OK: Outside of yelling at the oil companies on camera,

Just EXACTLY is the Prez supposed to DO about this fucking mess???

We DON'T have anything in the armed forces that can work at that depth.......Which amazes me, but I digress...

What, besides a daily press briefing can he do?????

I got nothing.

He could stop the use of the dispersants.....Maybe contact the French and see if we can used thier deep water rig....Mebbe he's done that.....

But short of loading a MOAB into a hole next to the gusher and setting the motherfucker off (which, ironically might open other wells in the area......rofl..)

I dunno what to do.

I feel like this is going to fuck up this planet forever. Fucking oil. \


Fucking oil.

It's my biggest hope right now.

If he won't even step up and do that much then -- to me -- he's as useful as tits on a bull.

...giving speeches and hosting dinners.

He could declare BP a criminal corp and let the gov't take over operations. Scientists and oil engineers could solve this - I've heard from an oil business friend that Saudi's Aramco has even offered to help.

seem to work for oil companies.

...the oil companies have some of the best engineers in the country - the problem is, BP is worrying about liability, not saving the Gulf. Obama is enabling BP at this point.

"More than a week into their quest to stop the oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico from a damaged BP well, several dozen of the brightest minds in the engineering world gathered to watch a 100-ton failure unfold in slow motion.

The engineers packed into a repurposed research center dubbed the Hive, which houses a dozen video screens and, most days, about as many scientists."

and



"Hundreds of engineers from universities, rival oil companies and the federal government immediately went back to work, in shifts lasting 13 hours or more."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-houston-20100522,0,3428621.story

The answer is: never drill like this again. This is what happens when you have a leak this deep. And when you get the govt. to not regulate you.

The Gulf is screwed. It is over. I don't get why people don't get this. The damage in beyond done. The govt. can do very little. BP officials know they are screwed and that there is not a real answer. They are trying anything to see if it "sticks". The "top kill" method may work. Let's hope it does. It is that or the relief well in two months. There is no conspiracy to stop the leak...they have not been able to stop it. Which makes me more scared. Drilling in water at this depth, where it is hard to do things at the bottom of the ocean, is what has hampered their efforts. Are they assholes? Yes. Have they tried to censor the journalists? Yes. Do they have a solution? No one really knows, because no one has ever attempted something like this before. And we should never have to do this again. The technology BP has tried to use has never been used at this depth. Because this is bordering on insanity, like some adventure into who knows where. Their adventure into the unknown has had incredible consequences. If it makes you sleep better at night to know that govt. is running it fine...but the technology to stop the leak has not kept up with the technology drill that far down in the ocean.

Do people here not get that?
It is experimental science. The govt. would use the same scientists and engineers. It is not that BP won't stop the leak, it is that the technology for stopping it is limited. That makes me more angry. Doesn't it make you pissed off? Off shore drilling this deep has huge consequences. So does the lack of regulations. Salazar is to blame for not fixing this after Cheney made the MMS a mess. But the govt. may take over tomorrow and the same problems will still be there to stop the leak.

It is still a guess.

He is not Superman, but he seemingly is surrounded by Lex Luthors.

Our EPA let BP use dispersants that are so toxic they're illegal in BP's country - that's astounding!

KO had a segment tonight about BP not letting wildlife workers try to save the animals - only BP's contractors are allowed.

Obama is not Superman, he's the president - but he's acting powerless.

BP is contracting the oil cleaning but they are using TriState which is a premier oiled animal cleaning wildlife rehab organization. They are one of two organizations that do this and train others to do it. It is not cheap to do either and they ARE footing the bill. I have taken the 4 hour hazmat class needed to do the most safe work around the chemicals in the spill. I will need a 24 hour hazmat course before I can do wildlife cleaning unless a waiver is given if it gets bad.

The last thing they need is a bunch of people becoming ill because they don't have the necessary knowledge re the chemicals in the oil and how to protect themselves and causing even more of a mess not knowing how to properly dispose of the water with oil and detergent used to clean the animals.

That being said, Fish and Game in the states affected should be able to set up stations also and commence the cleaning if and when it gets really bad with oversight by people who have dealt with prior spills and have experience .

...the numbers of birds and other wildlife - the numbers having an impact on their liability.

that will be helping with the cleaning if a large amt of animals come in and need help and they won't keep quiet.

...they're own contractors near the sites.

tristate who are experts in cleaning birds. I do wildlife rehab. If it gets worse and they need more people tristate will train me to be osha compliant and in specific cleaning techniques and I will go clean birds. I nor any rehabber I know would keep our mouths shut. We are all animal advocates. During the exxon spill many of my rehabber friends went to Alaska to clean animals under tristate.
Here is the florida wildlife rehab association statement on it. They monitor everything they clean and keep records that can be used for evidence.
http://www.fwra.org/

Or are you talking just in speeches?

Why should he neglect the rest of his duties over this? The real ones that he has some real role in?

Aramco is a foreign corporation - how is the POTUS supposed to make that happen? Let BP do it.

It is not finding a solution to "stop" the leak that is the issue, it was the explosion to begin with. To me, the disaster was inevitable the minute that happened. The fact that this leak has been impossible to stop is precisely what is wrong with the regulation of off shore drilling and off shore drilling itself. No one should ever drill this deep. It makes stopping a leak near impossible.
The worst case solution: the relief well takes two more months. And that may be end up being the best case scenario. The U.S. military does not have the skills to do anything at that depth. So why would they be any better?

...fire all 1700 employees at MMS and fire Salazar.

For starters.

End both wars, right now, too, he can do that from the Gulf tent.

FWIW, I think he's doing a pretty good job.

What a clusterfuck mess he has to deal with, on top of the rest.

:patriot:

But it is also his mess to deal with.

I mean the amount of absolute bullshit and horror???

n/t

:hi:

:P

He just can NOT win, with some folks.

:hi:

If one exists and the drill shaft can withstand the pressure from the gyser.....

I'm sure he does. Anything right now is a better plan than what BP seems to have.

Meh, I almost said 'other nations' but why bother?

He could have a press conference - which will immediately stop the leak.

He could "get a bunch of really smart guys together" - which will immediately stop the leak.

He could stop listening to anything BP has to say - which will immediately stop the leak.

He could move the White House to a temporary location on the Gulf - which will immediately stop the leak.

Isn't it obvious that HE COULD STOP THE LEAK if he really wanted to? The well thought out solutions abound here today - WHY is Obama not taking any of them seriesly?!!??!!

Maybe if he stuffed a thousand oil executives into the well...............

I think you're onto something there ...

You are being ridiculous.

She is using a common method to create wry comedy; she is exaggerating what has actually been suggested to the point of rediculousness to get her point across....I got it, too bad you don't.

No one actually said those things would stop the leak. They were simply replies on threads that asked "What Do You Think the Gov't Could Do to Stop the Leak, But Isn't Doing?"

I understand the - uh - difference.

that I want to see. I am reading there are booms on the docks not deployed, officials in Louisiana who begged for berms/levys to be laid down in front of the marshes which could have been done by our military and prevented most of the oil saturating miles of marsh that is now gone for good, i read that the Dutch had skimmer ships in the area but they suck up oil and water and separate most of the oil and the water goes back into the gulf(with not all the oil extracted) but our EPA said that was not acceptable at the time, well now it ought to be.

I see stuff spewed in the water that is banned in the UK used while safer options are available and now only a whole month later something is done about it.

There are a million little things that can help mitigate the damage to the coasts sure to happen that can be done while the experts work on stopping the leak. Give the populace who do really want to help something to do. Be proactive. If the gulf stream will be sending the oil to certain areas first, send the corps of engineers to see what can be done to mitigate the damage that is going to occur. Every little bit would help esp in the estuaries that are nurseries for the fish all along the coast. Build the damn berms near the mangroves down by the Keys, hell I am not an expert but there has to be a ton of stuff that can be done. They need to be proactive. I am not seeing not one proactive thing happening and I am reading everything I can find about this leak as I love where I live and this is personal.

the President just have a ton of our Navy ships out there dropping huge quantities of concrete on it because that would stop it.

It is a mile down, there are ocean currents, etc.

It is friggin pathetic. People want to act like there is some easy f#$king solution and the President just isn't doing it. There isn't an easy solution. Gawd. I under stand the frustration.

I think one reason the President isn't saying more is because he doesn't think it helps to advertise his powerlessness in the face of this crisis. Advertising that fact IS NOT HELPFUL to the Country, to the problem, to himself personally. It accomplishes nothing. He can go out and "take charge" but he and we are still in the same friggin situation except he's just placed an enormous target on himself instead of BP to take the blame.

he can wave his magic wand and solve every problem?

In the grand scheme of things, however, loss of land and marine habitat, clear-cutting forests, limited freshwater supplies, mining of the fish in the oceans, agricultural runoff, mining other stuff on land, global warming, huge trash dumps, millions of tons of chemicals produced annually and going who knows where...

We already fucked up the planet, so don't blame it on one oil spill.

plan....

It isn't an accident that my wife and I have owned a car for 5 of the last 30 years.

She inherited one this year that I am merrily on my way to killing.

I swear I could come to DU and find a thread bitching that this is Obama's fault and he's doing nothing about it five minutes after the discovery.

... :rofl:

THAT post sums up what's going on here perfectly!

on day two there would be fifty threads quoting articles by Glenn Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, and Cenk Uygur explaining WHY it's Obama's fault and proving he's doing nothing about it.

... the people who post those threads now are the same people who have traditionally warned us NOT to listen to Greenwald, Hamsher and Uygur in the past.

Funny how certain "journalists" are to be dismissed or taken as valid, depending on whether they support a poster's current thoughts on an issue.

nothing, really, but consume and regurgitate whatever fits their whim........

... (but I'll mention it anyway) those who talk about marching in lock-step - as they march away in what looks for all the world like lock-step formation.

Hey, go figure ...

flex lock step

I swear I could come to DU and find a thread bitching that it isn't Obama's fault five minutes after the video aired.

And there were people eating that shit up, too.

Or manslaughter.

Or murder.

11 people lost their lives, and the fumes will kill more....mark my words....

I will be fucking MAD if I must pay for this colossal fuckup... Fuck that.

I say we nationalize the motherfuckers right now.

and put taxpayers on the hook for everything else:

http://planetsave.com/blog/2010/05/21/breaking-taxpayer-bailout-for-bp/

plus other media accounts, BP is presently in charge of everything: plugging the gusher, placing the booms, etc.

Why not:

A. Have BP concentrate on plugging the leak (IF that's even possible), turn cleanup and containment over to the Govt. entity best equipped to deal with it, but hold BP responsible for costs involved.

B. Require that all lab tests be done by an independent lab.

C. Require that reporters have unfettered access to the area.

D. Require that BP provide complete transparancy and share all info with the Govt.

E. Direct DOJ to start a criminal investigation of BP.

F. Require all emergency workers be equipped with respirators, Hazmat suits, and any other gear necessary to protect them.


It's painfully obvious that the Govt does not have the ability to stop the leak, but there are things it can do, but it needs to happen YESTERDAY.

up the oil. He could call for the nation Guard to begin cleaning up the coast. He could bring in experts to prepare solutions and plans not just rely on BP to do it. He could halt the use of dispersants that are as bad as the oil.

so a sand berm could be built to block the oil from the marshes. Local government officials have been asking for approval for literally weeks. The Coast Guard admits it would help. Still nothing is done. This is Obama's crisis. And it pains me to say he isn't handling it any better than Bush handled Katrina.