Is This The Week The BP Oil Spill Officially Turns Into Obama’s Katrina?
The BP Oil Spill is now a month old. Fairly early on the administration managed to shut down the initial storyline that this was President Obama’s Katrina by relentlessly pointing out that Katrina was primarily the result of government neglect and this time around the administration was fast-acting and in charge. It would appear Obama’s grace period on this comparison is about to come to an end.
With no end in sight for the leak and scientific solutions on the horizon the drumbeat of frustration over the government’s inability to fix this problem grew audibly louder over the weekend. The trouble began last week when Democratic stalwarts Chris Matthews and James Carville separately criticized Obama’s response, or lack thereof. Over the weekend both Donna Brazile and Cokie Roberts jumped on the bandwagon and last night all three networks ran with the story. ABC News was particularly focused on how the anger in LA appears “to be reserved for the government” noting that they’d seen a pickup truck bearing a sign reading ‘BP + The Feds = Another Katrina.’ Even HuffPo’s Senior Washington Correspondent Dan Froomkin noted yesterday that “the Katrina analogy isn’t completely off” and when you’ve lost HuffPo…well it’s not good.
The change in tone is apparently not lost on the President. Karen Tumulty reports in WaPo today that Obama is losing his patience:
Since the oil rig exploded, the White House has tried to project a posture that is unflappable and in command.
But to those tasked with keeping the president apprised of the disaster, Obama’s clenched jaw is becoming an increasingly familiar sight. During one of those sessions in the Oval Office the first week after the spill, a president who rarely vents his frustration cut his aides short, according to one who was there.
“Plug the damn hole,” Obama told them.
Maybe Obama should consider turning that last line into some sort of campaign commercial. In the meantime I don’t think it will come as a surprise if the President suddenly decides to make a trip down to the Gulf this week, and we’re not talking a fly over, either. Ironically, Obama would probably do well do adopt Bush’s habit of making uncompromising statements right now if he doesn’t want to be saddled with Katrina part two. Videos below of the network newscasts (edited together) and below that Froomkin on MSNBC.
