President Obama needs to create a "moon landing" project to take over the BP Oil Spill, or else...
joeranft.posterous.com
By Joe Ranft
May 26, 2010
(First of all, I'm a huge supporter of President Obama and have been since he gave his Democratic Convention speech in 2004.)
But I think President Obama is making a huge mistake by not responding with more authority to the BP Gulf oil spill. He needs to create a moon landing type project out of this problem now. Here's how:
1. Form a government/private sector task force with a prominent leader, either a retired corporate giant like Jack Welch, or a military leader like Colin Powell, or a senator like Sam Nunn. The leader must be somebody above reproach and bi-partisan who is known for leading and authority.
2. Put the BP corporate operations under this leader and task force. BP can have a seat at the table but they can no longer run the show.
3. Establish an open budget for the project. No solution can be too expensive.
4. Freeze BP's assets in the US until the leak is fixed and the cleanup is complete, with the understanding that they are out of business in the US if they don't pay every penny of the cost.
5. Assign every scientist in government and private sector who knows anything about this type of spill to the job of stopping the leak and then cleaning up the mess. This includes everybody in the military, the Department of Energy, other oil companies, universities, national and international experts.
6. Keep trying solutions to stop the leak until something works.
7. Hold daily press conferences on what is being done, what's worked, what hasn't worked, what's going to be done tomorrow.
8. Make it clear that there is no other priority in government until the leak is stopped and the clean-up has begun.
If President Obama does not move quickly, like this week, he is putting his presidency at risk. Here's why:
1. This really is a disaster worse than Katrina. I didn't believe it at first, but if you look at the scope in terms of size and time, this will linger as long if not longer than the problems of Katrina.
2. The optics are terrible. President Obama seems as if he does not care. It's been over a month, and he has been too quiet on the spill.
3. His current decision to leave it to BP plays into his critics who say he's a weak and indecisive leader, and a friend of oil.
4. Even after the spill is stopped, the aftermath will go on for years, well into his next election, and it will be easy to paint him as the person who allowed the Gulf of Mexico to be destroyed by big business.
5. He's at the risk of losing some of his most progressive supporters, especially environmentalist and alternative energy advocates.
6. It's just a very photogentic crisis, perfect for commercials. Obama's image will be tied to oil covered birds, fish, coral, shores.
7. It's the right thing to do, and if he doesn't do it, he'll deserve to lose his presidency. |
