Atta Boy President Barack Obama

"Opinion"

08/30/2010

Paul Munnis


It is interesting on this fifth Anniversary of hurricane Katrina to compare the lack-luster performance of the GOP in the face of hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans with the international disaster that has fallen to Democrats to manage due to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the former, the GOP earned a black eye for poor management; while in the latter, the Democrats have distinguished themselves for their handling of the BP disaster, their mitigation of the effects of the oil spill, and their management of the huge logistical problem that resulted.

In the case of the Gulf Oil spill Democrats distinguished themselves while in the case of Hurricane Katrina the GOP embarrassed themselves and our nation, to the world.

Criticizing President Obama for his handling of the Gulf Oil Spill is disingenuous by the GOP because his critics are those same who supported then president G.W. Bush in his muffed handling of the conditions inside of New Orleans, especially within the Super Bowl sports stadium turned emergency shelter, the transportation mess that then resulted, the engineering snafus, and the failed rescue attempts that immediately followed Hurricane Katrina. These are well documented and are known to readers of TRD.

The Bush team managed to get little right, yet they tried to heap unjustified praise upon one another. Many can recall the statement: “Atta boy Brownie,” and recall the context. We can also recall a member of the Bush family applying a racial stereotype and slur directed at the black residents of New Orleans, so devastated, and who suffered so much loss of life and property. That was followed by the deployment of thousands of unsafe and unhealthy trailers for family living.

To voters who looked closely there were different motives at work. Democrats felt a sense of urgency to manage the problems promptly and by using BP’s on-scene expertise -- an expertise lacking within the U.S. Government.

Republicans criticized Obama for this, they opined that it was akin to letting the fox manage the chicken coop, but it turned out to be an exactly right decision.

A U.S. Government Administrative On Scene Commander was appointed: Adm. Thad Allen, (Retired) U.S. Coast Guard. This was a perfect choice and the outcome has been a calm, cool, collected, careful response to disaster management within the Gulf waters.

We congratulate Adm. Allen for bringing sunshine back to the dark moments of the Gulf by making a series of good logical calls that managed boating congestion, controlled the application of oil dispersant in a timely and proper manner, deployed thousands of boats skimming and cleaning up the oil plumes, managed to cap the well and plug it and has assured marine safety at all levels. Allen worked through engineering problems with the BP engineers to achieve a desired outcome.

Yesterday the President, upon the advice of government officials, opened another 4,750 miles of Gulf fishing grounds as “safe to operate.” That is a huge thing. To the chagrin of the critics of Obama the Gulf is free of large oil deposits. They have been cleaned up. As if in understanding and sympathy, nature is doing its job using sunlight and wind in cleaning up the remaining problems.

He was criticized for the use of chemical dispersant and it turned out the dispersant was a near miracle enzyme that eats oil and when its gone the enzyme goes dormant until such time as oil is found again then it activates itself, eats the oil molecule, and once more becomes dormant. In the dormant state is safe for fish and other environmental aspects of the ecology. It is also safe for humans. It has successfully disbursed millions of gallons of the Gulf oil spill not recovered by the skimming craft. Republicans criticized its use.

Obama is about to get another “Atta Boy” for his job in ending the Iraq War. He promised in the 2008 campaign to end this failed attempt by the Bush Administration to seize Iraqi Oil. Bush had compounded his mistake by an illegal invasion of Iraq based upon a false premise that the Bush Administration fostered of there being an imminent threat to the U.S. because of weapons of mass destruction located in Iraq. Bush even sent an envoy to the UN to lie to them on this matter.

Now Obama has kept his promise President Obama has turned that nation over to the Iraqi’s. He has left a training force of 50,000 in Iraq to train the Iraqi Army, and he has ended the war in Iraq. The damage done to the American Treasury and to international relations is huge. Hundreds of billions of deficit spending was the legacy of the Bush Administration. Obama has stopped the bleeding of our treasury to Iraq.

Obama has surely earned an “Atta Boy” on this Gulf BP disaster and another on ending the Iraq War.

Many of us think he deserves kudo’s for his handling of the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

Now, he needs to keep on with economic recovery but the GOP, complaining about the size of the deficit that they created, are denying him the needed resource to continue. In spite of that the Administration is using the remaining tools that they have to keep the U.S. fiscally afloat during this wicked recession.

No doubt about it -- Obama is the right man for the right job at the right time in history.

Obama and his able team are cleaning up multiple messes and disasters caused by GOP governance just as he has cleaned up the Gulf of Mexico.

Another example is the management of a trial capability for incarcerated terrorists that Bush hauled off to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, only to abandon them and deny them due process. Many have been imprisoned since 2001 when torture and abuse was used against the inmates. The result was that the Bush Administration created a recruiting tool for the Taliban and al Qaeda to use against the U.S. It has since become necessary to close Guantanamo Bay because of the world-wide diplomatic black eye that it has earned America as a hell hole.

President Obama is working on closing Guantanamo Bay but first he must craft a trial system for those imprisoned and that is in progress.

As always, the President gets the blame when things go bad and he gives the credit to his staff when things go right. This is much different from the prior occupant of 1400 Pennsylvania Avenue whose mode of operation was to attempt to heap praise on the Administration when it was unearned and unjustified. Many of us can recall for example the Bush landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier decorated with a banner that said: “Mission Accomplish” in reference to the Iraq War. Seven years later we were still at war in Iraq.

I want to take a moment to thank President Obama and his Administration for their stalwartness in the face of multiple disasters, praise his humility and determination in the face of daunting problems, and wish him good luck and God’s Grace in his pursuit of cogent change management executed on our behalf.

“Atta Boy” President Obama. If an election were held today you would have my vote.