Smith Faculty Opinion Article
The 30 Seconds Outlook
July 15, 2010
“The distance between the president and the people is beginning to be
revealed.”
—Dorothy Rabinowitz, Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2010
The oil calamity in the Gulf has provided citizens there and elsewhere with a
vivid picture of how Obama deals with a crisis.
We need to understand Obamas’s background as it applies to his
decision-making. Rabinowitz (WSJ 6/9/10) reminds us that it is based on who he
is. His reaction to the oil crisis was entirely predictable, with amazing
lack of concern and urgency concerning the explosion that took numerous lives
and the subsequent release of vast quantities of oil.
Rabinowitz states so well that what citizens expect from a president is not
more campaign rhetoric, but rather a tone and presence that says: “This is
Americans’ leader, a man of them, for them, the nation’s voice and champion. . .
. What he lacked was the voice---and for a good reason. . . . A great part of
American now understands that the president’s sense of identification lies
elsewhere, and in profound ways unlike theirs. He is hard put to sound
convincingly because he is, at heart and by instinct, the voice mainly of his
ideological class. He is the alien in the White House, a matter having nothing
to do with delusions about his birthplace ...”
The lack of voice for America is certainly revealed in Obama’s overseas
“apology tours,” that included the Muslim world, where he “confessed” the moral
failures of America in its arrogance and insensitivity and the source of
injustice and oppression in the world.
We all remember America’s embarrassment with his banal gift to England’s
prime minister. Then there was the insulting welcome to Israel’s prime minister.
Then there was the return of the White House’s bust of Churchill, which was a
American reminder of this great leader during our war to save the free world. He
senses no understanding of America’s connections with our historic allies.
We are also told there are no Islamic terrorists, but rather there are only
criminals deserving of trials in American courts. His administration is filled
with radical “czars,” a leftist staff of political opportunists and unseemly
deal makers, and a cabinet lacking in experience and emotional attachment to the
American people—thus the choice of Napolitano for her leftist appeal and
certainly not for her managerial experience and skill.
These behaviors are consistent with Obama’s management of the oil crisis that
has destroyed so many jobs and ecosystems. He says the problem is BP’s to fix.
Then he uses his worn “Bush card” to shift blame for failure of his own oil
industry regulators. Then he fails to lead a coordinated effort to use private
and government craft and personnel in a serious effort to contain the slick.
Then he refuses offers of experienced help from other countries due to union
opposition. Then when shifting blame fails to provide political cover, he walks
on the beach to show his concern. Then when this lame reality show doesn’t
provide political cover, he tells his attorney general to investigate BP for
criminal negligence.
The timing of Obama’s attempt at assigning legal blame could not have been
less presidential. Once the oil flow is stopped, an impartial and informed
commission (not his leftist no experience commission) should be constituted to
assess what went wrong and why, and then proceed to engage the industry in
prescribing new standards, requirements, and regulations for shallow and deep
drilling. An industry commission would actually have the best information and
know how. That is, to use the process that works with airline crashes. Then,
deep drilling should return to the job of meeting our needs for domestic energy.
John A. Haslem
