It sure looks that way. Ed Morrissey cites a Center for Public Integrity report that finds the Coast Guard, whose budget was slashed by a third under Obama, so badly botched the response to the explosion (not even following their own guidelines for such responses) that their actions probably caused the rig to sink, which in turn caused the leak.
No wonder they’ve been wanting to “keep their boot on BP’s throat.” They can’t blame Bush for this.
But don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll do a great job running the country’s health care system.
Obama’s Katrina: Did Admin Policies/Incompetence Cause The Oil Spill?
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7 responses to “Obama’s Katrina: Did Admin Policies/Incompetence Cause The Oil Spill?”
Socialists worry? They are convinced everything is caused and the responsibility of capitalistic others.
Yeah, if they didn’t have any opponents they would never fail at anything.
Yeah, the government caused the blowout…yeah, that’s the ticket.
Yeah, the rig sinking caused the well, which had already blown out, to leak . . .yeah, that’s the ticket.
It’s all the Coast Guard’s fault. And those socialists tried to pin it all on poor BP.
I’d say you better brush up on your oil well drilling basics, you and “Captain Ed” both. C’mon Dave, don’t be a dumbass.
DB,
It’s better to read links before commenting on them. The Coast Guard failed to follow a guideline specifically intended to prevent firefighters from sinking rigs in exactly this kind of situation.
TallDave (long time no see), the point about how the leak got started is true, and DB apparently didn’t do his reading. DB: the leak came from a break in the pipeline after the platform sank. Mmmkay?
DB missed an easy shot by not reading the links, else he would have noticed that the budget cuts specified (http://blog.heritage.org/2010/03/11/coast-guard-deserves-more-than-a-thank-you/) were proposals for FY 2011. Even Ed missed that one, even if the link originated from a different blog. The cuts haven’t occurred yet.
Still, Ed seems to have been on the mark when he highlighted how the Coast Guard failed to follow proper procedure while fighting the fire.
Disasters like this generally follow from complex origins, and the temptation to assign quick’n’dirty blame is usually overwhelming. I cite events after Hurricane Katrina in evidence. 🙂 I wonder what original poster Dave has to say about the fact that his statement that “the Coast Guard, whose budget was slashed [note use of past tense while referring to a future budget proposal] by a third under Obama” just isn’t true?
Casey,
It’s a fair point on the wording of the post (I’m the original poster too); it would have been more accurate to say Obama slashed their “proposed budget” — but like proposed tax changes, proposed spending cuts do actually have an immediate impact, as people in any organization have to make decisions now based on future budget expectations. FY 2011 starts in a couple months, so they would have been about, what, six months out at the time of the explosion? It’s conceivable they cut back on training with the thinking those people would soon be laid off anyways. (And you can bet your last dollar that if this had happened on Bush’s watch, we’d get nonstop MSM coverage of how his proposed cuts had crippled morale, chased out qualified personnel, and contributed to the sinking.)
I agree completely that incidents like this have dense causality, but I want to be sure Obama is forced to shoulder his fair share of blame for once.
Oh, so we have one of those geeky/cool “multiple-identities” things going on. 🙂
It’s true that President Barry seems more than content to slash every military budget in the future. I just objected to the apparent claim of cause & effect in this case.
It is also self-evident that the Coast Guard either dropped the ball, or was prevented from catching the ball. I don’t even want to think about that pathetic “fire extinguisher” requirement. Add the Jones Act fiasco, the EPA’s concern about the “environment impact” of sand berms (CLUE: ten million gallons of oil in the Gulf!), refusal of boom materiel which was allegedly not up to standards (better is the enemy of good enough), and the (again) EPA refusal of Dutch filtering craft because the outflow wasn’t 15 ppm freaking pure.
Hold one; time for a cold beer. Ahhh. Much better.
I’m still torqued, but there’s a lot to lay at the door of this administration. I objected to how the MSM treated Bush with respect to Katrina, so I’ll object to similar claims with respect to Barry. As you say, his administration should shoulder some blame for this one.
Still, it’s sad that DB completely screwed the pooch on this one. There are few things more pathetic than an incompetent loyal opposition… 🙂