So, ok.
Let me be real, real clear here.
Them two thangs thar ain't the same.
There is a difference between "a threat to all life in the Gulf of Mexico and all the businesses that depend on it," and "oops, our car company might go broke."
It is none of the government's business whether or not a private business goes broke; saving a particular corporation from bankruptcy is not properly a function of the federal government.
The proper function of the federal government is to protect its citizens from catastrophes and dangers to the extent that it can do so without infringing upon their rights. (You're right to say "you should get out of the way of the hurricane!" but have no right to say "you MUST get out of the way of the hurricane.")
Catastrophes and dangers. (Pictured: catastrophe.)
Right!
Like that thing where all life in the Gulf of Mexico and all businesses that depend on it are at risk?
Would that be a catastrophe? A danger? Maybe a catastrophic danger?
See, if history was as the mainstream media portrays it, they would be absolutely right to castigate President Bush for the response to Katrina.
Katrina was unquestionably a disaster, and the response was unquestionably insufficient and slow.
Of course, they leave out pertinent facts, such as the fact that the troops who famously refused to let people leave the city of New Orleans were National Guard troops - and thus under the control of then-Louisiana governor, Kathleen Blanco. (Pictured: Governor Blanco.)
They also leave out that Governor Blanco removed one of President Bush's most powerful tools for controlling the situation, and refused - in writing - to allow the Louisiana Guard to be temporarily federalized so they could centralize command.
They also leave out the fact that Governor Blanco assured President Bush that the levees were fine and New Orleans was in no danger - after the levees had already broken. (Bonus: video.) And that Governor Blanco refused to allow Mayor Nagin of New Orleans to issue an evacuation order.
They also leave out the myriad failures of then-New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, who did practically everything in his power to stymie relief efforts, including barring American Red Cross workers and relief vehicles from entering the city of New Orleans, thus forcing them to set up in the outskirts of town, far from the worst-damaged areas, and refusing to send the 1000 buses he had available for evacuation until they were already underwater. (Pictured: Ray Nagin's bus fleet.)
Despite those things, President Bush was completely responsible for a hurricane. It was a disaster; a catastrophe; and despite the fact that virtually every error made in the recovery effort was made elsewhere, Bush accepted the blame for the problems without a whimper.
Contrast this with Obama, and the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
To counter the endless "blame Bush" and "whose idea was 'drill, baby, drill'?" idiots, let me remind you first that the oil lies offshore; if you want to have it, you have to go where it is.
Obama has been in office at this point for 16 months; during that time, BP/Amoco has gotten break after break from this administration. (Pictured: break time.)
See, many of you might not know this, but BP has the worst safety record in the industry.
Seriously.
So much so that they have the highest number of deaths per refinery in the entire industry; so much so that ONLY TWO of their refineries account for 97% of ALL recorded "serious" safety violations every year; they have had refineries flat-out blow sky-high, as witness the 2005 destruction of the Texas City refinery, previously the worst workplace accident in U.S. history, after which it was discovered that BP had decided to build the cheapest possible accommodations for their workers, rather than the blast hardened ones that might have saved 15 workers' lives - because it was cheaper to pay their families off if they died than to build the safety features; and President Bush hammered them for it, fining them over $180 million dollars before his term in office was over.
Then we cut to the Obama Administration.
Despite their blathering about being "on top of things," and "in charge," we find out that they not only have no real idea what's going on, but have in fact simply been taking BP's word for the whole thing, all along, even to the extent of accepting BP's numbers for the magnitude of the spill, despite the fact that any child with a pocket calculator could look at the video feed from the spill and determine that their figures are a giant cartload of horseshit distraction while they make up more excuses. (Pictured: NOT 2.5 gallons per minute.)
But it's better than that.
See, under the Obama Administration - which knew BP's safety record and presumably had some idea how serious things would have to be for President Bush, openly in bed with the oil companies, to give them a $100 million dollar fine for a single incident - the safety violations got way, way worse.
So much worse that even the empty-eyed slackers at Halliburton and Transocean Ltd. tried to tell BP that the demands, and shortcuts, they were making on the Deepwater Horizon rig were unsafe, and got told to sit down and shut up by one of BP's faceless corporate drones. (Pictured: Halliburton workers.)
So much worse that the inspection sheets - required by federal law - that document the safety procedures used - and compliance with them - on oil rigs were being filled out BY BP EMPLOYEES and handed to the safety inspectors, who signed off on them.
So much worse that once the extent of the missing safety documentation on the Deepwater Horizon rig was known, the Minerals Management Service director was fired, and the service itself was sued.
Let's see.
Under President Bush, when BP's safety violations resulted in a catastrophe, they got fined and watch-dogged.
Under Obama, they get hail-fellow-well-met and once they create a disaster, they get the full faith and trust of the United States government. (Pictured: Glad-handing.)
THOSE are apples and oranges, folks.
Katrina and this?
An Act of God, followed up by direct opposition on the part of the state and local authorities, versus "I don't want to screw with a company that gave me boatloads of money" ?
Apples and '57 Chevrolets.
They're not only not directly comparable, they're not even in the same food chain.
Obama wants to do a public mea culpa, as though that will mitigate the catastrophe his choices have sown, but notice that this only affects the politics of the issue; he is STILL NOT GETTING ANYTHING DONE.
Louisiana is now building berms to keep the oil out of the wetlands despite not having federal permission to do so, because it has become apparent that there's never GOING to be any federal permission to do so. While the Governor of Louisiana personally goes out in a boat and helps build the berms, Obama... Plays golf. (Thought i was kidding, with that picture earlier, didn't you? It's ok, you can admit it.)
What he needs to be doing is taking ACTUAL - not figurative - control of the situation, and getting the American oil companies involved in trying to seal the leak.
That, or...
Let Governor Jindal do it. Especially given that he seems to be the only person in government right now who actually thinks this is a big deal. (Pictured: Big deal.)
