White House Dismisses Katrina/Oil Spill Comparison

AP

Nothing will get you a faster argument from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs than to liken President Obama's handling of the BP oil spill to President Bush's flawed response in 2005 to Hurricane Katrina.

"Other than geography, I haven't figured out how," Gibbs says of anyone making such a comparison.

Katrina proved to be a political calamity for Mr. Bush that will forever mar his legacy. The current White House wants no such parallels drawn to its management of the oil spill.

"We're dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster," Mr. Obama declared yesterday after getting an update on the spill at the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Venice, Louisiana.

To counter comparisons with Katrina, Mr. Obama declared "that's why the federal government has launched and coordinated an all-hands-on-deck, relentless response to this crisis from day one."

He made the reference to "day one" three times in his 8-minute statement - to make the point that by no means was the administration slow to respond to the spill. Among the references:

• "We've made preparations from day one to stage equipment for a worse-case scenario."

• "I want to emphasize, from day one we have prepared and planned for the worst, even as we hoped for the best."

He twice used the word "relentless" to describe the government response to the spill.

"I'm not going to rest," the president said yesterday standing unprotected in a pouring rain, "until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil on the Gulf is contained and cleaned up, and the people of this region are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods."

Mr. Obama says U.S. personnel "are doing everything in their power to mitigate this disaster, prevent damage to our environment, and help our fellow citizens."

As for the costs of the response, he is emphatic.

"Let me be clear: BP is responsible for this leak; BP will be paying the bill," he said. Even so, he said he won't spare any effort in responding to the crisis.

Above all else, the White House wants the strength of its rhetoric to be seen as reflecting the depth of its commitment to plug the leak and contain the spill and damage.

As for parallels to Katrina, "I'm happy to compare the response," Gibbs said on Air Force One as Mr. Obama's returned from his hastily-arranged visit to the gulf coast.

Gibbs concedes that like Katrina, the oil spill is "a situation of great potential environmental and economic devastation."

But he said "analogies are tougher to make" because Katrina was "a storm that you track for several weeks that comes ashore and kills 1,800 people." On the other hand, Gibbs makes the "day one" argument: that the Coast Guard and the Navy were "on site immediately after" the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig from which the oil spill began.

And, he says, the administration is doing everything it can.

It's a case the White House will be making over and over until the underground gusher is plugged and the spill is contained.

Special Section: Gulf Coast Oil Disaster
Oil Spill by the Numbers
Gulf Oil Spill Containment Efforts

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Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/markknoller.

[Patriotsson]

Pres. O couldn't do anything about this spill because he can't do anything about anything except community organizing. You can't blame a man for not doing something when he doesn't have the capacity to do that thing. Let the professionals clean up the mess and let the Politicians do what they do best - blah, blah, blah...blow alot of hot air around D.C., grow government and make the common man's life miserable. Now there is something that President Obama can do well. Have any of you tried to build a house lately, the red tape, the bureaucrats, the layers of plan checkers, inspectors, city, county, state, National Codes, the costs and the delays are unbelievable. It wasn't so long ago that this was a free country, ummm... those were the days!

[MediaMadness]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126468782
_____________________

You 2 Hate Mongers are Pathetic..

Its BP-Haliburton's Fault and Responsibility..Period, Harp On about Pres.Obama, if that makes You Feel Better.

April 20: Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes off Louisiana coast. Eleven workers missing and presumed dead.

April 22: Rig sinks.

April 23: Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry says no oil appears to be leaking from the undersea wellhead or at the water's surface.

April 24: Leak reported; oil is estimated to be leaking at the rate of 1,000 barrels a day.

April 29: Coast Guard says leak may be five times greater than earlier estimate: 5,000 barrels a day. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declares state of emergency.

May 1: Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen is named national incident commander.

May 2: President Obama visits Coast Guard station in Venice, La.

May 3: BP CEO Tony Hayward tells NPR his company will pay for the cleanup and any "legitimate" legal claims.

[SpankySpankster]

The only "Day One" I care about is January 3, 2011.

That's when the 112th Congress will be sworn in, marking the beginning of the end for the Democrat Plantation.

[bassinapple]

It took Pres. Obama nine days to comment, and twelve days to visit. Pres. Pres Bush spoke on Katrina after four days. More evidence of media bias.

[MediaMadness]

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201005030011

Glenn Beck: This is Not President Obama's fault, But How will This Administration Use This Catastrophy

Note: A Great Big First, In Glenn Beck And AM-Hate Radio History !!

Beck: Is this Barack Obama's Fault ? [No]

Beck: NY Times says,this is Barack Obama's Katrina [No]

Beck: Was This Barack Obama's Katrina For Not Knowing the Rig was Going to [Blow Up !!]

Beck: For Not Going in and Saving it Fast Enough ?

Beck: "Was Barack Obama suppose to Call in a Swat Team within the First 15 Minutes [No] Its Unreasonable to me"

Beck still, has to put the Ole Glenn Beck Conspiracy Slant On it.
__________________

Elizabeth, I'm Coming Home To Join You Honey, Glenn Beck Sounds Reasonable, Though with his Own Propagandist Slant.
_______________________

Bush Got the [Patriot Act Passed] & Invaded Iraq, Based On [911]

[Cattzen]

Create a (man made) disaster, raise the price of Oil, curtail a pending expansion of offshore drilling (that would increase production lowering the price of Oil), increase government $pending, and?.Attack the current Presidential Administration in effort to gain political support for the GOP that, at this point has nothing to run on.

GOP = Disaster.

[Leaderless]

Well Mr. president, you claimed that you're on the job since day one and now it's a major disaster, that says a lot about your executive/management skills........or lact there of.
Heck of a job there barack, mission accomplish.

[Leaderless]

obwan222, obamas playbook is to blame Bush for everything!! Have you forgotten?

[whosaid1]

Well, this is not earth shaking news....did anyone think Mr. Gibbs would say anything else.....??