20 April 2010: An oil rig rented and operated by BP in the Gulf of Mexico explodes, killing 11 workers.
21 April 2010: All 115 workers are evacuated from the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig.
22 April 2010: The Deepwater Horizon collapses into the sea and sinks.
22 April 2010: President Obama delivers a speech on Wall Street to advocate more government intervention in the country's financial sector, but offers no reforms for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which helped precipitate the 2008 meltdown. He also delivers a speech regarding the contributions of Earth Day to environmental awareness.
Meanwhile, 200,000 gallons of oil are spilling daily.
23 April 2010: President Obama blasts the Arizona governor, state legislators, police officers and residents for backing federal laws that prohibit illegal immigration.
23 April 2010: The oil continues to flow.
24 April 2010: The president delivers his weekly radio address, which focuses on further regulation of Wall Street. He also calls upon certain segments of his original supporters -- African-Americans, Latinos, Hispanics, and women -- and asks them to mobilize for political action.
24 April 2010: Efforts to contain the spill are hampered by lack of resources and difficult weather.
25 April 2010: President Obama interrupts a weekend getaway to meet with the Rev. Billy Graham in North Carolina.
25 April 2010: Oil spreads across the gulf and heads toward the Louisiana shoreline.
26 April 2010: President Obama appears in a "Vote 2010" video, distributed by his political action wing Organizing for America, which serves as a stark appeal to blacks and Latinos -- specifically -- for their votes in November. 
26 April 2010: The Coast Guard warns that the spill could become one of the worst in United States history.
28 April 2010: The President holds a rare, impromptu press conference on Air Force One, addressing "questions on the Arizona immigration law, the financial regulation bill and other issues." Obama also prepared to make his second nomination to the Supreme Court and warns of a "'conservative' brand of judicial activism in which the courts are often not showing appropriate deference to the decisions of lawmakers."
28 April 2010: large pools of oil are spotted close to the Louisiana shore line.
29 April 2010: the White House Flickr Feed is updated with a photo of the President meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and senior administration officials, including National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones, which indicates that they are urgently working the issue of the oil spill.
29 April 2010: Meanwhile, local officials, the Coast Guard and private citizens continue their efforts to prevent damage to the Louisiana coastline.Perhaps if the oil breached the Louisiana levees, then caught on fire, and then turned New Orleans into a Dresden-like inferno, the President would stop campaigning for a couple of days and actually pay attention to his own, personal Katrina. Even The New York Times has noticed, decrying the President's lackadaisical response. But I'm guessing that somehow, someway, it's all President Bush's fault.
Hat tips: The EIB Network and The Big Picture. Related: 'Who's Responsible'? and 'Eight Days in April.' Linked by: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, the Washington Examiner, Jammie Wearing Fool and Cold Fury. Thanks!
49 comments:
As I read this, Obama is at a commencement in Michigan, whining about how people are mean to him, but that politics is not for the thin-skinned and he'll tough it out. I'm sorry, I know we're not supposed to compare, but if this were Bush, the press would be denouncing him 24/7 and the dems would be calling him an "incompetent miserable failure."
Hello Mr. Ross, great post, one more thing. President Obama cuts Coast Guard funding, New Commandant indicates 1500 personnel reduction is in the works.
From my personal perspective, this adminsitration has been incapable of making a decision without considering politics first. This is the reason for inaction, as the White House Socialist Elites, with no concept of the work required, consider the political impact vs the necessary action needed.
Powerful post! Love it.
Linked!
(Side note: my Captcha is no ponzi. Heh!)
I am also wondering how the Obama Administration will use this crisis to their advantage and further their radical agenda. Even Bill Maher is realizing that Obama was present for 8 days.
Here's a link to one congressman blasting Obama for cutting Coast Guard funding. http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/83973-obamas-coast-guard-cuts-a-recipe-for-disaster-rep-john-mica
Maritime safety, search and rescue and marine environmental protection are other critical missions performed every day by the capable men and women who serve in the Coast Guard.
My only quibble with the "Katrina" equivalence is that the evacuation of New Orleans and surrounding areas was a local/state issue and President Bush could not go in before being invited. IIRC the LA Gov Blanco specifically rebuffed offers from the admin to come in and coordinate. The BP oil rig is far beyond the 3 mile limit of state jurisdiction. It was the Fed's responsibility from the get-go. Obama and his administration is far more responsible than what happened during Katrina.
Are you sure Jones, Janet N. and Obama were working on the oil spill? I think Jones was retelling his anti-semitic joke for a good laugh and Janet N. was pointing out how all the Arizona problems were actually caused by right wing militias.
Excuse me? A private oil company who's made ungodly billions of dollars in profits for years is dumping thousands of barrels a day of oil into the gulf and the president is to blame?
To the gutless "Anonymous";
If Obama does not share the blame, then excuse all blame for Bush as well.
To Anonymous:
I don't believe anyone has said, or is saying, President Obama is "to blame" for a rig blowing up and spewing oil into the gulf. The topic under discussion is the lack of Federal response, and specificially the President's response. I don't believe you need to be concerned. I actually watch Joe Scarborough every morning, and until now, I haven't heard anyone reference "Obama's Katrina." A few mutterings about what a shame that this had to happen just days after he lifted the ban on new drilling, but nothing more. Apparently the oil spill is one more way that the current administration is being unfairly besieged.
Don't get excited about the NYT noticing. They're just giving their boy a little head's up. That building is still filled with shrines to the Chicago Messiah and all the NYT workers sigh and bow in homage when his name is mentioned. He could have ignored New Orleans for 19 days and the media, environmental movement and most of the country's Progressive Liberals - including those in New Orleans - would still think he's the Chosen One. Remember, Liberals talk the Progressive Liberal talking points, but when push comes to shove, they abide by one rule and one rule only:
Above all, Liberalism!
The thing you morons don't seem to realize is that BP (who is responsible for the friggin' spill) were the ones saying that the outflow was not that bad. Just once I;d like to hear one of you douchebags admit that you're going to bitch and moan about Obama no matter what he does. The man could cure cancer and you assholes would call him a socialist. FOAD.
How about a conspiracy theory: Shortly after Obama declares he will allow offshore drilling, something all Dems were loathe to do, but had to consider to try and get all those "drill, baby, drill" folks' votes, an oil rig in the Gulf suddenly , and with no apparent explanation, "blows up"!!! How very convenient for the Dems who have always opposed offshore drilling! Now the White House announces it has to suspend their decision to allow drilling. And WHY have they taken so long in responding to the disaster??? Maybe to make their case better to prevent any further offshore drilling anywhere! Wow! I can see those very expensive GE wind farms popping up all over the US soon. If GE were in the nuclear power plant industry, perhaps we could get some relief with energy prices. I, for one, smell a rat...a rat with big ears and a Pinnochio nose!!!
Didn't he also have the Muslim Entreprenereal Summit during this time?!
This is one of the most idiotic posts I've ever read. From the very beginning the Coast Guard - the arm of the Federal government that can help in an event like this - was involved. It helped evacuate the people from the burning rig (most got out - 11 died), and then immediately sent a robot to check for leaks. BP and the Coast Guard were both right on it, and they found two leaks within two days. BP, however, undershot the oil flow for a day and then the Coast Guard said BP was wrong. After that the Federal - and state - governments started setting up booms and trying other tactics (like dispersant chemicals and controlled burns). Whether they succeed is anyone's guess.
But to say that Obama and the Coast Guard was slow on the button here is total baloney.
This is in response to Obama curing cancer. He will never "cure cancer" because he can't get past himself. Those misguided voters who thought they were electing the reincarnation of JFK or Roosevelt clearly overestimated Obama's willingness to govern the nation. This President is too busy trying to be cool. This past week he's too busy pandering to Latinos and fellow Democrats to notice a massive environmental disaster.
There was another guy, Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned . . .
During the 2008 election cycle, BP-linked donors gave $71,051 to Barack Obama's senate campaign, more than they gave to any other senator that cycle.
BO+BP=Destruction of our environment!
I think it is perfectly obvious that Obama is in way over his head. Has everyone had enough "hope and change" yet? I think the country will toss these marxist bums out in November. Now it is our turn to "hope for a change" Maybe we can go to Canada or Cuba for decent medical care after he destroys our system.
Your posts are provactive and depressing
Let's also not forget that Big Sis Napolitano admitted yesterday that she had no idea the Defense Dept. had equipment that could have helped disperse the oil slick. She only dispatched two planes to drop the substance? Two Planes? Please! It's time the adults get back into the White House, unless of course this was all planned to help his friends at GE. Conspiracy yes but like the posts before, if this was W he woulod have been raked over the coals, another wonderful energy producing fossil fuel.
Wonderful job, Doug. I was planning to do a similar post but you nailed it.
You might also be interested in this post. Ron Gouget, a former NOAA official, says the feds blew the chance to contain the spill.
If conservatives really want to have a "free market" they are going to have to stop looking to the federal government to solve man made disasters like the BP oil spill.
They have got to start holding businesses accountable for their own mistakes
It's funny that whenever business screw up, conservatives want the government to get involved...after the fact.
Getting involved BEFORE a disaster with rules and regulations is considered a restraint on "free markets"
Hamster 11:40, you need to get out of your fantasyworld asap. Your unfocused and confabulatory thinking is what your real problem is. Only you can correct it.
JP
By Hamster logic, a ship sinking in the open ocean is caused by a lack of sufficient regulation. So is a plane crash. Leftists seem to think that there's no problem or crisis that can't be prevented by ever more burdensome regulation. But the one problem they've never been able to solve is the problem of human error.
Disaster response is a vital and proper role of government, and the management of the response is critical to its success. This regime -- and the useless manchild at the top -- were busy politicking and accusing the Arizona state governmnent of racism, while arguing for even more government intrusion into the financial sector. They didn't have time to worry about a pesky little oil spill.
Another completely incomprehensible part of all of this BUBLING, FUMBLING, response: We still have no idea what caused the whole thing! The 115 people rescued must have some idea of what happened, how it escalated in to this MASSIVE disaster. Our LAZY, incompetent MSM has completely and thoroughly ignored the explosion at the start of all this. Usually, after any hint of disaster, we have a complete anatomy of how the whole thing started. It is CREEPY that there is a strange silence about the beginning and escalation of this horrible and far reaching disaster!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14121&id=1721944137&saved#!/group.php?gid=109840029057974&ref=mf
I'm sure when the Russians and Chinese start to drill off of America's shores, on Jimmy Carter(D) approved Cuban leases, that they'll be even safer...
this post is grossly misleading.... nobody knew that 200,000 gallons were spilling when the accident happened. In fact, the Coast Guard said everything was under control and BP also said that they could handle the spill with the resources they had in place with the Coast Guard's help. It wasn't until days after the spill that they discovered they could not contain the spill, the weather turned, they asked for help too late to make a real difference. It is tragic that the 11 people are missing, presumably dead, but the real issue is how is this going to be cleaned up and dealt with? There is no way one could compare this to Katrina and doing so is feeble minded and grasping at thin air. my 2 cents.
After sending your posting, "Obama's Katrina: An Illustrated Timeline" to my E-Mail friends I got back MAILER-DAEMON undeliverable messages from ONLY the 4 AOL recipients. I guess AOL don't like what you have to say. Here's what they said: "There is at least one URL or domain in your e-mail that is generating substantial complaints from AOL members." I had only the pics. and text from your posting plus 2 NASA pics. of the oil spill. - I just thought that you'd like to know - evidently you are on Big Brother's radar screen. After all, what good is it to criticize your government if you don't piss them off!
Hey, the truthers think 9-11 was an inside job (Bush's plan). Who's to say that the oil rig was not sabotaged by the Obama admin so as to be able to delay or cancel further drilling!
How about adding the White House Correspondence Party on Saturday, more important than the President surveying the situation personally. Add a nice picture of him tosting the crowd
Great post, Doug.
- drjohn
An April 22 White House statement noted that following a briefing with President Obama, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen, Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe, and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, "Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes was dispatched to the region yesterday to assist with coordination and response." The Coast Guard announced that four units were responding to the fire, with additional units en route.
April 23. The Department of the Interior, MMS [the U.S. Minerals Management Service], and the Coast Guard continue to support the efforts of the responsible parties to secure all potential sources of pollution. Both federal agencies have technical teams in place overseeing the proposals by BP and Transocean to completely secure the well. Until that has occurred and all parties are confident the risk of additional spill is removed, a high readiness posture to respond will remain in place.
An April 30 Associated Press article reported, "For days, as an oil spill spread in the Gulf of Mexico, BP assured the government the plume was manageable, not catastrophic. Federal authorities were content to let the company handle the mess while keeping an eye on the operation. But then government scientists realized the leak was five times larger than they had been led to believe, and days of lulling statistics and reassuring words gave way Thursday to an all-hands-on-deck emergency response. Now questions are sure to be raised about a self-policing system that trusted a commercial operator to take care of its own mishap even as it grew into a menace imperiling Gulf Coast nature and livelihoods from Florida to Texas."
This timeline may contain factual elements, but it completely fails to include all of the facts. This is a example of completely biased and deceptive reporting. The White House clearly acknowledged the problem on 4/22 (perhaps even sooner - I haven't dug that deep) in this press release: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-press-secretary-presidents-oval-office-meeting-discuss-situation-gulf-mex
Whoever put this timeline together is a moron. Get off your lazy butts and do some SIMPLE research.
Add a photo and comments about Obama's Correspondence Party on Sat Night. Seems his parties are more important than surveying the huge oil spill.
Add a new entry: Obama's Correspondence Party on Sat Night
Jim, should we just cancel all government business until this is cleaned up? Should we have the President flying around in circles over the spill continuously until it is cleaned up? What are you recommending?
Would it be too much just to have the government execute the plans that have been in place for 16 years?
Here, we learn that the government could have caught 90% of the oil had they followed the spill response plan.
Here, we learn that they had no intentions of implementing the plan, because they didn't even have the materials on hand.
And here, we learn of a possible motive as to why the government might drag its feet a little.
It's also worth noting that Ben Raines is no right wing, racist teabagger of a reporter. He has a repertoire of green-leaning environmental reporting, as does his boss, Bill Finch.
If Raines is not nominated and given serious consideration for a Pulitzer on his reporting on the Deepwater Horizon, then even the leftists don't make sense.
There has been a federal government plan in place since 1968 to deal with major oil spills like the one in the Gulf. The information for this plan is posted on the EPA website.
Check the link here:
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan Overview.
http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/lawsregs/ncpover.htm
Gulfcoastbamafan
Partly it's a matter of definition. This is not a spill, it's a spew.
Responsibility for rapid response and having material on hand, like rubber booms, belonged to BP. They filed papers saying they had these things and did not. The very same action by BP is what made the Exxon Valdez Spill such a big deal. It, unlike this spew, could have been contained quite easily.
Also, per your last link, MSM rarely, if ever, comments on campaign contributions to federal candidates. It is a matter of assumption by corporate media that contributions have nothing to do with policies.
You are intitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. Here are the facts:
http://mediamatters.org/research/201004300053
April 20 (10 p.m.): Oil rig explosion. An April 21 ABCNews.com article reported, "An overnight explosion in the Gulf of Mexico rocked the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the Louisiana coast, sending spectacular bursts of flame into the sky. The fires were still raging today." The U.S. Coast Guard's National Oil and Hazardous Substances Response System assigns primary responsibility for cleaning up oil spills to the spiller as the responsible party.
April 21: Deputy Secretary of Interior, Coast Guard dispatched to region. An April 22 White House statement noted that following a briefing with President Obama, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen, Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe, and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, "Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes was dispatched to the region yesterday to assist with coordination and response." The Coast Guard announced that four units were responding to the fire, with additional units en route.
Search and rescue efforts begin for 11 missing. An initial focus of the response was the search for 11 missing crewmembers. The search was called off April 23.
BP confirms U.S. Coast Guard was "leading the emergency response" In an April 21 press release, British Petroleum stated that it was "working closely with Transocean and the U.S. Coast Guard, which is leading the emergency response, and had been offering its help - including logistical support."
CNN.com: "The U.S. Coast Guard launched a major search effort." An April 22 CNN.com article reported:
The U.S. Coast Guard launched a major search effort Wednesday for 11 people missing after a "catastrophic" explosion aboard an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico engulfed the drilling platform in flames.
Another 17 people were injured -- three critically -- in the blast aboard the Deepwater Horizon, which occurred about 10 p.m. Tuesday. The rig was about 52 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, said Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike O'Berry. As of late afternoon Wednesday as many as six firefighting vessels were working to contain the massive fire caused by the explosion.
"It obviously was a catastrophic event," O'Berry said.
April 23: Coast Guard "focused on mitigating the impact of the product currently in the water." On April 23, the Coast Guard stated:
The Department of the Interior, MMS [the U.S. Minerals Management Service], and the Coast Guard continue to support the efforts of the responsible parties to secure all potential sources of pollution. Both federal agencies have technical teams in place overseeing the proposals by BP and Transocean to completely secure the well. Until that has occurred and all parties are confident the risk of additional spill is removed, a high readiness posture to respond will remain in place.
*The rest of the story at the above link
There is no comparison to humans being left to die in a natural dissator to the neglagence of an oil company. Bush knew a category 5 hurricane was coming and sent no one for a week! President Obama had folks there day immediatly 4/21
You want big government to swoop in and clean up the mess with tax dollars we dont have instead of making the multi billion dollar oil company clean up its own doing? Realy?! GTFOH. Stop trying to deflect blame away from the oil company.
I would also like to point out how sadly intresting it is that no where on this blog's timeline is it mentioned what Officials for BP (the responsible party), was doing while oil was spewing out into the Gulf. I mean its obnly fair since it is thier fault...
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0517/spill-rig-owner-approves-1-billion-dividend-shareholders/
"Five days after appearing before Congress to testify about its responsibility in one of the worst oil spills in US history, the Swiss company that owned and operated the oil rig that sunk into the Gulf of Mexico announced that it would shell out $1 billion in dividends to shareholders.
The revelation that Transocean is distributing a $1 billion profit to shareholders as one of its drill sites leaks millions of gallons of oil into the sea is sure to inflame an already smarting debate over offshore drilling and the company's role."
With that said here is a link to the white house page detailing what has been done so far and what some of you critics can get off your ass and do since you dont feel the President is doinga good enough job and BP doesnt have to do anything but continue to make billions:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/deepwater-bp-oil-spill
It is fellow Americans like you people who really make me embarrassed to be an American. And as a veteran of the USMC...to think I had joined to protect knuckleheads like you (plural)?
Katrina was a natural disaster
Deepwater Horizon/BP is not a natural disaster
Exxon Valdez is not a natural disaster
March 24, 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska
President George H. W. Bush, Republican, January 20, 1989 to January 20, 1993.
Other than the U.S. Coast Guard, experts from the EPA and some other Federal Agencies… guess what that president did about the spill. Sent in U.S. Coast Guard to assess damage and help assist in private sector in contain/cleanup. However, there was the The Oil Pollution Act; signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in August 1990, but the final version of the law set a $75 million liability cap on oil companies. On top of that, despite serious opposition from environmentalists, the president wanted to open up 1 1/2 million acres of unspoiled, coastal plain along Alaska’s north slope for oil exploration
and drilling, and the current oil disaster had not changed his mind.
Now I don’t recall anyone lambasting President G.H.W. Bush about the Valdez spill/cleanup…and surely not to the psychotic degree you knuckleheads are trying to blame our current President for the Gulf spill. This is a PRIVATE SECTOR MAN MADE DISASTER….NOT a Natural Disaster like the one the other President Bush completely failed in every stage even before buy appointing a buddy with zero qualifications to lead FEMA.
This is all on BP, Transocean and Halliburton. The Govt. and the Agencies of the Federal Govt. are only there for support and assistance…which is what they have been and are currently doing.
G.H.W. Bush….Pass
B. Obama….Pass
G.W. Bush….Fail
Retards…I swear to God, you are all retards.
Putting FACTS and MEDIAMATTERS in the same paragraph is crazy. MediaMatters is full of crap.
And the usual response by you leftist wackos. Call people retards instead of accepting the facts. Wonderful job. Go back and eat your sprouts and tofu.
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