About the Gulf spill
The Gulf spill has shown Obama at his feckless worst. Or, perhaps, its shown him at his Machiavellian best, using passive aggressive behavior to destroy big oil entirely. I mean, after this mess, who’s going to want to drill anywhere at all?
The Gulf spill is an environmental disaster (or opportunity), but am I the only one who is also concerned with the sheer waste? I mean, considering that everyone keeps telling us world oil supplies are vanishing, why does no one seem to be fussing about the fact that millions of gallons are simply being dispersed into nowhere? This kind of waste offends my thrifty soul, and is another reason why Obama should be soundly castigated for his inability to do anything but convene commissions and, as the wonderful Mark Steyn demonstrates, make arid, disconnected speeches:
What was it all the smart set said about Bush? Lazy and uncurious? Had Obama or his speechwriters chanced upon last week’s fishwrap, they might have noticed that I described the president as “the very model of a modern major generalist,” and they might have considered whether it might not be time to try something new. For example, he could have demonstrated, as he and his energy secretary (whoops, Nobel Prize–winning energy secretary) have so signally failed to do, an understanding of what is actually happening 5,000 feet underwater and why it’s hard to stop. Instead, lazy and uncurious, this is what the Technocratic Mastermind offered: “Just after the rig sank, I assembled a team of our nation’s best scientists and engineers to tackle this challenge — a team led by Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize–winning physicist and our nation’s secretary of energy. Scientists at our national labs and experts from academia and other oil companies have also provided ideas and advice.
“As a result of these efforts, we’ve directed BP to mobilize additional equipment and technology.”
Excellent. The president directed his Nobel Prize–winning Head of Meetings to assemble a meeting to tackle the challenge of mobilizing the assembling of the tackling of the challenge of mobilization, at the end of which they directed BP to order up some new tackle and connect it to the thingummy next to the whachamacallit. Thank you, Mr. President. That and $4.95 will get you a venti oleaginato at Starbucks.
