

ridiculous to dwell on this, we need jobs, jobs, jobs where are the jobs from the stimulus? People care more about lost jobs than an oil spill

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

I didn't know the stimulus created jobs other than creating and saving government jobs...

I suspect people in Louisiana and Florida are worried about further jobs to be lost because of oil spill.

Anonymous said...

Are you sure you want Gov't involvement in the clean up? Consider the gov't past record, they'll likely do more harm than good.

Its best to like the politicans stay in washington and do nothing. Let the experts deal with the problem so it gets fixed quickly.

Although from what I read, there not going to be an easy problem. There may not be anything they can do to fix the problem, since its under a mile of water.

http://thecomingdepression.blogspot.com/2010/05/nuclear-bomb-can-only-fix-this-oil.html

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

I've read about the nuclear option suggested by the supposed expert. It was posted on many different sites, and I'm not sure what to make of it.

I agree that the government should stay away from almost all things, but there are a few areas that they must step in as early as possible, and this may have been one of them. See the latest post on fire booms (I'm writing right now).

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