Barack Obama's Address on the Gulf Oil Spill

The only thing I can say for certain is the speech was pure Barack Obama: light on pragmatism, heavy on fantasies about a future utopia.

I counted a little over six minutes out of a nearly twenty minute speech in which Obama actually spoke at all about clean up plans. Some of that was the equivalent of, “Hey, if anyone else has ay ideas, let me know. Even if you are one of those racist Republicans.”

I am not one of those conservatives who rails against regulation of private industry, then demands the government step in to clean up any mess private industry makes. I do not want BP nationalized or even necessarily shunned from future government contracts as long as it takes steps to not repeat the accident that caused this spill. But I do think the president ought to take a less flippant attitude about the spill.

It is not the equivalent to 9/11. The terrorist attack on 9/11 murdered nearly 3,000 people and launched this country into what will likely be a multigenerational war. The oil spill is an environmental catastrophe that requires pragmatic thinking from people who know what they are doing. What it does not need is a president making false comparisons for cheap political points, particularly when progressives have criticized conservatives for making 9/11 connections far more accurately, or looking for an a-- to kick, or using the disaster to pitch his fantasy of alternate energy resources.

It is this fantasy that alternate energy is going to replace fossil fuels any day now as long as we throw money we do not have into uncertain research that took up the bulk of his speech. Such is Obama’s problem--he is big on grandiose ideas, but terribly weak on practical solutions for issues facing us right now. That would be great if he was science fiction novelist. Unfortunately, he is the president instead.

But like Rahm Emanuel said, one should never let a crisis go to waste. Obama is taking advantage of the oil spill to push for clean energy legislation which is not likely to go anywhere. But at least hefeels like he is doing his part to bring about his own vision of utopia.

If he cannot bring about said paradise, t least he can take away some of BP’s cash, put it in an escrow account, an hand it out to whichever private citizens the government thinks ought to get it. Perhaps that will placate his wealth redistributing urge for a while.

UPDATE: MSNBC is also unimpressed. Welcome back, Carter!

UPDATE II: Does Obama want the oil spill to be his 9/11?