Washington – President Barack Obama keeps reassuring the nation that stopping the Gulf oil spill and limiting the fallout on the region are his top priority.
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Yet so is protecting the country against attack. And getting people back to work.
Presidencies usually don’t allow for a dominant priority — just a list of priorities.
During another hectic week, Obama made this promise: “This entire White House and this entire federal government has been singularly focused on how do we stop the leak and how do we prevent and mitigate the damage to our coastlines.”
From the Gulf Coast on Friday, he said making the people and the ecosystems whole again “is our highest priority.” It was not just a policy statement but a communications imperative.
Obama had to show that he’s in charge of making it end. BP bears responsibility for the crisis. Obama now owns it. BP’s latest effort to stop the flow by plugging the well with mud and cement was determined Saturday to have failed.
Yet what’s next for the president will not be a single focus on the Gulf. His agenda ahead will be what it was: a juggle of priorities. Others will not wait while oil washes ashore in Louisiana.
“Clearly, people around here would like this crisis to recalculate his agenda,” said Brian Brox, a political science professor at Tulane University in New Orleans. “They see this as nearly an existential crisis, the way the aftermath of Katrina was. I think on the national level, however, this will probably one of those multiple balls that (Obama) has up in the air.”
And what’s he juggling?
_The Koreas could be edging to war. The South accuses the North of sinking one of its warships.
_Israel’s prime minister visits the White House on Tuesday as Obama presses peace talks with the Palestinians.
_The terror threat isn’t going away, as seen by the failed car bombing in New York City this month.
_A international standoff with Iran over its nuclear program is hardening.
_The economic recovery doesn’t feel like much of one to the millions who are jobless.
_A sweeping overhaul of financial regulation hangs in the balance. The White House hopes Congress can finish it by July.
_The president needs GOP support of two big initiatives, energy and immigration, but has little to show so far.
_Senators begin hearings in late June on his nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan.
_Fall elections are nearing, with Democrats facing losses and in need of campaign help from Obama.
Politics never stop, of course.
Just as Obama finished his Gulf tour Friday, the White House found itself off balance because of an embarrassing admission: It had proposed a political deal, in the form of unpaid job offer, to Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., to get him to back off from his primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. Sestak said no, stayed in the race and beat Specter.
Like presidents before him, Obama is having to work through unforeseen problems: offshore drilling and an environmental disaster, mine safety, the earthquake in Haiti, piracy off the Somali coast.
“One of the things you learn as president is because you’ve got this title, and you know, there’s the plane and the helicopter and all that stuff, that people expect you to solve problems,” Obama said Tuesday at a political fundraiser, yet another part of his job. “And when things go wrong, they’re definitely going to blame you. If things go right, occasionally you might get the credit.”
Obama’s ability to calmly handle many competing issues simultaneously is viewed as one of his strengths.
He has tried to let everyone know that what’s unfolding in the Gulf is more than a momentary crisis. The spill, he said Friday from Grand Isle, La., is nothing less than “an assault on our shores, on our people, on the regional economy, and on communities like this one.”
The president is also fond of saying he will not rest until the problem at hand gets fixed. The trouble is that there’s always more trouble.
He is a big looser, who shouldve never got elecred in the first place
America has gotten into wars that cost trillions of dollars and millions of lives over oil. Now what do they have? OIL! so much oil that they will be covered in it for decades!
This is a classic cosmic smackdown!
The oil spill is not Obama’s fault. However im happy he is getting blamed for it. Instead of “let my people go” we shout “leave my people alone”
#2 , Good point. Calculate the estimated gallons they report are pouring into the gulf and realize that there really is no oil shortage. We got plenty right here. Why in Heaven’s name aren’t they pulling in another oil paltform right over it and reconnect to the existing pipeline they say is there. Maybe Shomrim or Chaverim can get out there to save the day? 🙂
Obama said “One of the things you learn as president is because you’ve got this title, and you know, there’s the plane and the helicopter and all that stuff, that people expect you to solve problems”
Um, YEAH!!!
Did you not read the job description – President: Crisis solver.
Now do your job.
While I don’t blame Obama for the oil spill, nor do I think he can do anything to fix it, I am silently gloating that he is taking heat for it. His platform to get elected was to pronounce blame on Bush for everything that happened over the previous 8 years that he didn’t do. But Bush took wise counsel from many, and he displayed morals and ethics that were second to none. Obama has so far done nothing beyond pushing his political agendas, at the expense of everyone. His TL’ing the Muslim world is not going unnoticed. His expanding federal regulation into so many more areas where government doesn’t belong is pure socialism. His destruction of health care will affect this country for generations. And he may have done much good in the reputation he has brought to the Democratic party that has been getting away with way too much. I never trusted him, and never will. I think he is innocent with the oil spill thing, but this couldn’t have happened to a better guy. Now, let’s see if he can take the heat.
Obama stop step down. What a lose?
Please people, such vindictiveness towards our president. I didn’t vote for him either but I still wish him success in all his endeavors. His success is to our benefit as a nation especially as a ‘medina shel chesed’. If you can’t root for the president, let’s at the very least cut him some slack and hope that his attempts in resolving issues will turn out ok. I know there might be alot of negative comments to this post, well so be it. A gut voch.
#4
No, I meant that this is mida k’neged mida! As if Hashem said “oh yeah? you’re going to destroy whole societies in the name of oil? I’ll give you oil…all over your coastline!”
This is just the beginning! Hurricane season will begin and throw all of that oil miles and miles inland!
We have been buying most of our oil from Canada and Mexico to save the shlepping from the other side of the world! They are now trying to extend the Canadfian pipeline into the U.S. or the past 2-3 years. If it succeeds the price of oil and gas should drop, but the main prblem are the permits in each state.== and the Federal govt!!!! namely Mr. Obama (maybe he’ll think twice now!!
I’m surprised no one quoted he gemara (sanhedrein) that says there will be oil in your waters killing fish life, before moshiach comes
(not making this up)