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| Home Front: Politix |
| He was supposed to be competent |
| 2010-05-28 |
| Peggy Noonan, WSJ ...The original sin in my view is that as soon as the oil rig accident happened the president tried to maintain distance between the gusher and his presidency. He wanted people to associate the disaster with BP and not him. When your most creative thoughts in the middle of a disaster revolve around protecting your position, you are summoning trouble. When you try to dodge ownership of a problem, when you try to hide from responsibility, life will give you ownership and responsibility the hard way. In any case, the strategy was always a little mad. Americans would never think an international petroleum company based in London would worry as much about American shores and wildlife as, say, Americans would. They were never going to blame only BP, or trust it. I wonder if the president knows what a disaster this is not only for him but for his political assumptions. His philosophy is that it is appropriate for the federal government to occupy a more burly, significant and powerful place in America--confronting its problems of need, injustice, inequality. But in a way, and inevitably, this is always boiled down to a promise: "Trust us here in Washington, we will prove worthy of your trust." Then the oil spill came and government could not do the job, could not meet need, in fact seemed faraway and incapable: "We pay so much for the government and it can't cap an undersea oil well!" This is what happened with Katrina, and Katrina did at least two big things politically. The first was draw together everything people didn't like about the Bush administration, everything it didn't like about two wars and high spending and illegal immigration, and brought those strands into a heavy knot that just sat there, soggily, and came to symbolize Bushism. The second was illustrate that even though the federal government in our time has continually taken on new missions and responsibilities, the more it took on, the less it seemed capable of performing even its most essential jobs. Conservatives got this point--they know it without being told--but liberals and progressives did not. They thought Katrina was the result only of George W. Bush's incompetence and conservatives' failure to "believe in government." But Mr. Obama was supposed to be competent. Remarkable too is the way both BP and the government, 40 days in, continue to act shocked, shocked that an accident like this could have happened.... |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #9 And you're supposed to be less gullible, Peg. |
| Posted by: mojo 2010-05-28 14:21 |
| #8 So how come I don't have a column in the friggin Wall Street Journal? Because you are competent and don't drink the liberal kool-aid. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2010-05-28 12:54 |
| #7 Geez, I knew he was gonna be an incompetent amateur. I'd be grateful if that was the least of it. So how come I don't have a column in the friggin Wall Street Journal? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-05-28 12:20 |
| #6 As I recall we had a vice-presidential candidate who had in two of her previous offices had to deal with the Majors, and had developed a reputation of being hard-nosed in doing so, and had even sued BP when she was Governor of her state. And the character assasination against her NEVER STOPPED. And harrasment. And (should I say it?) what in a civilized society would have been seen as prosecutable barratry. We got stuck with the President BP wanted because they didn't want to deal with the governor who had sued them in previous years, and we never asked where all the money was coming from for the whisper campaigns. (Which, BTW, Noonan partook in). What's that old arcane saying? Connect the dots? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-05-28 11:39 |
| #5 She likes her grounds-keepers burly. |
| Posted by: Goober Goobelopolous 2010-05-28 10:40 |
| #4 ahhhh Peggy, you elitist twit. On what basis: resume, experience, positions, policy, did you deduct he would be competent? None. You were enthralled and feeling the "hope-and-change" moistness. STFU and acknowledge your hollow choice. As if he isn't living up to his creds. To paraphrase Dennis Green: "He is who we thought he was". You are the one in the wrong. *spit* |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-05-28 10:01 |
| #3 The idea of being lectured by this turn-coat Noonan on this of all subjects turns my stomach. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2010-05-28 09:58 |
| #2 Obama: Gov't in charge of oil disaster response WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama defensively and sometimes testily insisted on Thursday that his administration, not oil giant BP, was calling the shots in responding to the worst oil spill in the nation's history. "I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure this thing is shut down," Obama declared at a news conference in the East Room of the White House. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill dominated the hour-long session. |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-05-28 08:25 |
| #1 When your most creative thoughts in the middle of a disaster revolve around protecting your position, you are summoning trouble. Modus Operandi. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-05-28 08:07 |