An interesting survey of the residents of New Orleans by the Kaiser Family Foundation released today found that 49% of those surveyed think that the BP oil spill is a more damaging threat to the city than Hurricane Katrina was (40%). No matter how much BP has tried to spin their response, 84% held a negative of view of how the company responded to the man made disaster.
President Obama spoke to the media today to give an update on the how the new cap is functioning to contain BP’s oil spill in the Gulf. Obama stressed that the new cap is good news, “The new cap is good news. Either we will be able to stop the flow, or we will be able to use it to capture almost all of the oil until the relief well is done.”
Fox News ratcheted up their pro-BP rhetoric today when the Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore went on their On The Record program and claimed that President Obama put a gun to BP’s head, “The federal government, that is to say the Obama administration put a gun to BP’s head and said either go along with this agreement, or the future of this company will be very much in jeopardy.”
There is a great deal of generalized anger towards President Barack Obama from the Left which reared its ugly head last night after his Oval Office address on the Gulf oil spill. The anger the left has at Obama over his Healthcare Reform bill is based in the fact that Obama sacrificed the public option, but is their anger rational or justified?
Sarah Palin turned up on The O’Reilly Factor tonight and claimed that she knows how to stop the Gulf oil leak. Palin claimed that we should rely on foreign countries to fix the oil leak, “What the federal government should have done was accept the assistance of foreign countries, of entrepreneurial Americans who have solutions…who can’t even get a phone call returned.”
Glenn Beck took another ride on the race train tonight when on his Fox News program he claimed that President Obama won’t meet with BP CEO Tony Hayward because he is white. Beck said, “What is it that the crazy guy in Iran has in the credibility have that the CEO doesn’t have?…He’s a white CEO. Maybe that’s it.”
If there is one small silver lining in the oil dense cloud that is consuming the Gulf Coast it is that the politicians who are owned by big oil are being exposed. On CBS’ Face The Nation today, Gov. Haley Barbour continued to downplay the oil spill and blame the media, without disclosing that oil and gas companies have given $1.8 million to his gubernatorial campaigns.
President Obama delivered remarks in Venice, LA today after touring the Gulf Coast area and getting a look at the BP Oil Spill. While the right wing media has been portraying this event as Obama’s Katrina, the president showed the type of leadership that was missing from the GOP after Hurricane Katrina, “Your government will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to stop this crisis.” Obama sure isn’t W.