President Out-of-Touch Opines: Gulf Spill "Echoes 9/11"

He means Bush did it. (Hah, couldn't resist.) No, he means he's planning to take the fight for oil "over there." (Hah, did it again. Sorry.) No, seriously, he must mean that it was an intentional attack that killed thousands of people and terrified a nation.

Oh, well then he must just be comparing a piddling oil spill in the Gulf to the largest, deadliest, most disruptive terrorist attack in United States history because he's an asshole.

Don't get me wrong. The spill is a BFD, as the Vice President would say, but it isn't even in the same hemisphere as 9/11. Not even the same planet. The spill, an accident, will have substantial consequences for Gulf state economies, and if the Democrats have their way will further cripple the domestic petroleum industry. That's a big deal, but it doesn't "echo 9/11."

Obama is comparing the two for the simple and repulsive purpose of inflating the spill's significance. Y'see, if it's on the scale of 9/11, well then he can be forgiven a bit for handling it so poorly. After all, it's so unprecedented and world-shattering. And if he eventually manages to sort it out (or at least take the credit when BP does) then, why, he'd just be the Awesomest One Evar.

The full piece from Politico's Roger Simon has to be read to be believed, but the 9/11 comparison really takes the cake. Click over for the whole thing, but here are some highlights:

He is pathetically unaware of how much a crybaby he still sounds about his treatment from the press.

Hardening one of his persistent complaints throughout his presidency, Obama expressed frustration with press coverage of his administration’s response, declaring that “the media specifically is demanding things that the public aren’t demanding.” He contended that “the overwhelming majority of the American people” have reasonable expectations.

Even Maureen Dowd (link is to Don Surber) is calling him out about being "elitist, too, as well as thin-skinned and controlling" with respect to the press.

And then it gets really serious. Is President Obama micro-managing decisions on the Gulf response like President Johnson mismanaged the Vietnam War?

“What the public wants to see is us solving this problem. And that may not make for good TV. Me sitting in a meeting with [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu and [Gulf national incident commander] Thad Allen and looking over maps and figuring out how boom gets someplace, that’s not something that is high theater. But ultimately that’s going to make the biggest difference in terms of whether or not the Gulf recovers.”

I really hope that was just a hypothetical and not an actual statement of what he's been up to. Frankly, I'm surprised by the confession given the miles of oil booms that the President and his crack team let sit in a warehouse.

Obama's back to blaming anyone but himself (suprise!) for the problems faced by the Democrats running up to November:

“So I’m going to be fighting on [Democrats in Congress'] behalf and doing everything I can and using my bully pulpit to communicate that fact to the American people,” he said. “I know there’s an anti-incumbent mood out there right now because … people are frustrated about the hit that the economy has taken. … But what I’m going to remind people of is we didn't create this mess.”

Oh, but you didn't fix it either, buddy boy. Simon suggests that this interview previews the White House strategy for the elections this fall. If so, I pray that they stick with it. 'Cause God knows that the electorate always perks up for a whiny, sad-sack President.

His delusion:

And he said he will use the rest of his presidency to try to put the United States on a course toward a “new way of doing business when it comes to energy.”

He sure will. In Portuguese.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 09:24 PM

| Access Comments