June 15, 2010

Let's watch Obama's big speech.

7:06: He's laying out a "battle plan" to fight the leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. He's "deploying" the military.

7:08: What to do during the "siege." A decision has been made to speak in military terms. Of course, he's not the first President to ask us to think about a nonmilitary problem in military terms. The War on X... the moral equivalent of war....

7:12: To make sure this won't happen again, Obama is establishing a commission.

7:15: We need to "jump start" the "clean energy" future. There's "the potential" to create "millions of jobs" but "only" if we "act together." We need to do something big at the national level to make this happen. Some people say we can't afford this, but he's saying we can't afford not to do it. He's vague about what this will be. The only thing he won't accept is doing nothing. He won't accept the "paltry limits of conventional wisdom." So even though we don't "precisely know" what we need to do, we will do it. Like we did in WWII and in going to the moon. We'll do something. And it will have to be big, but we don't know what it is. Then he drops from that scarily high level of abstraction and the unknown to... shrimpers. Something about shrimp people. We must think BIG and... shrimpy.

7:20: And suddenly, it's getting religious. I think he's bringing this speech in for a landing, because... it's a bit prayer-like. There's a "hand" that will "guide us." And — yes — it is the end: "May God bless America."

7:26: Well, that was a terrible speech! When it wasn't grim and dreary, it was grandiose. But the grandiosity was so vague... and half-hearted. Oh! The malaise!

AND: Here's the text of the speech. This is the part that interested me most:
As we recover from this recession, the transition to clean energy has the potential to grow our economy and create millions of jobs -– but only if we accelerate that transition.  Only if we seize the moment. And only if we rally together and act as one nation –- workers and entrepreneurs; scientists and citizens; the public and private sectors.  
This is the anti-capitalist move. There is all this opportunity, but free enterprise and capitalism can't take advantage of it. We need a top-down, government-imposed scheme, he announces. He doesn't explain why. It's an article of faith.
Now, there are costs associated with this transition [towards energy independence].  And there are some who believe that we can’t afford those costs right now.  I say we can’t afford not to change how we produce and use energy....
This is such embarrassing cliché rhetoric: Some say we can't do it. I say we can't not do it.


He cites a bunch of modest ideas that have been suggested and says we should think about them, then says that we have to do something, even though you could take all those things together, impose them, and still not break what he calls our "addiction" to fossil fuel. He blathers about WWII and the moon landing -- as noted above --  and talks about "what has defined us as a nation": "the capacity to shape our destiny....  Even if we’re unsure exactly what that looks like.  Even if we don’t yet know precisely how we’re going to get there.  We know we’ll get there." That is so hopelessly grandiose and vague, and to keep us from looking at it too long and despairing, he's all: Look! Shrimp!
Each year, at the beginning of shrimping season, the region’s fishermen take part in a tradition that was brought to America long ago by fishing immigrants from Europe.  It’s called “The Blessing of the Fleet,” and today it’s a celebration where clergy from different religions gather to say a prayer for the safety and success of the men and women who will soon head out to sea....
It's the shrimp and religion combo platter. Yummy!

246 comments:

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Anonymous said...

President Biden!

Anonymous said...

Here I wrote a poem:


Lem seems to be dancing around

waiting for someone to raise his fist

and say "let us take it back"

so Lem can say "YES! LET US TAKE IT BACK!"

but no one will do that

because they are too afraid of The Man.



It's just a poem. Nothing more.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I'll give Seven his due. I'll admit it. He's been hilarious tonight. I liked the part about the locked access to the Blogger profile.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Ritmo. And, just so you know, I do appreciate your presence. This place would be dead without the left-right dynamic.

george said...

If there is anything useful to our country that Obama understands he has yet to show us what it is.

This has been obvious from the start to anyone paying attention. The oil spill just drives the point home to the slow learners.

If Bush or even Palin were in charge we would have help from Denmark and England on site, we would have barriers set up and we would still be drilling instead of sending our rigs to Brazil to make us even more dependent on foreign oil. We would also have been less likely to have a eco-tard running the agency responsible for checking these wells, and we would be drilling in Alaska and using shale oil instead of having to drill this deep before the technology is fully ready.

bagoh20 said...

No, it's not about impeachment it's about the public demanding better. And not better bullshit - better solutions and some depth of field beyond the end of the Presidents little circle of idealogs. The right is all over him, but the left is letting terrible performance fly because he not Bush.

It's starting now, with MSNBC's meltdown tonight, but they're still stuck on style, ignoring substance and believing he's just not saying the right things in the right way.

Anonymous said...

A hell of a lot of leadership boils down to saying the right things in the right way, and at the right time.

That said, policy matters, too -- more -- and Obama is terrible on both counts.

el polacko said...

i'm not a big fan of replies to the lefty nags on comment threads, but i've got to give a tip of the hat to tyrone for blasting holes through beth's blame game tonight. all that 'evil, profiteering, capitalist corporation' stuff is soooo tiresome.

Anonymous said...

Polacko -- I'm a conservative who is strongly libertarian. Nobody beats me in the get-government-out or free-the-entrepreneurs categories.

That said, seriously, dude. What the fuck? Are you honestly arguing that the entity responsible for this epic disaster should not pay for the damages wrought by their negligence? That's insanity.

Beth has not said that BP is evil. She has said that they should pay because they fucked up. And she made a great point: if they didn't fuck up -- if this is the kind of thing that just happens sometimes -- then we would be morally wrong and utterly crazy to allow any underwater drilling for oil whatsoever.

Get your head out of your ass, man. Come on.

Christy said...

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what happened. Forgive me Beth, but I'm not entirely trusting of those media stories.
They may be entirely true, but we still have much to learn and evil corporations are always good for selling papers.

Who is BP's designated inmate? Corporations subject to EPA regulations must designate an Environmental Manager - the guy that goes to jail if the corporation fails in its environmental responsibilities. It is inconceivable to me that this person, who usually sits not far beneath the CEO in corporate structure, did not have policies and protocol upon protocol in place to prevent this kind of problem. How in depth were their back-up plans?

BP knows too well their liabilities in such a situation to have cavalierly used unproven shortcuts.

Who made the mistakes and did they ignore corporate policy? Is a half million a day enough to have made the BP powers that be take a chance?

Revenant said...

If there wasn't negligence, then we will have to stop at least deep water drilling. If this kind of disaster could occur within a best practices, rigorously safe environment, then we're screwed.

There are possibilities beyond "they were negligent" and "drilling is unavoidably risky". There is at least one other possibility, which is that our understanding of how such wells could be drilled and capped safely was mistaken.

This much is a given: BP will be found to be negligent. When a disaster of this magnitude strikes, a scapegoat is required. Even if BP wasn't negligent (and I share your opinion that they probably were), they will be FOUND negligent by the government. The alternative, after all, is for the government to find itself at fault, and what are the odds of that?

Synova said...

Heh.

Another area where Palin would make a difference.

She was pretty hot about the fact that the lawsuits following the Valdez spill took 30 years to resolve. She felt that was inexcusable that a significant number of those claiming damages had died before seeing the end of it, the process was so slow.

She could be expected to push for timely settlements and any way possible to prevent the oil company lawyers from tying it all up in court. Even after it's not in the news any more.

miller said...

It does not matter that Palin would have done a better job.

We all know the meme: Palin bad, Bambi good.

Day 58, he appoints another commission, and the left swoons.

Well, maybe not this time. He's lost Tingles and Oberfuehrerman.

Roger J. said...

Glad I missed the speech but fortunately the commentariat has given me the essentials--thanks!

Michael said...

Stalin's plan would have captured 120% of the oil!!!

Mick said...

The British have soiled us in 2 ways. First we have the blight of the worst oil spill enviromental disaster ever on our shores, caused by a greedy British company who tried to save a little in the face of enormous risk.
Second, we have the worst constitutional crisis in our history, as a non allegiant non Natural Born Citizen, born a British Subject (father was Kenyan), has Usurped the Presidency. The question is, is he still a British subject to this day? Is the fact thzt Obama was the biggest political beneficiary of BP campaign contributions related to his being British? Isn't it ironic that he was both one of the top 3 beneficiaries of Freddie Mac, and number one of BP?
"Make sure it never happens again" indeed...

miller said...

Well, he is going to appoint a commission. He springs into action when required.

And the cool thing is, when the clean-up fails, Bambi won't be blamed - it will be the commission's fault.

Cleverty in action!

Data Schlepper said...

Thank you for making me laugh this morning.

Its a relief from the thought that the oil leaking in the Gulf is just the beginning.

Whatever is coming down the road at us is going to be worse.

So instead of gloating about how clumsy the President is, we had better hope he finds some kind of leadership inside himself before the end of his term.

kent said...

On Drudge, right now:

RASMUSSEN Reports at 9:30AM ET:

Obama Approval Falls to New Low: 42%
Obama Approval Index: -20
Strongly Approve 24%
Strongly Disapprove 44%
Total Approval 42%

Developing...


In the immortal words of Instapundit: "Heh." ;)

pst314 said...

"the transition to clean energy has the potential to grow our economy and create millions of jobs -– but only if we accelerate that transition."

Q: Why only if we accelerate?

A: Because what's really important to Obama is the massive increase in government control. The technology is just an excuse. ("Never let a crisis go to waste.")

Great Leap Forward, anyone?

kent said...

Good God, even the LA Times -- yes, the friggin' LA TIMES!!! -- is openly mocking Jug-Eared Jesus, now.

Wow.

WOW.

Trooper York said...

"Beth said....
The alternative energy talk is complete bullshit. He knows we can't convert from petro-chemicals at any meaningful percentage. This is theater. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

That's one of the many reasons I love Beth. She is willing to take to task her guy when he is obviously wrong. You never, ever see ALpha or hd or Montague or any of the hard core libs say that Obama ever did anything wrong. To not recognize that he has totally botched the clean up effort is to deny reality. Beth recognizes that he is just trying to change the subject. "Quick look over here." The only hope for the Big O is for his own supporters to get him to change what he is doing in the Gulf. But they will never do it.

Nobody ever talked back to Jim Jones either.

HT said...

Well in this case, the cliche employed was also correct.

Never mind.

Ann, please - can I suggest that as a legal professor you blog about the obstruction of justice ruling expected soon in Washington regarding the investigation of the Robert Wone murder?

kent said...

... and, along similar lines, Professor -- said "lines" being, in this instance, Democrats and the (attempted) obstruction of justice -- I'd like to request your take, as our resident doyenne in matters legal, on this as well, please.

Anonymous said...

Beth said: his [the kid who wants to be a mexican wrestler] mother is Mexican and they visit Mexico City a few times a year. That's why I'm not sure if he's kidding. His older brother plans on a BA in History, then law school, so maybe this is the little one's way of poking him a bit for being over-achieving and serious.

I just got out of law school last year. Attempting to train as a Mexican wrestler would have been far more serious and acheivment minded. And I probably would have had better job prospects.

- Lyssa

kent said...

I just got out of law school last year. Attempting to train as a Mexican wrestler would have been far more serious and acheivment minded. And I probably would have had better job prospects.

Plus, you'd get to gad about in spandex and an awesomely cool face mask all day... so: win-win, pretty much!

AllenS said...

Why anyone would want to have their head in someone's sweaty armpit, I'll never know.

roesch-voltaire said...

Okay speech first and action later so I will wait before making final judgement. As far as his call to R&D alternative energy that is the same thing Bill Gates is asking for including billions in federal grants.

Trooper York said...

"AllenS said...
Why anyone would want to have their head in someone's sweaty armpit, I'll never know."

Well then you shouldn't have asked that Congressman if he supported Obama's agenda. What's the matter with you.

Trooper York said...

Wait a minute. That was yesterdays
bullshit story.

Known Unknown said...

Has anyone bothered to ask what the oil thinks of all this?

AllenS said...

There isn't a lick of difference between this speech, his first speech, or any other speech he's ever done.

kent said...

There isn't a lick of difference between this speech, his first speech, or any other speech he's ever done.

Oh, sure there was! No "typical white person" quote, for one!

Willys said...

This administration reminds me of going to WalMart... and forgetting what I came for.

Roux said...

This guy is a joke.

After Katrina we had a housing program called the Louisiana Road Home. It was a joke. Some people never got any money and certain connected businesses made millions. We certainly don't need that again.

kent said...

Actual link to poll results cited at 7:53 A.M. posting, earlier.

RebeccaH said...

Offshore drilling was never the problem. Being forced to drill under mile-deep water because government says you can't drill in shallow water is. If that well were 200 or 500 feet deep, instead of 5000 feet deep, it would have been capped a month ago.

And Obama wants government to run the oil industry. Right.

kent said...

Okay, this one I'm advance ordering from Amazon, solely on the basis of said volume's title.

Highly appropriate (and eerily synchronistic!), given Zero's speech last night.

kent said...

Okay, this one I'm advance ordering from Amazon, solely on the basis of said volume's title.

Highly appropriate (and eerily synchronistic!), given Zero's speech last night.

Pastafarian said...

Mick said: "...a greedy British company..."

Despite what you and your ignoramus President might think, there is no "British Petroleum".

There's BP, a fusion of the no-longer-existing British Petroleum and Amoco. 40% owned by Brits, 39% by Americans, 21% other.

Michael Dawson said...

Anti-capitalist? You are thick. Anti-capitalists don't call capitalists "entrepreneurs." Statists don't deliver speeches in this situation promising nothing.

Obama is restraining the state, not using it. He's lying to his constituency on behalf of yours, the dictatorial corporate overclass.

You "conservatives" are so deluded and paranoid, it's astounding.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Seven Machos said...

That said, seriously, dude. What the fuck? Are you honestly arguing that the entity responsible for this epic disaster should not pay for the damages wrought by their negligence? That's insanity.


Hey, Seven, do you bother to read any comments other than your own? Since he was quoting me, I think I can respond. I stated emphatically in two different comments that BP should pay for any damages they created. What I can't stand is Beth standing with her eyes goggling and her mouth agape pointing at the Big Evil Company and screaming, a la Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Jason said...

What I don't understand is why we didn't require companies wanting to drill to post a massive bond or take out a huge P&C or E&O policy to cover this risk. This is an insurable risk, or should have been, a priori.

We shouldn't be worrying about collecting from B.P., but from General Re and Berkshire Hathaway or Lloyd's of London participants.


One company cannot bear the tremendous downside risk of a megadisaster. But the world capital markets can, for a workable premium.

That would allow the industry to set up a separate body to handle cleanup, stockpile booms and supplies, 'just-in-case', with assistance from governments for warehouse space, emergency transportation and logistics, and airlift and sealift capacity.

WV: Cluvegla. Obama doesn't vegla have a clu.

Eric said...

What I don't understand is why we didn't require companies wanting to drill to post a massive bond or take out a huge P&C or E&O policy to cover this risk. This is an insurable risk, or should have been, a priori.

I heard on the news today BP is posting a twenty billion dollar bond. I'm not sure a company this big needs insurance.

Eric said...

You "conservatives" are so deluded and paranoid, it's astounding.

Oh the irony! It burns!

Jason said...

BP's insurance and risk management decisions are discussed here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8aa1a6ae-79a6-11df-85be-00144feabdc0.html

Worth a read.

Transocean's are discussed here:

http://www.businessinsurance.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100423/NEWS/100429963

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