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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (80213)	6/9/2010 8:52:57 AM
From: Sully-	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Butt Stops Here IBD Editorials Posted 06/08/2010 06:48 PM ET Leadership: The president says he went to the Gulf to find out whose derriere to kick. After he gets his foot out of his own mouth, perhaps he can talk to us about that Coast Guard memo. Scapegoating has become a hallmark of this administration. Certainly BP was responsible for the safe operation and maintenance of Deepwater Horizon. But after an accident in federal waters the federal government, which has a plan to save the entire planet from greenhouse gases, had no plan to save the Gulf from a single gushing well, with the possible exception of finger-pointing. In this administration, "BP" stands for "buck-passing." In an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer on Tuesday, President Obama said: "I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf. A month ago, I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain. ... We talk to these folks because they potentially had the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick." The talking heads were talking about the Gulf in the two weeks it took the president to make his first appearance there. But Fox News and talk radio had no fire booms to instantly deploy — booms the government was supposed to have, according to a 1994 plan. The president who has said he would not rest until the hole was plugged has had time to entertain celebrities from Bono to Paul McCartney, get in a few rounds of golf, [play lots of basketball], attend concerts and fundraisers, and even yuk it up at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. He did not have time, apparently, to expedite Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's request for additional sand berm construction. The president was quick, however, to send Attorney General Eric Holder to the Gulf to threaten BP oil executives with prosecution. On April 29, Jindal declared a state of emergency and begged federal officials for permission to build a network of sand berms to protect Louisiana marshes and beaches. A month later Jindal got permission to build 2% of the berms requested. British Petroleum has been accused of lying about or at least of not knowing the true extent of the disaster. But documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity shed new light on what the president knew, and when. Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has released documents indicating that on April 21, less than 24 hours after the BP rig exploded, the administration knew the magnitude of the disaster we were facing in the Gulf of Mexico. "Potential environmental threat is 700,000 gallons of diesel on board the Deepwater Horizon and estimated potential of 8,000 barrels per day of crude oil, if the well were to completely blow out," the Coast Guard logged in the immediate aftermath. Documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity show that within 72 hours, President Obama and his administration knew the BP spill could exceed the environmental damage caused by the Exxon Valdez running aground off Alaska in 1989. "Americans have a right to be enraged by the spill, by top government officials caught off-guard and by the facts the White House omitted in explaining what it knew and when it knew it," said Issa. They also have a right to be outraged by an administration that places blame instead of sharing it, and by a president who has time for commencements and fundraisers while passing the buck to a commission. .