Obama: Malia Asked "Did you Plug The Hole Yet, Daddy?"

President Obama turned personal at the end of his press conference today, saying his daughter Malia asked for an update this morning on the oil leak in the Gulf.

"You know, when I woke up this morning and I'm shaving, and Malia knocks on my bathroom door and she peeks in her head and she says, 'did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?'" he said.

The president went on to note that he "grew up in Hawaii where the ocean is sacred."

"And when you see birds flying around with oil all over their feathers and turtles dying, you know, that doesn't just speak to the immediate economic consequences of this," he said, "this speaks to, you know, how are we caring for this incredible bounty that we have?"

"And so, you know, sometimes when I hear folks down in Louisiana expressing frustrations, I may not always think that their comments are fair," continued Mr. Obama. "On the other hand, I probably think to myself, you know, these are folks who grew up, you know -- you know, fishing in these wetlands and, you know, seeing this as an integral part of who they are. And to see that messed up in this fashion would be infuriating."

"So the thing that the American people need to understand is that not a day goes by where the federal government is not constantly thinking about how do we make sure that we minimize the damage on this, we close this thing down, we review what happened to make sure that it does not happen again," he said.

The president said a crisis of this magnitude "forces us to do some soul-searching."

"In the meantime, my job is to get this fixed," he said. "And in case anybody wonders, in any of your reporting, in case you were wondering who's responsible, I take responsibility."

"It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down," concluded the president. "That doesn't mean it's going to be easy. It doesn't mean it's going to happen right away or the way I'd like it to happen. It doesn't mean that we're not going to make mistakes. But there shouldn't be any confusion here: The federal government is fully engaged. And I'm fully engaged."

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flipperjs says:: try plugging the one in his head; reply

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AlanW21126p says:: When his daughter asked that she was referring to the hole between his two ears. The hole that the breeze blows thru, in this brainless wonder.; reply

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RobAla says:

"In the meantime, my job is to get this fixed," he said. "And in case anybody wonders, in any of your reporting, in case you were wondering who's responsible, I take responsibility."

In breath he says he is responsible, and in the other he says BP is responsible. Actually, the laws indicate that the federal government has some responsibility to clean up after a disaster - and the truth of the matter is that only the experts at BP understand measures which may stop the leak. I'm not sure what the President told his daughter, and I am not really sure what he is saying to the American people. However, this is the truth of the matter.

Regarding "And so, you know, sometimes when I hear folks down in Louisiana expressing frustrations, I may not always think that their comments are fair,"

I am sure that President Bush felt comments about the situation with Katrina weren't fair. I am also sure that Democrat James Carvell's comment about the President ("you are leaving us here to die") are heartfelt. It will be interesting to see how history views both situations in years to come.


pasmalltown replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; "...and the truth of the matter is that only the experts at BP understand measures which may stop the leak."
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Really? So how do you measure this "truth" at the moment? Think BP is doing "everything" in their power to "plug the hole, daddy"???

What Obama really said is BP CAUSED this man-made disaster and must accept responsibility. And it wasn't mother nature causing a hurricane, so from that standpoint comparing Katrina to this spill are completely and historically separate. Likening ANY historical context(i.e. putting them both in one paragraph) between each president's lack of response to these separate events is recklessly obtuse and serves only to "muddy" the waters.

Changing gears alittle, putting your comments about Bush and Obama aside(in a truly bi-partisan fashion), can you tell us all why when private industry screws up it is the gov't "responsibility" to accept the blame and when things are going well, private industry complains about "too much" gov't oversight? The answer to this question may help everyone understand why it only appears that the fed gov't is "not doing their job".

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bassinapple says:

Barack Obama said that his daugher asks him every day "[d]id you plug the hole yet, Daddy?" If we apply the left's and the media's standards for Governor Palin and her children to Obama and his children, then the left and the media will have to denounce Obama for using his daughter as a prop because he mentioned her name. By the way, this post is not claiming that there is anything wrong with the former Trinity United Church of Christ congregant sharing a conversation he had with his daughter but is rather just pointing out the left's and media's hypocrisy when it comes to children.


pasmalltown replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; This "theory", aka opinion, you have about the media's hypocrisy has has "too many holes of histeria" to fill, therefore holds no water (or "oil" for that matter). Go back to helping Todd with the "fence" and your "stalker" theories.