"Unprecedented" disaster

[Chicopee John]

Fixing oil disaster my responsibility, Obama says

 

By JENNIFER LOVEN and TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writers Jennifer Loven And Tom Raum, Associated Press Writers – 7 mins ago

 

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama defensively and sometimes testily insisted on Thursday that his administration, not oil giant BP, was calling the shots in responding to the worst oil spill in the nation's history.

 

"I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure this thing is shut down," Obama declared at a news conference in the East Room of the White House. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill dominated the hour-long session.

 

He called the spill, now in its sixth week, an "unprecedented disaster" and blasted a "scandalously close relationship" between Big Oil and government regulators.

 

Obama announced new steps to deal with the aftermath of the spill, including continuing a moratorium on drilling permits for six months. He also said he was suspending planned exploration drilling off the coasts of Alaska and Virginia and on 33 wells under way in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

The president's direct language on being in charge of the spill, which he repeated several times, marked a change in emphasis from earlier administration assertions that, while the government was overseeing the operation, BP had the expertise and equipment to make the decisions on how to stop the flow.

 

Taking control carried its own political risks for Obama, because any failure to stop the gusher would then belong to the president. But Obama could suffer politically if his administration was seen as falling short of staying on top of the problem or not working hard to find a solution.

 

"The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort," Obama said. He was reacting to criticism that his administration had been slow to act and had left BP in charge of plugging the leak.

 

Obama said many critics failed to realize "this has been our highest priority."

 

"My job right now is just to make sure everybody in the Gulf understands: This is what I wake up to in the morning, and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about. The spill."

 

As he spoke, oil BP worked furiously to pump mud-like drilling fluid into the blown-out well.

 

It was an untested [ but not unprecedented ] procedure to plug the blown-out oil well. It seemed to be working, officials said Thursday, even as new estimates showed the spill has surpassed the Exxon Valdez in Alaska as the worst in U.S. history.

 

[VaporTrail]

It looks like he was referring to the spill itself as unprecedented. Which it is. There has never been a spill of this magnitude.

[heckofajobbrownie]

I don't really get the bolded parts. I watched the press conference.

 

"The president's direct language on being in charge of the spill, which he repeated several times, marked a change in emphasis from earlier administration assertions that, while the government was overseeing the operation, BP had the expertise and equipment to make the decisions on how to stop the flow."

 

I heard him say the latter again - the government was overseeing the operation, but that BP had the expertise and equipment to make the decisions on how to stop the flow. All he was saying was that they assisted in that decision-making process, like when they made them drill two relief wells instead of one.

 

Here's the thing: I don't think there's much more they could be doing on a substantive level. On that level I think they've performed pretty well. On a political level, I think it's been a huge whiff.

[Chicopee John]

Here's the thing: I don't think there's much more they could be doing on a substantive level. On that level I think they've performed pretty well. On a political level, I think it's been a huge whiff.

 

I don't disagree, Heck.

 

IMHO, Obama is sensing a political hit on this and has decided to become more visable.

 

I did get a kick out of his standard, "unprecented" description though.

[heckofajobbrownie]

Why? It is unprecedented. This type of disaster has never happened before. This type of plug has never been attempted before at this depth. Hence, unprecedented.

 

Seems a strange thing to ding him for.

 

I would ding him for not owning it publicly, and earlier. People are going to get that the spill isn't your fault, but they want to know what you're doing about it.

 

Now, they were doing lots of stuff, but no one knew. And that's their fault. As someone recently said, everyone viewed him as a great communicator, but an inexperienced policymaker. It's actually been more of the reverse - he's governed fairly competently and made some tough decisions. It's the inability to explain what those decisions are and why he's made them that have hurt him so far.

 

He's too detached.

[Chicopee John]

It was a tongue in cheek statement, not a 'Ding' per se.

 

EVERYTHING, it seems, is unprecendented since Obama took office. His pet description. Maybe he should go to a thesaurus. Just making light of it.

 

He probably took an unprecendented leak when he got up this morning.

 

 

PS You are right about his ability to communicate effectively. What was perceived as a strength has been somewhat of an achilles heal to him. The Healthcare Bill, is an example of him unable to effectively articulate.

 

He is human, you know.

 

[heckofajobbrownie]

No, he's the Messiah, and we worship him on Sundays and sing Obama songs we learned off YouTube. Haven't you heard?

 

As for unprecedented, I'll say he's overusing it when he uses it incorrectly. So far, the financial crisis was unprecedented, as were the recovery efforts. And so was the oil spill, and the effort to stem that. So I think it's fine.

 

I'm still waiting for one of you to comment on that graph I put up. I guess it's kind of inconvenient to your arguments, so no one did.

[VaporTrail]

which graph?

[heckofajobbrownie]

I don't want to sidetrack the thread, especially since it's gone eight posts without being invaded by crazies, which might be a record, but it's here.

[lambdo]

I don't quite understand how he is in"charge" of stopping it. The fact gov't thinks they have the expertise to stop such a disaster is laughable and completely out of their area of practice.

 

I guess in "charge" means footing the majority of the cleanup bill.

 

I thought Obama and the administration has handled it well so far. There is only so much they can do in an incident like this.

 

The fact they made them drill two relief wells is kind of redundant and of questionable (not to mention costly) field practice.

 

Heck: Why is it a total whiff on a political level? I'm not following here.. I think any President / office would respond in the same way ..am i wrong?

 

-Lambdo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DieHardBrownsFan]

I don't quite understand how he is in"charge" of stopping it. The fact gov't thinks they have the expertise to stop such a disaster is laughable and completely out of their area of practice.

 

I guess in "charge" means footing the majority of the cleanup bill.

 

I thought Obama and the administration has handled it well so far. There is only so much they can do in an incident like this.

 

The fact they made them drill two relief wells is kind of redundant and of questionable (not to mention costly) field practice.

 

Heck: Why is it a total whiff on a political level? I'm not following here.. I think any President / office would respond in the same way ..am i wrong?

 

-Lambdo

 

 

Exactly like Bush handled Katrina. He did everything possible. Right? What was he supposed to do, stop the hurricane? You libs are delusional.

[heckofajobbrownie]

Exactly like Bush handled Katrina. He did everything possible. Right? What was he supposed to do, stop the hurricane? You libs are delusional.

 

Um, I don't believe we thought he could stop the hurricane, no. Thinking we thought that might be delusional.

 

 

[heckofajobbrownie]

I don't quite understand how he is in"charge" of stopping it. The fact gov't thinks they have the expertise to stop such a disaster is laughable and completely out of their area of practice.

 

I guess in "charge" means footing the majority of the cleanup bill.

 

I thought Obama and the administration has handled it well so far. There is only so much they can do in an incident like this.

 

The fact they made them drill two relief wells is kind of redundant and of questionable (not to mention costly) field practice.

 

Heck: Why is it a total whiff on a political level? I'm not following here.. I think any President / office would respond in the same way ..am i wrong?

 

-Lambdo

 

I wouldn't think they'd all respond in the same way, no. And I'm not asking for a bunch of photo ops and empty gestures. But there are ways to reassure the public that the appropriate steps are being taken. They're not floating off in the middle of the Gulf. They don't know unless you tell them. And you don't seem like you're in control unless you've demonstrated that you are.

 

People want to know what their government is doing, and also what they're not doing. In a crisis like this, that should be explained by him just about every other day, not in one month intervals.

[Chicopee John]

No, he's the Messiah, and we worship him on Sundays and sing Obama songs we learned off YouTube. Haven't you heard?

 

As for unprecedented, I'll say he's overusing it when he uses it incorrectly. So far, the financial crisis was unprecedented, as were the recovery efforts. And so was the oil spill, and the effort to stem that. So I think it's fine.

 

I'm still waiting for one of you to comment on that graph I put up. I guess it's kind of inconvenient to your arguments, so no one did.

 

What graph? I must have missed it.

 

[DieHardBrownsFan]

Um, I don't believe we thought he could stop the hurricane, no. Thinking we thought that might be delusional.

 

Sorry dip, I thought maybe you might be semi intelligent enough to understand. The Liberals are saying that Obama couldn't stop an oil disaster. But when Bushy was president, they jumped all over him because he didn't respond quickly enough. Now how exactly is that different, dip? Understand Heck?

[heckofajobbrownie]

Yes, I understand. That you don't understand.

 

You wrote, "What was he supposed to do, stop the hurricane? You libs are delusional." And I pointed out that, no, no one claimed that. Just like no one is claiming that Obama should have stopped the oil leak, or could have. Those are things out of their control.

 

We're talking about how they responded to the tragedies, and how they fulfilled their responsibilities. The complaint was about how the Bush administration responded to Katrina, and how they gutted the agency tasked with responding to Katrina, and staffed it with hacks, and how that ended up causing real harm.

 

I don't have similar complaints about how Obama handled this. I have political complaints.

[calfoxwc]

yeah, you hated Bush for being a Republican, so you

 

bought and exaggerated any outlet.

 

Want to tell us a thousandth time about how "Bush and Cheney"

 

outed Plame? (no, they didn't. did you ever sing the "I'm So Sorry" song,

 

like I suggested?)

 

Bush takes trip to Katrina - "it was just a photo op".

 

Obamao takes a trip to the disaster in the gulf, "it shows Obamao cares so much"

 

kinda like that from you libs - very, very politically expedient, but very, very dishonest.

 

You and Al don't seem to be very smart, or very honest. Maybe 50-50 split there...

[Westside Steve]

So now that we know the white house has been in charge of the operation since day one I wonder why the earlier efforts to stop the flow were unsuccessful.

 

I'd been hearing that BP wasn't as competend as they should have been.

 

On another note maybe we sould build these in shallower water so in case the rare leak occurs it'd be more easily addressed.

 

WSS

[Chicopee John]

I don't want to sidetrack the thread, especially since it's gone eight posts without being invaded by crazies, which might be a record, but it's here.

 

 

The government, clearly, is spending too much money. Allowing people to keep a higher percentage of THEIR money should have been mitigated by spending cuts in other areas.

 

This chart assumes too many sacred cows, IMHO.

 

[heckofajobbrownie]

Are we looking at the same chart, John? It shows the sources of the deficit going forward. And the biggest source, and by a wide margin, are the tax cuts, not the spending.

[heckofajobbrownie]

So now that we know the white house has been in charge of the operation since day one I wonder why the earlier efforts to stop the flow were unsuccessful.

 

I'd been hearing that BP wasn't as competend as they should have been.

 

On another note maybe we sould build these in shallower water so in case the rare leak occurs it'd be more easily addressed.

 

WSS

 

Or perhaps we shouldn't do this at all anymore, realizing the horrible cost of spills, and should move toward cleaner energy sources.

 

We just killed off a large portion of the Gulf and the Gulf Coast for decades. And it might not even be over. Let's hope it is.

 

Maybe we shouldn't do that at all anymore.

[Mr. T]

How can you trust any chart coming from the CBO, their integrity has been challenged since they lied about the HC bill only being right under 1 Trillion and only a few months later we see its going to run atleast 60% more. And they are still doing the math.

[Chicopee John]

Are we looking at the same chart, John? It shows the sources of the deficit going forward. And the biggest source, and by a wide margin, are the tax cuts, not the spending.

 

 

But wouldn't repeal of the tax cuts diminish the gap?

 

My point is that we need to cut spending to the extent of the tax cuts.

 

[heckofajobbrownie]

The point of the graph is to bring some reality into the discussion of who and what caused the deficits the people in here, the Republican Party, and the Tea Party, all blame mostly on President Obama, if not exclusively on President Obama. And when you try to point out that it was mostly someone else's administration, they accuse you of blaming Bush and tell you to move on.

 

As Steve Martin sarcastically says in Parenthood, "No, I'll blame the dog."

 

Well, yeah, we're blaming Bush. Because his policies are responsible for most of the deficit. And the right is screaming, "Stop blaming Bush!" because they can't accept that reality, and would rather point the finger somewhere else.

 

So yes, job number one is setting tax rates at a more sensible level, and cutting entitlements and military spending.

[calfoxwc]

it's ignorant to say the deficit is caused by mostly those tax cuts.

 

Without the tax cuts, things would have been worse...

 

You go ahead, Heck, and convince Obamao to have opposing voices thrown in...

 

no, I mean, convince Obamao to raise taxes on everybody.

 

Watch how the revenue plummets, and the deficit goes way upward.

 

Too....much....spending....get....it...straight.

 

TOO MUCH SPENDING.

[heckofajobbrownie]

Yes, the man just saw a graph that showed the giant revenue shortfall caused by the Bush tax cuts, how they are more responsible for the deficit picture than anything else, and then said things would have been worse without them.

 

This is the bubble you people live in. You should open the window and let a little reality in.

 

Yes, Cal, the Bush tax cuts caused an increase in growth. No, Cal, it wasn't nearly enough to make up for the overall loss in revenue. The budget picture would be improved immeasurably had Bush not cut taxes the way he did.

 

If you can learn one thing this entire year, learn that. Though I don't have high hopes.

[Westside Steve]

Or perhaps we shouldn't do this at all anymore, realizing the horrible cost of spills, and should move toward cleaner energy sources.

 

We just killed off a large portion of the Gulf and the Gulf Coast for decades. And it might not even be over. Let's hope it is.

 

Maybe we shouldn't do that at all anymore.

 

 

Maybe we should stop doing anything that involves risk.

 

40,000 traffic fatalities a year.

 

WSS

[calfoxwc]

Well, the man who cherry picked a narrow perspective graph that jives with his

 

boo sheet:

 

 

Just so you know, here is why I am right AGAIN:

 

Oh, btw, Heckiswrongagain: "National Center for Policy Analysis" = NCPA

 

Have nice day, Heck. Have a cookie. Have a glass of milk.

 

Have the nads to sing the "I'm a big dummy and Cal was right again" song.

 

Say you're sorry dammit. @@

 

 

*******************************************

http://www.ncpa.org/media/study-bushs-capi...us-more-revenue

 

Study: Bush's Capital Gains Tax Cuts Provided Stimulus; More Revenue

January 23, 2008

 

President Bush's investment tax cuts helped stimulate the economy and increase government revenue, and raising the capital gains tax rate, as some are now proposing, would be harmful to the economy at a time when it is once again in need of stimulus, according to a new study from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).

"Some policy makers want to nearly double the tax on capital gains," warned Stephen Moore, member of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal and author of the study. "That is the exact opposite of what our economy needs. If anything, the rate should be cut further."

 

Faced with a fragile economy early in his presidency, President Bush responded with a series of tax cuts, including reduced taxes on capital gains and dividend income. These measures were designed to stimulate capital investment and produce more jobs. The study notes that the stimulus package had positive effects on the economy and government finances. The economy grew, the government gained revenue and the rich now pay a larger share of taxes than ever. For example:

 

•The rate of business capital investment underwent a U-turn - from negative business investment spending in the two years before the tax cut to an average annual increase of more than 10 percent in the three succeeding years.

 

•In the four years since the cut, federal revenues increased $740 billion and revenues from the capital gains tax nearly doubled to $110 billion.

 

•There was a sizable "unlocking effect" from the lower tax rate, meaning that investors voluntarily sold stock and other assets at a much higher volume once the tax rate was reduced, nearly doubling the amount of capital gains realized.

The study notes that the cuts are scheduled to expire after 2010, increasing the capital gains tax from 15 percent to 20 percent, which is higher than most developed countries. Some have suggested raising the rate to 28 percent, higher than the rate when Bill Clinton left office and placing the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage

 

"Increasing the capital gains tax rate would have a negative effect on the economy in both the short and long term," said Moore . "It is critical that Congress extend the life of these cuts by making them permanent. And they need to do it sooner, rather than later to help boost the economy and reduce the growth-dampening effects of uncertainty."

[calfoxwc]

"ha ha, Cal, but your study is not a study because I don't like it,

 

and it was not produced by George Soros and obamao"

 

"The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan

public policy research organization, established in 1983. The NCPA's goal

is to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and

control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive,

entrepreneurial private sector. Topics include reforms in health care, taxes,

Social Security, welfare, criminal justice, education and environmental

regulation"

[calfoxwc]

So, Heck, perhaps you should knock off the "bubbly" -

 

you are clearly outclassed by anybody else on this board.

 

Drink more water, learn to actually think for yourself,

 

and start living in the real world.