Posted by
Bill Crawford on Sunday, May 30, 2010 10:46:43 PM
This White House will never fall to the Bush reluctance to talk their way through life, and have other people (mostly detractors) write the bulk of their history. Obama knows that a narrative is needed to get past encroaching image problems, and will adjust accordingly.
That is why, when comparisons started appearing in the media between the BP disaster and Hurricane Katrina, the narrative that appeared usually led off with "hitting the ground from day one", as if we are all supposed to believe now that the Deepwater platform wasn't one mile down in the Gulf for a week before the White House started talking like it was a problem.
That's the fault of the expectations he set up for himself. Just as Republicans always get called out for moral deficiencies, Democrats set themselves up as the people that make government work effectively. When they can't, the naked emporer problem gets borne anew.
The truth is, drilling is done a mile down not because there is no oil in more accessable places. It is done there because the the environmental movement won't allow it where it can be seen from shore. It is a new process, this is a new problem, and nobody has a handle on solving the BP problem because it is uncharted territory. I don't expect the White House to have the answers- but his supporters obviously do. Obama set himself up for this, and I have no sympathy.
Narrative two: Rep. Sestak was promised a "job" by the administration if he dropped out of the primary run against Specter? Sestak was obviously not aware that such a quid pro quo was a felony when he answered that media question earlier this year. Obama is doing his best to avoid getting dumped in the 'that's how the boys do it in Chicago' dumpster. They'll beat any prosecution problems because Eric Holder will not act on this and it's not likely a Special Prosecutor will appear on the horizon, but this President campaigned as someone who was above all this.
Narrative three: the whole "reset" thing with the State Department was supposed to gain respect from all the people who were giving us crap in the last decade. It's not helping us get anything done in the Middle East, it isn't helping with the UN Security Council and it certainly isn't helping us deal with North Korea. Meanwhile, people are still trying to blow things up on our planes and in our cities. The White House takes pains to show us who the world respects us more now, in our new humility mode, but I'm not seeing it.
If Obama gets his head handed to him in the upcoming elections and he is regarded as somehow ineffective and overpromising, how will he even hold onto his base in 2012?
If BP can't get this straightened out soon and oil is still coming up this summer, and FEMA can't do anything, how on earth do you think it will play out in Jay Leno's monologues?