President Obama Lays Out Gulf Coast Strategy in White House Oval Office Speech

Run time: 16:51 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rVqGfq9FpQ   Posted on YouTube: June 16, 2010 By YouTube Member: CNN Views on YouTube: 41   Posted on DU: June 16, 2010 By DU Member: Tx4obama Views on DU: 1167

 

Not spectacular - and he could have done better - but it wasn't horrible as some pundits would have you think

But there is a big problem with this speech.

Obama is a great guy. He is a great person.

The problem is that he projects his own good character on other people. He assumes that other people will be just as reasonable, as lacking in ego, as cooperative, as conscientious and as interested in putting the common good first as he is.

For example because he is playing fair and being straight with BP, he assumes BP is going to play fair, be straight with him. He thinks that the solution to every problem, the cure for every wrong, is understanding and compassion, sitting down at a table and talking things over, and he trusts others including BP to see the world as he does.

But Obama is wrong. Some people cannot be trusted. Some don't play fair. Some don't play straight. BP, for example, is not going to play fair, play straight with Obama or the American people. It's a corporation. By definition it takes no responsibility for anything other than its bottom line unless it is forced to do so. That is the reality. That is the way the system works.

BP is Obama's adversary, our adversary, not our ally. BP knows that. But, if Obama knows that (and I honestly don't think he does), he did not make it clear in tonight's speech. That is why people are so disappointed in the speech.

We want Obama to fight for us. His world view does not seem to let him do that.

He's one person. The president, as powerful as he is, can only do so much.

Sure, he could flirt with fascism like his predecessor, but he's not like that. And we didn't elect someone to flirt with fascism

JUNK SHOT!!!

got another source ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rVqGfq9FpQ
I just checked it out and it does work over there.
Hope that helps.

I did watch at the President's site that someone gave me.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/16/president-obamas-oval-office-address-bp-oil-spill-a-faith-future-sustains-us-a-peopl

Glad to hear you found it.
Sorry I didn't get it posted quick enough for you.

That pathetic speech by our so-called leader was a bunch of hog snot. BP and the federal government knew this was WAY worse from day one. Now we are being told to pray for shrimpers and that the beaches will be restored to their original condition. Pluheeze!! That won't happen in our lifetimes. As for the the "new" estimate of oil flow, that is nothing new. Scientists have been saying that for months. Even a writer for, OMG! The Examiner!!! wrote about that a month ago. You can read it here: http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Exa... . If someone can sit on a PC and give the facts a month before the government, BP and the corporate media does, you have to know we are being lied to and conditioned to slowly accept the true magnitude of this disaster.

I constantly know things it takes him months to find out about. Pathetic.

It is as if Obama is a deer caught in headlights by an environmental disaster INTERFERING with his dedication to move to the right and suck up to GOP and the corporatists because the DLC consultants told him that that's what yer supoosed ta do.

If now is the moment to go to alternative energy, why is Obama acting like such a wimp toward BP? Where is the kick ass? Is he aware that being chief executive is about more than being chief legislator? When is he going to take charge and tell BP what to do?


"The one approach I will not accept is inaction."

Oh really? I'm waiting.........


If I hear one more speech of his mentioning how he appointed a commission, I'm going to puke.



He sounds like he has a vague awareness that he should finally move left but doesn't know how to turn the huge ocean liner of the federal government around after spending the first leg of his presidency following the DLC playbook.

Instead, nothing is happening and the public is still confused and still hating the Democrats. How Obama could have flubbed a political opportunity to wrest the agenda away from the GOP by this crisis I don't know. He leads like the carved wooden figurehead leads a ship.


This whole speech was written as if in response to poll takers and people with their fingers in the wind.

You don't blather on about "action."

You TAKE action.


This was just a poll masquerading as a speech.

He can't go on TV and bash the hell out of him and then expect to get what he wants out of him later in the week.
I have full confidence that once we get the BP BILLIONS deposited into the account that is being set up, then Obama will be more free to come out and kick more ass ;)

Where do you guys come with this stuff?

Unfortunately Obama failed to call the nation to action. We have double digit unemployment, idled and deserted factories throughout the country, highly skilled workers sitting idle and an environmental disaster beyond description. This missed opportunity could have been used to lay out a vision that would include the development of high speed rail, increased fuel mileage standards for autos, trucks and buses. The basic route for high speed rail is already in place. We could utilize the interstate highway system to build elevated rail lines to run mag lev trains. Or, we could use the long deserted rail beds.

Sadly, this was failed leadership at its ugliest.

and at the worst possible time.

Praying the bad stuff away? Screw that.

I believe she's next in line of succession after them.

Seriously. If he is going to just blather on about things like his stupid commission, why doesn't he just resign along with Biden and let Pelosi take over? He obviously doesn't want to be president. He's not doing anything. So why even bother to be president? There are plenty of Democrats who could do a better job. Why not let them have his job?

Here's how you do it:

First: Key Democrats on Capitol Hill take the walk. They walk to the White House. They have the talk. They talk to the President and explain to him that he has lost their confidence.

The president resigns.

Biden resigns.

Pelosi becomes president.

If desired she can then appoint someone as her vice president who would become president as she resigns and goes back to running the House.

That appointee becomes president.

I believe there's another Democrat out there who also won a Nobel prize and he won it on the environment.

Perhaps there is someone who should take Obama's job if he doesn't want it.



It's called leadership. It's called running the country. It's called taking charge. It's called standing up to BP and saving the Gulf.

It's called being president.


Seriously.



If you don't want to be president, Mr. Obama, why don't you just resign?

I'm sure there are others who could do the job.

You don't have to be president. If you're sick of being president and don't want to kick some ass in the Gulf oil crisis and DO SOMETHING, why are you even there?

Resign, Obama. Let a Democrat have the job instead.

He can't publicly be kicking BP's ass at the same time he is getting them to hand over the money and get the leak fixed.

Everyone right now is focused on the leak and forgetting that President Obama is still in the middle of two wars, fixing the economy, creating jobs, etc, etc, etc.

was left feeling a little empty. He left out some major much needed details. This isn't the time for warm and fuzzy. It's time for a call to action. He should fire his speech writer and Rahm Emanuel. Obama has such potential. That's what makes most of us angry. We know it. We heard it during the campaign. But he's surrounded himself with cold blooded corporatists. They're hurting him and he doesn't see it. We wanted a strong, vibrant hands on government. That's not what we're getting.

He said in a few days 90% of the oil would be removed. Where were the details? Where did he get that number? BP? No explanation. Mentioning that Steven Chu is a nobel prize winner didn't get my attention. Apologizing for Salazar's ineptness wasn't helpful.

However I was encouraged that he's bringing in a new leader to rebuild the MMS and make it a watchdog. That we need. I also like the 3 fold plan he laid out. Clean-up, Compensate and Restoration. Was listening closely when he talked about the explosion and wanting to know why. The families want to know and so do the rest of us. We also want them held accountable if there was gross negligence. Don't think I heard that. No details on how or who to contact to submit a claim to this new escrow account or even when it would be available. No details on who to call with problems he wants to know about and promises to fix.

It was a lackluster speech for a State of the Union in mho.

While promoting more Nuclear Power Plants and Ethonol based on Genetically Modified Organisms.

Wow, he assigned Steven Chu to Look at the spill! Simply incredible! The man is such a genius!

Thad Allen, now they're a name that say "We Got This Under Control!"

It's all bullshit.