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Political Hotsheet
Obama: We Will Fight Oil Spill With Everything We Got
Updated 9:21 p.m. Eastern Time
While the White House has bristled at comparisons to former President Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina, its aggressive response in recent weeks has signaled concern about potential fallout from its handling of the disaster.
AP
CBS
Mr. Obama's remarks come one day before he will sit down with Hayward and the Chairman of BP's Board, Cal-Henric Svanberg in Washington. At the meeting, he said, he would "inform" Hayward that "he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness."
Said a BP spokesperson following the speech: "We share the President's goal of shutting off the well as quickly as possible, cleaning up the oil and mitigating the impact on the people and environment of the Gulf Coast. We look forward to meeting with President Obama tomorrow for a constructive discussion about how best to achieve these mutual goals."
CBS
In his remarks Tuesday night, the president said he is committed to developing a long-term plan for the restoration of the Gulf Coast to address not just the Deepwater Horizon spill but the lingering effects of Hurricane Katrina and other disasters.
He said the plan will be overseen by Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy,working with state and local communities and businesses. "And BP will pay for the impact this spill has had on the region," he added.
Mr. Obama stood by his moratorium on offshore drilling despite calls from some lawmakers to lift the ban, which they said was further straining an already economically-ravaged region.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
President Obama sought to assure Americans Tuesday night that he and the federal government are doing everything they can to confront the still unfolding environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico - and channel the rage that many Americans are feeling toward BP and the other companies responsible for the oil leak that has been spewing for 57 days and counting.
"Make no mistake: we will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes," he said. "We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. And we will do whatever's necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy."
In his first Oval Office address, the president spoke in prime time for about 20 minutes about continuing efforts to stop the leak and limit the environmental and economic fallout, describing the leak as an "epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years."
He said Americans in the Gulf coast are feeling sadness and anger about the spill not just because of lost wages and opportunity but because of "a wrenching anxiety that their way of life may be lost."
He also announced that he is directing that a compensation fund be set up for workers and businesses harmed as a result of the leak. The fund will be administered by an independent third party in an effort to ensure that claims be paid in a "fair and timely manner."
Mr. Obama stressed that the fund will not be controlled by BP, but he did not specify how big it will be. On Monday members of Congress requested that BP put $20 billion into such an account as a "first step."
The president spent a significant portion of his remarks pressing for a transition away from fossil fuels, though, notably, stopped short of specifying what he would like to see in a climate and energy bill.
"Now, there are costs associated with this transition," Mr. Obama said. "And some believe we can't afford those costs right now. I say we can't afford not to change how we produce and use energy - because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater."
The speech marked the latest in the White House's effort to show leadership on the tragedy that has largely swallowed up the administration's agenda. After initially being criticized for alighting to closely with BP, the White House and Mr. Obama have turned increasingly critical of the company, with the president going so far as to say he would have fired BP CEO Tony Hayward.While the White House has bristled at comparisons to former President Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina, its aggressive response in recent weeks has signaled concern about potential fallout from its handling of the disaster.
Watch the Speech
Full Text of Obama's Speech
Pictures: Obama Visits the Gulf Coast
AP
The president returned to Washington for the Oval Office address after spending Monday and Tuesday meeting with officials and those affected by the spill on the Gulf coast. As part of his fourth visit to the region, he traveled to the Florida panhandle earlier Tuesday where he met with Gov. Charlie Crist and local officials about cleanup efforts that many have described as chaotic.
As he returned the government announced that it had revised its estimate upwards of how much oil is spewing into the Gulf. The new estimate is that as much as 2.5 million gallons are entering the Gulf every day - for a potential total of 143 million gallons so far.
That is 14 times the size of the Exxon Valdez spill, and reflects the belief that the decision to cut a riser in an effort to cap the leak increased the flow of oil by up to 50 percent.
CBS
Said a BP spokesperson following the speech: "We share the President's goal of shutting off the well as quickly as possible, cleaning up the oil and mitigating the impact on the people and environment of the Gulf Coast. We look forward to meeting with President Obama tomorrow for a constructive discussion about how best to achieve these mutual goals."
The president said Tuesday that nearly 30,000 people are working to combat the spill along with thousands of ships and 17,000 National Guard members deployed along the coast. He said more than 5.5 million feet of boom have been laid and that the government has approved construction of new barrier islands to slow down or stop the oil.
He added: "Because of our efforts, millions of gallons of oil have already been removed from the water through burning, skimming, and other collection methods." While more than 4.5 million gallons of oil have already been burned off the surface of the Gulf waters, however, that only amounts to about three days worth of the spill.
Mr. Obama said he expects BP to be capturing "up to 90 percent" of the leaking oil "in the coming weeks and days."
"As the clean up continues, we will offer whatever additional resources and assistance our coastal states may need," said the president. "Now, a mobilization of this speed and magnitude will never be perfect, and new challenges will always arise. I saw and heard evidence of that during this trip. So if something isn't working, we want to hear about it. If there are problems in the operation, we will fix them."
Chip Reid: Obama's "Battle" Metaphor Runs Into Problems
Mark Knoller: Obama Offers Strong Words But No Magic Formula
Daniel Farber: Obama Treads Water and Oil in the Oval Office
"Over the last decade, this agency has become emblematic of a failed philosophy that views all regulation with hostility - a philosophy that says corporations should be allowed to play by their own rules and police themselves," Mr. Obama said. He said Bromwich will work "to build an organization that acts as the oil industry's watchdog - not its partner."
CBS
He said the plan will be overseen by Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy,working with state and local communities and businesses. "And BP will pay for the impact this spill has had on the region," he added.
Mr. Obama stood by his moratorium on offshore drilling despite calls from some lawmakers to lift the ban, which they said was further straining an already economically-ravaged region.
"I know this creates difficulty for the people who work on these rigs, but for the sake of their safety, and for the sake of the entire region, we need to know the facts before we allow deepwater drilling to continue," he said.
The president noted that oil is a "finite resource" that Americans consume in far greater quantities than the country can produce, leading to negative consequences for the environment and economy.
"For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered," he said. "For decades, we have talked and talked about the need to end America's century-long addiction to fossil fuels. And for decades, we have failed to act with the sense of urgency that this challenge requires. Time and again, the path forward has been blocked - not only by oil industry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and candor."
"Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own destiny," he added, stating that "the one approach I will not accept is inaction."
"The oil spill is not the last crisis America will face," the president concluded in his remarks. "This nation has known hard times before and we will surely know them again. What sees us through - what has always seen us through - is our strength, our resilience, and our unyielding faith that something better awaits us if we summon the courage to reach for it. Tonight, we pray for that courage. We pray for the people of the Gulf. And we pray that a hand may guide us through the storm towards a brighter day."
In a statement following the speech, Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele accused the president of "manipulating this tragic, national crisis for selfish political gain," which he said "demonstrates President Obama's inability to aptly lead our nation out of a disaster, but also reveals the appallingly arrogant political calculus of this White House."
More Coverage of Obama's Speech:
Reaction: What Happened to Cap and Trade?
Sen. Vitter: Still No Urgency in Gulf Coast Response
Energy Reform Remains Stalled on Capitol Hill
Fact Check: Gaps in Obama's Oil Spill Speech
What Will Happen Next?
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daffy64 said, "This hardly bears comparison to Hurricane Katrina by the way. That was a natural disaster which FEMA was supposed to handle with taxpayers money. But, thanks to ill planning... "
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But that was the problem-- little, if any planning. Planning for emergencies and national response to disaster demands a federal-level integration of assets.
While the GOP is all in favor of the world's biggest national military budget-- and freely employs it around the world to "protect" American business-- it has no sense at all of protecting American shores from hurricanes of human folly.
In the years before Katrina, FEMA was left to neglect, as though God told Bush there never would be a flood in New Orleans. A major poobah in the GOP was heard to exclaim that FEMA proved government was a waste of taxpayer dollars-- although FEMA saved our posteriority during and after Hurricane Andrew and during the Clinton years.
In a sense, the problem of letting FEMA go to ruin through official indifference is exactly the same as letting BP abuse the natural wealth of the American people via GOP DEregulation. In essence, it is a lack of a sense of trusteeship.
Unregulated, rapacious capitalism destroys itself and society. Likewise, undemocratic government, however benevolent and no matter how well the trains run, is only tyranny.
To have the benefits of industry and democracy requires that "balance in all things" to which both philosophers and statesmen refer. Another word for keeping that balance is vigorous, vigilant regulation by a democratic government.
bcpats said, "He talks soooo tough - - I mean READS so tough - - talk is cheap and he is baffling with bs..."
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Talk is cheap? ("Baffling"?) Battling with "bs"? Is that why you posted your own comments? How do we tell the difference?
Look for the truth. Truthful words do make a vital difference, and Obama's words spoke to those who can hear.
Americans are finished with the cynical GOP posturing that left ruin and neglect behind for decades. Not only BP, but an entire history of GOP-sponsored disasters, from before Silverado Savings and Loan (Bush1) to Wall Street (Bush2).
And now, a gusher of BP greed in the Gulf of Mexico.
viper64a said, "What (Obama) did not say was that the Unions are one of the biggest obstacles in the USA return from this depression. Many jobs are being lost to foreign countries because of the Labor Unions and their greedy mentality... "
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Clearly, you have no hint of the importance of unions in rescuing this country from GOP-sponsored depression (yes, the Great Depression resulted from the GOP and Coolidge lessez faire, and a host of 19th-century policies).
Factory wages of the era would have kept workers as industrial serfs, had they lacked the power to bargain their way out of poverty.
All because the GOP and its greedy, abusive industrial patrons (same as today) did not wish to share the wealth workers invested and risked their lives to help create.
Of course, industrialists of that time knew how to collude and conspire in constraint of trade, and certainly how to bargain-- but only among themselves.
Typically, 19th and 20th century industrialists perpetuated and aggravated class warfare, and regarded American workers as their enemies.
They hypocritically opposed unions of Americans (collective bargaining) which also could negotiate for a decent wage and the same good living industrialists reserved for themselves and their own families.
This was their greed and anti-patriotism-- they saluted the flag, but worked hard to keep all other Americans in poverty.
But it did not work-- the union movement become the foundation for every American family to have a home of its own, a car, and an economic future. The American union movement built the middle class.
Today, around the world, unions make a critical difference in sharing the wealth they help create. And wherever where unions are banned, and where police break up union activity, even assassinating union leaders, workers remain industrial peons.
As your name indicates, you know all about the role of a viper. Drop the forked tongue-- the GOP partisan mythology about concentrating wealth in hands of a few-- and work with the rest of the country for recovery from the disaster your generation of vipers brought America.
Empire-George said, "The speech...Wow, talk about being out of touch with reality."
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How would you know? Why ask about Obama's sense of reality when your own is so clearly in doubt?
The GOP-- which said nothing critical about BP before the disaster, and little afterward-- had a starring role in industry criminal negligence and abuse through the GOP's policy of DEregulation.
When the crisis began, the GOP simply scurred for cover, only to emerge to criticize Obama-- not BP. In contrast to the GOP, Obama from the beginning understood the BP Gulf Gusher was entirely avoidable.
The GOP, itself, has been out-to-l;unch for decades, on the wrong side of many, if not most issues-- opposed to civil rights, environmental protection, and efforts at finding alternatives to punching holes in the gulf floor to find oil.
The GOP record on protecting America's natural environment is a lunar landscape of omission, indifference and neglect.
The GOP needs urgent, crisis intervention therapy. After eight years of Bush disasters, it is clear the GOP not only screws up in a major way on its own watch, but leaves so much delayed-effect disaster behind that George "I'll Be Gone by Then" Bush (actual Bush comment) gets the prize as The Master of Disaster.
Think of it-- it was not enough to foist on us the most massive political fraud in recent US history (Iraq and "WMDs"), not enough to let Afghanistan go to pieces while he planned Iraq, not enough to cancel US Army Corps of Engineers levee work around New Orleans one year before Katrina drowned New Orleans, not enough to bring us a wave of foreclosures more than two years out from the Wall Street crash of 2008.
Everything Bush and the GOP touched turns into a disaster-- Wall Street and the BP Gulf Gusher are the direct result of GOP DEregulation, a mythology run amok as public policy.
President Barak Obama is not a leader. He is nothing more than another politician in big oil's hip pocket.
CBS reports, "Of the risk (of using haphazard drilling methods), one BP Engineer, Brett Cocales, wrote: "who cares, it's done, end of story, will probably be fine."
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BP's "Gulf Gusher" recalls an old theme running through American history-- the robber barons who hijacked our laws and public policy to enrich themselves at our expense. Not merely hell-bent on gargantuan profits, BP is also a persistent theme of criminal indifference to the people of the United States.
It all goes back to The Best Congress Money Can Buy-- ours. We must ask, why pass laws which express, promote and safeguard the prosperity of the American people, and proceed to ignore them after a visit from a wealthy industry lobbyist, armed with only a checkbook?
The GOP mythology of DEregulation is case-in-point, and simple enough-- government regulations cost money, and accomplish "little good", so why not remove them? That would let private operators make more money, and everyone would live happily ever after.
But that is why it is called mythology-- if drilling with proper regulation disappoints the GOP, drilling without proper oversight (GOP DEregulation) delivers multiple disasters for the rest of us. Not only Wall Street fraud and collapse (the second-worst ever), but the Gulf Gusher (also, the second worst, ever) and decades of environmental damage to come..
To be sure, BP's (current) Gulf Gusher makes a good case, on its own, for vigorous public oversight of oil and gas drilling. It's clear much more than a simple BP promise "to be good" is required to protect our public lands from BP abuse, fraud, negligence and massive damage.
As the email from BP engineer Cocales reveals, to expect BP to work on public lands with due care has been a running joke at BP.
Likewise, day after day, new information reveals BP has only contempt for environmental safety and protecting the interests of the American people. As early as 1991, BP was cited as the worst pollution generator of the country-- bar none-- based on the EPA record of toxic releases into the environment.
Here are some other results for the GOP history of lax regulation-- In 2005, BP's Texas City refinery explosion killed 15 and injured 180, evacuating thousands of residents. In 2006, BP's Prudhoe Bay operation spilled repeatedly. And ever since its construction, BP has announced a series of spills on its Trans-Alaska Pipeline. At least one major Trans-Alaskan spill came after BP's decision not to inspect the pipeline for corrosion-- as in the Gulf of Mexico, BP had decided routine safety measures cost too much.
And now, in 2010, BP delivers the penultimate environmental disaster, all because BP had acquired the attitude it could get away with almost anything. Yes, BP has gotten OSHA and other fines through the years, but always with the same tender, loving restraint the GOP made sure applied to the Exxon Valdez tanker spill in 1989 (some 10 million gallons, roughly a week of discharge from the Gulf Gusher).
The Exxon Valdez case models how NOT to regulate BP, and industry, in general. After the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, the case went almost dormant as Exxon simply refused to pay its fine, pending appeal. And it always had an appeal running-- one observer cynically remarked Exxon knew it could make more from the money to be paid as a fine, so Exxon "borrowed" the money it owed and used it for company profits, rather than putting the money in escrow. To Exxon, a regulator penalty was simply the cost of doing business, and entirely negotiable.
And predictably enough, Exxon's battery of attorneys was cunning about negotiating judgments against the corporation. By fighting in the courts for years, Exxon eventually got a reduced penalty for the Exxon Valdez disaster-- as if the massive blow to nature in Alaska's Prince William Sound did not matter at all.
The end game for Exxon Valdez played out during the DEregulation-friendly Bush term. Originally, after the Exxon tanker ran aground in an avoidable collision, Exxon was hit with a $5 billion judgment by an Alaskan jury. With repeated appeals to Bush-era courts, that was reduced to only one-tenth of that figure. Exxon simply walked away.
Today, from Alaska's North Slope to the Gulf of Mexico, BP has made money hand over fist, heedless of public safety and the public interest in preserving the natural environment of all Americans. Clearly, BP now expects to fight for years in the courts to stifle any effort to bring justice, and has an excellent chance of repeating the offense of the scofflaws at Exxon.
See--
BP Amoco: Accidents Not Waiting to Happen
http://chemicallygreen.com/bp-amoco-accidents-not-waiting-to-happen/
Slick Operator: The BP I've Known Too Well
http://deadlinelive.info/2010/05/07/greg-palast-slick-operator-the-bp-ive-known-too-well/
Smart Pig: BP's Other Spill
http://www.gregpalast.com/
CBS reports, "... Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter said during an appearance on "The Early Show" that while he appreciated Mr. Obama's tone during his Oval Office address, he sensed no "absolute sense of urgency among many of the federal agencies that is clearly required."
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Sen. Vitter apparently has broken contact with his party and is prepared to deny the decades-long GOP record of favoring DEregulation for industry-- including BP.
And just in time-- his press secretary certainly did have enough of a "sense of urgency" to flip Vitter right-side-up on the BP crisis. Talk about running hard to reach the front of the parade, and "lead".
But this is only standard operating procedure for a political party in total disgrace-- everyone scatters, and knows nothing, saw nothing, and heard nothing. Nonetheless, the damning GOP record of neglect and indifference remains an indictment of GOP DEregulation policy.
"My client has done no wrong" simply will not do. We recall the desperate attempts Bush made to distance himself in public from one of his biggest patrons, Enron's Ken Lay ("Who?").
And from Jack Abramoff ("I don't recall meeting him.") after meeting him at the White House several times. (See-- http://citizen.typepad.com/watchdog_blog/2008/06/house-report-re.html)
Yes, Vitter hopes to armchair his way through this crisis-- the direct result of his own party's DEregulation policy-- serene in his profound political cynicism and hypocrisy.
Even if Vitter needed emergency attention from the Cleveland clinic, expect him to observe from his surgical gurney he notes "no absolute sense of urgency" from those bustling about him.
Predictably, nothing is good enough, for those up to no good, at all.
See--
BP Amoco: Accidents Not Waiting to Happen
http://chemicallygreen.com/bp-amoco-accidents-not-waiting-to-happen/
Slick Operator: The BP I've Known Too Well
http://deadlinelive.info/2010/05/07/greg-palast-slick-operator-the-bp-ive-known-too-well/
Smart Pig: BP's Other Spill
http://www.gregpalast.com/
Why are the conservatives the ones who are criticizing the feds for "not doing anything"?
Don't they believe in the private industry? Are they not the ones with more faith in private companies than elected officials? Do they not believe in deregulation?
Why spend hard-earned taxpayers money to clean up a private company's mess?
Shouldn't their slogan be "Obama, hands off the oil spill!!?
As the GOP views the crisis, accusing Obama of making the Gulf Gusher into a crisis dovetails neatly with the claim Obama is not taking the crisis seriously enough.
Will the real GOP please emerge from your oil slick?
"Hands off the private sector, you socialist!!!!!"
or
"Do something!!!!!"
He does nothing, he's incompetent. He does something, he's a socialist.
This hardly bears comparison to Hurricane Katrina by the way. That was a natural disaster which FEMA was supposed to handle with taxpayers money. But, thanks to ill planning, and an incompetent Bush crony (Brownie), turned into one of the most embarrassing episodes in American history.
BP's accident? The fault of the right's beloved private sector. Let them get mops and clean it up.
Long live capitalism and deregulation.
After all, I'm Canadian and we're by far your largest supplier of oil.
I think all Americans should buy a large pickup or Hummer and drive as much as they can.
Oh and thanks for paying for my free health care, by the way.
You buy our SUVs, we buy your oil. And when the fossil-fueled party is over, we can share the power generated by winds sweeping down from the north, mounting windmills on mountain ranges of oil shale debris, and run the power down to LA to illuminate riots over remaining gasoline, live on TV. (And who said NAFTA was worthless?)