More on the Oil Spill

In the New York Times Week In Review section of June 6, Matt Bai wrote an excellent article titled “Obama and the Chaos Perception”. The main theme of the article is that it is usually not one crisis but a series of crises that pose a threat and can diminish a presidency . All presidents had to deal with chaos in their time in office. Jimmy Carter had inflation, gas shortages and the Iran hostage crisis. George W. Bush had to face the issues of no WMD in Iraq, a sluggish economy and Hurricane Katrina.

Most presidents are faced with events that cause chaos. In addition to the oil spill, Mr. Obama must contend with a consistently weak economy, unacceptable unemployment levels and collapsing foreign economies. There is a sense that there are too many dangers at once. People are asking “what is this president doing to control the chaos”? Events appear to be spiraling beyond his reach.

We expect a president to use his power to rein in the chaos but we do not see this happening with Mr. Obama. He was elected on a promise to reform government but seems incapable of mastering the apparatus.

After 18 months in office he still presents himself as an intellectual critic of the government. However, we all see him as the embodiment of the government. The transition is over and he is the chief bureaucrat, accountable for the government’s failures whether that is fair or not!

During his news conference last week, Mr. Obama displayed a huge disconnect when he repeatedly referred to what the federal government is doing about the oil spill. We want to know what you are doing Mr. President. You are not a detached observer to this crisis. You are an integral part of the solution, or you should be.

We no longer care that you share our outrage. We want you to stop the leak!