As an Illinois state Senator Barack Obama voted “present” 129 times. He used the technique to avoid sensitive issues, often waiting to see how the political dust was going to settle before he committed himself. When the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank, resulting in the oil spill that continues now, Obama voted “present” again. Mike Riggs at the Daily Caller put together a timeline showing the depth of Obama’s concern;
April 22: The Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, which had been burning for two days, sinks into the gulf. President Obama, after speaking in New York about the significance of financial regulatory legislation, hosts an Earth Day celebration in the Rose Garden.
April 23: The U.S. Coastguard pronounces 11 Deepwater workers dead after traveling almost 2,000 miles throughout the gulf in search of their bodies. The president and First Lady Michelle Obama travel to North Carolina for a brief vacation, where they enjoy BBQ.
April 24: Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry announces that the Deepwater wellhead is spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The president and first lady continue to enjoy their vacation in North Carolina.
April 26: A remote sub fails to stop the leak. Just four days after the explosion, the spill covers an area the size of Rhode Island. After hosting a ceremony for the New York Yankees, Obama travels to Andrews Air Force Base for a game of golf.
April 28: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) pegs the leak rate at 5,000 barrels a day — up from BP’s claim of 1,000 barrels a day. Obama leaves Iowa and spends the day in Illinois, where he speaks to the owner of a family farm. He then visits a biofuel plant where he picks up mechanical parts and pretends to be interested in them.
April 29: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declares a state of emergency, as the spill “now covers a 600-square-mile area” and “is about 16 miles off the state’s coast.” Obama delivers remarks in Washington on the importance of cybersecurity. Later in the day, he attends a FEMA meeting about hurricane preparedness.
May 1: The U.S. military lends BP two C-130 aircraft to release potentially dangerous chemical dispersants over the oil spill. Obama tells jokes at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, including one about killing the Jonas Brothers using CIA drones.
May 2: Obama makes a quick trip to Louisiana to ”get a firsthand view of the recovery efforts.”
May 3: Alabama Attorney General Troy King demands that BP stop asking fisherman to sign complicated agreements that would severely limit the amount BP would be forced to compensate them for the loss of their livelihood. Obama hosts dinner for the Business Council, “a group of current or former chief executive officers from a broad range of companies.”
May 8: BP’s containment dome, thought by many to be one of the environmentally safest solutions, fills with ice and fails to stop the leak. Obama plays golf at Virginia’s Fort Belvoir.
May 9: The first tar balls wash up on Dauphin Island off the coast of Alabama. Obama delivers the commencement address at Virginia’s Hampton University.
May 12: Under pressure from journalists and government agencies, British Petroleum releases a short video of the wellhead, located one mile beneath the gulf surface. Using independent analysts, NPR determines from the video that at 50,000 barrels a day, the leak rate is 10 times higher than NOAA’s estimate and 50 times higher than BP’s early claim. Obama spends the morning with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. After lunch, Obama retires to the Oval Office with his advisers.
May 17: While BP attempts to siphon oil into a special tube, scientists warn that the oil is headed for the Gulf Stream, which would carry it around the southern tip of Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean. Obama hosts the University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team.
May 18: Tar balls wash up on the shores of Key West, Fla. Obama tours a factory in Ohio. Later in the day, he meets with Jewish members of the Democratic Caucuses.
May 21: ABC News reports that in the course of one month, enough oil has spilled to “fill enough gallon milk jugs to stretch more than 11,300 miles. That’s more than the distance from New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and back.” Signs a presidential memorandum “outlining the next steps in his vision for cleaner, more efficient vehicles.”
May 22: Wildlife officials in Louisiana tell the Associated Press that they are considering setting the state’s fragile marshes on fire in an effort to staunch the contaminating effects of the oil. White House officials announce that they are beginning a multi-year renovation project for the north side of the White House. Obama delivers the commencement address at the Military Academy at West Point.
May 26: BP announced yet another plan for stopping the spill, a maneuver called “Top Kill” that involves pumping mud into the Deepwater wellhead in order to clog it. This same day, officials begin pulling fisherman off the gulf due to toxic oil fumes. Obama hosts the U.S. World Cup soccer team and the Duke men’s basketball team.
May 28: Obama makes only his second visit to a grief-stricken Louisiana before heading on vacation.
This calamity was not high on the “Obama cares” list. But then he throws a head fake at us:
My job right now is just to make sure that everybody in the Gulf understands this is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about: the spill.
The words don’t match the actions. Obama was far too hands-off for far too long. He so often appears not to care about events. Obama has been described as having a “cool detached temperament“- so much so that it was suggested that it was hurting the Democrat party. As is often said, when you have to tell people you care, you have a problem.
A search for “Obama detached” yields 608,000 hits.
A search for “Obama aloof” yields 94,800 hits.
A search for “Obama uncaring” yields 980,000 hits.
Byron York theorizes that Obama has become “bored” with the Presidency. He notes that Obama always wanted power, but would move on to a new job when he became frustrated with the old one. Although he has the most powerful job in the world, Obama appears to many to be “oddly removed.”
This has not escaped notice overseas.
Barack Obama’s credibility hits rock bottom after oil spill and Sestak scandal
George W Bush’s unpopularity and perceived incompetence was encapsulated by the way he dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Candidate Obama branded it “unconscionable incompetence”.
Central to Obama’s appeal was his promise to be truly different. His failure to achieve that is now at the core of the deep disappointment Americans feel about him. At the press conference – the first full-scale affair he had deigned to give for 309 days – he appeared uncomfortable and petulant.
There’s that theme again- detached- followed by the obligatory and perennial Democrat theme:
Obama engaged in the obligatory populist bashing of Big Oil and, of course, demonstrated the Obama administration’s version of Tourette’s Syndrome, blaming the previous administration for the situation when, by my reckoning, it’s a full 16 months since Bush left office.
Back to York:
But throughout his life, his reaction to frustration has been to look for a bigger job. What does he do now?
Find something he cares about, I imagine.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
The Steelers visited the Whitehouse on May 21, 2009, not this year (unfortunately).
Minor detail, but Ft Belvoir is in Virginia not Arkansas.
Anyway I note that he plays on military bases. First of all because the cheap SOB probably doesn’t pay and second, because while he is enjoying his “freebies” the course is closed to all of the true “working” people who can’t afford the greens fees off post.
He lives in public housing and plays golf “on the arm”. What a glutton.
He also cast votes and later would claim he pushed the wrong button. Also interesting, Illinois Senate records have been lost.
I think he has attention deficit disorder, he can’t seem to stay focused and is constantly escaping to the golf course, basketball court or parties. Manchild fits him.