Obama’s Oval Office Address Fails To Address Oil Spill Crisis

by Mark Henry

The Gulf Oil Spill is an unprecedented environmental catastrophe that presented President Obama an opportunity to show executive leadership and reassure Americans that the federal government is doing all it can to stop the hemorrhaging of oil into the Gulf.

By almost all accounts, President Obama’s Oval Office Address failed to achieve this objective. Obama was roundly criticized by leading liberal media pundits and conservative commentators alike. President Clintons Media Advisor David Gergen stated that this was Obama’s last opportunity to take control of the gulf oil spill problem and that he fell short of it.

Interestingly, some of the most vocal criticism came from liberal media stalwarts like Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. The criticized President Obama’s speech for being “Carter like”, lacking in executive command and directionless.

Obama’s address had a military-like tones using terms like “battle” and “siege”. Perhaps this is part of the President’s newly adopted “get tough, be emotional” demeanor to counteract criticisms that he is too detached and unemotional. What is clear is that Obama’s anger was directed at BP and the oil industry as the President stated emphatically that BP will pay for damage sustained in the Gulf.

Getting angry about the oil spill is natural and of course BP will be liable for actions that caused this catastrophe. Federal law already imposes liability on companies like BP for oil spills. However, the extent of BP’s liability should be resolved through the rule of law, not by Presidential fiat. Such autocratic Presidential behavior may pass muster in Venezuela but that has not been the American way, at least until lately.

Many commentators felt that the President’s address focused too much on casting blame for the Gulf oil spill crisis. Americans wanted the President to explain that the federal government was doing all it could do to stop or at least stem the flood of oil into the Gulf. In his Oval Office Address, President Obama failed to do this and disappointed the vast majority of Americans.

What disappointed many viewers - of all political persuasions – is that we are now 60 days into the greatest oil spill in U.S. history and the President was not able to tell us that the federal government has a plan to stop the oil from flooding into the Gulf.

What President Obama did tell us is that this catastrophe reveals a need for a new energy policy. This prompted many conservative critics to complain that Obama was taking advantage of the crisis to promote the controversial “cap and trade” legislation which is stalled in the U.S. Congress.

In arguing for a new greener energy policy, Obama erroneously asserted that we are running out of places to drill for oil. However, critics cited a June 30, 2008 stated that America has enough untapped oil reserves to supply 300 years of America’s demand for oil. These reserves are nearly three times more than the reserves held by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations. The problem is that Democratic Party policies catering to demands of environmental extremists have made most of these reserves off-limits to drilling.

Essentially, Obama used the “running out of places to drill” canard – a problem which his party created - as a pretext to call for yet another new government program; a new energy policy. Many viewers of Obama’s speech feel that much of the script came right out of the community activist play book; agitate people about a problem, be vague about real solutions but do come up with a big government program to “administer” the problem.

Obama’s approach reflects a belief that every crisis has a silver lining that can be exploited to achieve political goals that would otherwise be unattainable. This approach was used by Obama with the recent federal take over of health care. Recall that spiraling health care costs as well as the need to improve access to health care were the pretexts for nationalizing the health care insurance industry. Fast forward to the present oil spill crisis which presents a dual opportunity to push for cap and trade policy and subjugate BP and the oil industry to more federal control.

In short, Obama’s Oval Office address was a historic disappointment that left many Americans of all political stripes wishing that the President would have focused on solving the continuing Gulf oil spill crisis rather than engage in spirited finger pointing. It was also an inopportune time to push the controversial cap and trade legislation under the guise of a new greener national energy policy. Mr. President, it is time to table cap and trade start working seriously on the real environmental crisis; the flood of oil into the Gulf.

Solving serious national problems requires experienced executive leadership rather the community activist leadership style. Without it, our pristine gulf coast environment will continue to needlessly suffer more than it has to.