It seems to me that the very last thing that the Obama Administration needs is to take over the Gulf Oil spill:
President Barack Obama should take over oil-spill cleanup efforts if the problem isn’t fixed by BP on Wednesday, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said this morning.
Nelson, whose home state of Florida stands to be severely affected by the massive ongoing spill in the Gulf of Mexico, said that the federal government should take control of operations from BP, which is attempting a “top kill” maneuver to halt the flow of oil.
“If this thing is not fixed today, I think the president doesn’t have any choice and he better go in, completely take over, perhaps with the military in charge, not because the military can do this, but the military has the apparatus, the organization by which it can bring together the civilian agencies of government and to get this thing done,” Nelson said Wednesday morning during an appearance on CNN.
The people in the White House don’t have the training, experience, or, frankly, the interest to tackle the management of the Gulf Oil spill. It’s not a job for amateurs and for good or ill all of the professionals are working for the oil companies. The expertise, methods, and materials required aren’t sitting around gathering dust somewhere and they’re not something you can play-act at.
No enemy could have made a more damaging suggestion.
I am glad they have resisted this impulse so far, especially since the right have been keeping up the Katrina comparison. Of note, Chu is a world class scientist and apparently a group he was part of did make suggestions BP found helpful. The ability to pull in world class scientists quickly to aid BP is probably the best role for govt. right now.
Steve