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Poll: Good marks for Obama on spill, more drilling
By SETH BORENSTEIN and ALAN FRAM (AP) – 10 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The Gulf of Mexico oil spill hasn't stained President Barack Obama nor dimmed the public's desire for offshore energy drilling, according to a new Associated Press-GfK Poll.

While some conservative pundits, such as Rush Limbaugh, have called this "Obama's Katrina," that's not how the public feels, the poll found. BP PLC, which owned the well that has gushed more than 4 million gallons since an Apr. 20 oil rig explosion, is getting more of the public's ire.

More people surveyed said they approved of Obama's handling of the ongoing oil spill than disapproved, but not by large margins or with unusually strong feelings. It contrasts with the public's reaction to President George W. Bush's response to another Gulf disaster, 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

The poll found that 42 percent approve of Obama's actions, 33 percent disapprove and 21 percent say they have neutral feelings about his response.
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Billy Nungesser, the president of Plaquemines Parish on the Louisiana Gulf Coast, has a blunt message for Barack Obama: Cut out the middleman, Mr. President.

"There's been a failure of leadership on all levels. Who in the hell is in charge?

“I’m a big Republican, but the president spent two hours with me and really impressed me. ... He really seems to care, but I don’t think he’s getting good advice,” he told POLITICO. “I don’t think they’re telling him the truth about what’s going on around here. He needs to get more personally involved.”

Until this week, the Obama administration had largely managed to deflect responsibility for the Deepwater Horizon disaster onto others — vowing to keep a “boot on the throat” of BP, while slamming lax oversight on the part of federal regulators during the Bush administration.

But now, with crude lapping into the bayou, even Obama’s defenders have turned critical. A White House that prides itself on operational competence and message discipline has been frustrated by an environmental catastrophe it can’t predict, can’t control and can’t out-message — and the strain is showing.
A majority of Americans, by 51 percent to 46 percent, now disapprove of Obama’s handling of the crisis, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll. An Associated Press-GfK survey taken less than two weeks ago showed that only one-third of those polled gave Obama low marks for his response.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs surprised reporters at the daily briefing Monday by announcing the president would answer questions about the spill in person Thursday — the first presidential news conference Obama has given in months.

Earlier, Louisiana officials, as they watch helplessly while oil fouls fragile marshland, destroying plants and killing birds and fish, also stepped up their calls on the Obama administration to push aside BP and take charge of the cleanup.

“We have been frustrated with the disjointed effort to date that has too often meant too little, too late to stop the oil from hitting our coast,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said during a Monday news conference at Port Fourchon with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

“BP is the responsible party, but we need the federal government to make sure they are held accountable and that they are indeed responsible. Our way of life depends on it,” Jindal said.

Gen. Russel L. Honore, who helped oversee the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, didn’t criticize the administration’s actions — but suggested the federal government could assert more control by declaring a national disaster in the Gulf.

“My assessment is, at this point this is a national disaster,” Honore said. “This could be a generational impact on the Gulf.”

But back at the White House, Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen, the man in charge of the U.S. response, shot down the idea of a federal takeover of the crisis — walking back Salazar’s threat over the weekend to “push out” BP if it doesn’t cap the well quickly.

“To push BP out of the way, it would raise the question, to replace them with what?” Allen asked. “They’re exhausting every technical means possible to deal with that leak. ... I am satisfied with the coordination that’s going on. ... There’s no reason to make a change.”

Even though Obama has criticized the government’s relationship with BP as too “cozy” over the years, Allen refused to blast embattled BP CEO Tony Hayward. “I judge personally my communications with anybody, including Tony Hayward, and I would characterize when I tell him something, he says he understands it; he follows up,” he said.

The real problem, Allen said, is that only big oil companies — and not the federal government — have the capacity to fight a broken pipe a mile under water.

Allen’s appearance came as the administration moved to counter negative perceptions of its response, even as BP’s effort to cap the gushing mile-deep pipe foundered and the company tangled with the Environmental Protection Agency over the use of chemical dispersants to break up the spill.

Obama held a briefing call Monday morning with the four Gulf Coast governors to offer a status update and underscore his personal commitment to the issue.

“I think what the president wanted to indicate today was that he is on it, which is reassuring, but we all need to stay on it, and I think that’s very important,” said Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for Senate this fall as an independent. “I think that part of being on the call was, in some sense, a response to what was happening in Louisiana.”

Gibbs told reporters there are currently no plans for Obama to return to the Gulf Coast — but his itinerary could quickly change later this week, after the president flies to California in support of Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer on Tuesday, another White House official later said.

During the president’s visit three weeks ago, Nungesser huddled with Obama and eventually sold the president on a plan to position boats to monitor the first shore wave of crude from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Since then, Nungesser said that when he’s proposed other fixes, he’s been shunted to a procession of unresponsive bureaucrats.

Jindal on Monday also criticized the administration for not quickly supplying local responders with all the materials they need to erect booms around endangered wetlands — and is pushing the Army Corps of Engineers to support the plan to position berms, made of backfilled sand, in the path of the oil.

The Corps is currently considering the scheme, but administration officials dismiss the notion that it’s a quick fix, estimating the berms could take between six and nine months to build.

Honore also said there is more that can be done. He urged the administration to start collecting money from BP immediately, set up a streamlined system for individuals filing claims and explore the possibility of assessing daily fines against BP for each day the well isn’t capped.

“That money can go into a trust fund, and we draw from that until we fix this problem,” he said. “Now I think we need to have them start paying upfront for the potential loss. And we need to start drawing that money down now and don’t wait for BP to decide when they’re going to start paying.”

Gibbs said BP is already paying for the cleanup, though he said he didn’t know how much. As for Honore’s idea about declaring a national emergency, Gibbs said none of the states adjacent to the spill have requested designation as disaster areas, adding, “There are different tools for different types of events, and [the Stafford Act governing disaster declarations] isn’t the right tool here.”

Elgie Holstein, an oil-spill expert with the Environmental Defense Fund who served as an adviser to Obama during the 2008 campaign, suggested that Obama add one more element to his response plan: a pledge to create a government-run fleet capable of dealing with the next blown well.

“We as a country have not put in place a system for regulating or responding to complex and costly frontier drilling,” Holstein said. “The Obama administration simply does not have at its disposal the kind of expertise and equipment” to cap the well.

“The frontline of response lies with oil company field generals and not the administration — and that puts the president at a disadvantage,” he added.

to seal that hole.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel lived rent-free in Washington, D.C., for years, thanks in part to a friend under contract with oil giant BP.

While the White House approaches "day 50" of the environmental disaster caused by an explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig, unable yet to stop the flowing crude in the Gulf, several media sources have questioned the administration's efforts to regulate BP prior to the incident.

WND's research further raises the question of whether the White House was compromised by Emanuel's financial ties to the company.

Emanuel lived for five years rent-free in an apartment owned by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and her husband, Stanley Greenberg, whose consulting firm was a prime architect in BP's efforts to recast itself as a "green" corporation and recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars awarded through a committee chaired by Emanuel.

Greenberg research helped reposition BP as a "green company"

The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner consulting firm's website details a case study for client BP in which the firm "helped BP plan and evaluate its successful re-branding campaign, focusing the company's branding on energy solutions, including the development of solar and other renewable energy sources."

Greenberg Quinlin Rosner's research also contributed to a $200 million advertising campaign in which British Petroleum attempted to shorten its name to "BP" and redesign its corporate insignia to emphasize a "Beyond Petroleum" theme.

Critics have characterized the BP advertising campaign prompted by Greenberg Quinlin Rosner research as "greenwashing," a process in which corporations disingenuously portray their efforts as fitting into a politically correct, "green," environment-oriented sensitivity to alternative energy.

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner is also tied heavily to the Democratic Party, as it created a sister political consulting company named "GCS," an acronym based on the last names of the principals – Stanley Greenberg of GQR, James Carville, the long-term adviser of Bill Clinton, and Bob Schrum, the campaign manager for Sen. John Kerry's unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign.

Emanuel's money ties to Greenberg

Within weeks of Obama's inauguration, newspaper reports discovered Emanuel living rent-free in DeLauro's and Greenberg's home and began asking questions.

"One issue is whether Emanuel, who served in the House with DeLauro until early January (2009), should have listed the room either as a gift or as income on his congressional financial disclosure forms," Washington-based correspondent Andrew Zajac wrote in the Chicago Tribune on Feb. 24, 2009.

"A murkier question is whether Emanuel has a tax liability for the relationship," he continued. "The matter may have particular sensitivity in the early days of an Obama administration in which at least four picks for high posts have had confirmations delayed or derailed by tax irregularities."

Initially, DeLauro countered by issuing a statement that "we have no separate apartment in our D.C. house, no rental apartment," claiming instead that bedrooms and living areas in the house "are often used by close family and friends."

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann further commented in the New York Post that Emanuel "also served as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee – which gave Greenberg huge polling contracts."

"[The DCCC] paid Greenberg's firm $239,996 in 2006 and $317,775 in 2008," Morris and McGann wrote.

After consulting tax experts, Morris and McGann estimated that Emanuel's rent-free income for the five years he lived in the DeLauro/Greenberg apartment "could easily add up to more than $100,000."

At the time, Obama administration called BP a model for safety

Last year, the Associated Press reports, the federal Minerals Management Service, a part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, heralded the BP Deepwater Horizon rig as a model of safety, according to a May 16 Associated Press report.

Facing intense criticism for the failure of the Department of Interior to note problems with the Deepwater Horizon rig prior to the collapse, Interior Department secretary Ken Salazar announced last month a major reorganization breaking the Minerals Management Service into three divisions to split what Salazar called the conflicting duties of regulating oil companies while simultaneously collecting revenues from them.

Last week, Salazar announced that Bob Abbey, formerly head of the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, was being reassigned to head and restructure the Minerals Management Service, replacing former director Elizabeth Birnbaum, who resigned suddenly under pressure for lax oversight in light of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

In the announcement of Abbey's appointment, the Associated Press noted, Abbey was being called upon "to reverse a culture in which regulators favored the oil and natural gas industry," while oil and natural gas inspectors under Birnbaum's management "accepted trips, gifts and other favors from the industry."

Is President Obama bowing to criticism that he hasn't shown enough emotion and outrage about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? In an interview with the Today Show's Matt Lauer this morning, the president offered his most candid response yet about the disaster, bluntly telling Lauer he's been talking to experts about "whose ass to kick" when it comes to responsibility for the mess.

"I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the gulf. A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be," Obama said, defending his administration's handling of the spill. "And I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar; we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."

That's a pretty sharp response for a president known for his cool-headed approach to situations. In recent weeks, as Obama was assailed by critics for not being expressive enough in his response to the spill, White House officials defended his reaction by suggesting voters would prefer to see concrete actions over empty "method acting."

Yet administration officials are not ignorant of polls showing the nation less than thrilled with Obama's handling of the Gulf. According to the latest ABC/Washington Post poll, more than two-thirds of those polled, 69 percent, disapprove of the federal government's handling of the spill. That's higher than the outrage over the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina.

Is President Obama bowing to criticism that he hasn't shown enough emotion and outrage about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? In an interview with the Today Show's Matt Lauer this morning, the president offered his most candid response yet about the disaster, bluntly telling Lauer he's been talking to experts about "whose ass to kick" when it comes to responsibility for the mess.

Just someone from the outside looking in, but your president seems like someone who's all image with nothing to back it up, kinda like every single president my country's had since Marcos got booted out.

nailed it. very astute.

"whose ass to kick"?

First he comes off as too unemotional and now he's trying to sound like a thug?

The president of the United States? Not in a private conversation (which would be perfectly acceptable)? But on morning television?

Stay classy, Obama.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl2451

A federal judge in New Orleans halted President Obama's deepwater drilling moratorium on Tuesday, saying the government never justified the ban and appeared to mislead the public in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Judge Martin L.C. Feldman issued an injunction, saying that the moratorium will hurt drilling-rig operators and suppliers and that the government has not proved an outright ban is needed, rather than a more limited moratorium.

He also said the Interior Department also misstated the opinion of the experts it consulted. Those experts from the National Academy of Engineering have said they don't support the blanket ban.

"Much to the government's discomfort and this Court's uneasiness, the summary also states that 'the recommendations contained in this report have been peer-reviewed by seven experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering.' As the plaintiffs, and the experts themselves, pointedly observe, this statement was misleading," Judge Feldman said in his 22-page ruling.

Obama didn't break any laws. He asked BP to do it and they agreed to it. If Obama had done something like you accuse him of, elected republicans would be at least pushing for impeachment. Notice that not happening?

Billy Nungesser, president of New Orleans’ Plaquemines Parish, sensed that a chart showing 140 oil skimmers at work -- a chart given to him by BP and the Coast Guard -- was “somewhat inaccurate.” So, Nungesser asked to fly over the spill to verify the number.

The flyover was cancelled three times before those officials admitted that just 31 of the 140 skimmers were actually deployed.

The incident is detailed in a report released Thursday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The report provides evidence that the Obama administration misrepresented the assets devoted to the cleanup, misrepresented the timing of when government officials knew there was an oil spill and misrepresented the level of control the government had over the matter. It also claims the Obama administration seemed more interested in public relations than cleaning the mess and plugging the hole.

The report, which relies on interviews with several local officials in Louisiana, goes on to quote Nungesser, who had been on local and national television enough so that the White House became concerned. Two White House officials visited him on Father’s Day and said, “What do we have to do to keep you off TV?” His answer was, “Give me what I need.”

Other Parish officials said the administration did not provide as many assets as it claimed. One Parish official called these “phantom assets.”

The report also states that the people in the Gulf do not support President Obama’s six-month moratorium on offshore drilling, and also criticized Obama’s delay in allowing international assistance until 70 days into the spill.

“This report reveals a stark contrast between the narrative being told by the administration in Washington and the sobering realities and challenges that the people closest to this catastrophe are struggling to overcome,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

“These testimonials from the people who are on the frontlines of this crisis have brought to light a bureaucratic quagmire that is exacerbating the response and clean-up effort - in a post-Katrina world, this is unimaginable and unacceptable,” Issa said.

Giant oil skimmer makes stop in Norfolk on way to Gulf oil cleanup:
After making a brief stop in Norfolk for refueling, U.S. Coast Guard inspections and an all-out publicity blitz intended to drum up public support, a giant tanker billed as the world's largest oil skimming vessel set sail Friday for the Gulf of Mexico where it hopes to assist in the oil-cleanup effort....
In other words, the feds have been, and will be, dicking around for days or even weeks making this ship jump through bureaucratic hoops while more oil spills into the gulf.

Congress, Who's Authoring Post Spill Oil Bills Favoring Big Oil?
Salem-News.com
The answer to how much BP and big oil will ultimate pay for the oil spill will play out in the coming months and will be a test of big oil’s influence on Congress.


Massive BP oil rig. Courtesy: topnews.in

(BERKELEY, Ca. MAPLIGHT) - As oil continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico legislators in both parties have been quick to respond with legislation. A number of bills have been introduced, some specifically targeting the crisis, and others with an eye toward preventing future problems. The main question to be addressed is how much BP and big oil (generally) will pay for the oil spill, now and in the future.



By examining campaign contributions MAPLight.org researchers revealed that of legislators sponsoring post spill oil bills the ones who have received the most money from big oil are championing bills that go lightest on the industry.



Republicans have drawn about 70% of big oil money this election cycle and while many Democrats rely on big oil as a major source of campaign funding, the ones sponsoring recent oil bills are not among them.



Which one of these bills, if any, will show how much influence big oil has over the 111th Congress?



A Closer Look at Oil Bills in Congress



In the House of Representatives, seven bills addressing the question of who is financially liable for the spill have been presented. The Democrats brought five, all from representatives who have received relatively little money from oil companies in the last election cycle, and two came from Republicans who have taken in significant oil money in the last two years.



Bill Cassidy, Republican from Louisiana, received $61,100 from oil companies over the last two years, the 38th highest recipient of funds of the House’s 435 members. He sponsored a bill, H. Res. 1374, that would devote all revenue from the oil excise tax toward the Deepwater spill cleanup. This bill would offer significant federal funds to help offset BP’s tab. Cassidy also co-sponsored a bill that would end the moratorium on offshore drilling.



The other Republican bill, H.R. 5356: Oil Spill Response and Assistance Act, is sponsored by Roy Blunt (R-MO), who places third among the GOP and fourth overall in oil money received with $165,850 (incidentally the top Republican recipient is Joe Barton, who apologized to BP for the Obama administration giving it a “shakedown”). Blunt's bill addresses the liability limit on oil spills imposed by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which caps an oil company’s liability for a spill at $75 million. Blunt’s bill would raise the limit to the higher of $150 million or the sum of the offending company's after-tax profits on its previous four reporting quarters. BP's net income from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010 was $20 billion.



New Jersey Democrat Rush Holt sponsored a companion bill, H.R. 5214: Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act of 2010, to one in the Senate, which would raise the liability limit to $10 billion plus the cost of cleanup. Far more than Blunt’s $150 million or 1 year of profits, but perhaps the most lenient of the Democrats’ bills.

To date, Holt's bill has attracted 82 co-sponsors (one Republican and 81 Democrats), a sign that it has a good chance of moving forward. Raul Grijalva’s (D-AZ) bill, H.R. 5355: To amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to repeal the limitation of liability..., would remove the liability limit entirely. A resolution, H.Con.Res.280,brought forward by Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) expresses the sentiment that BP should reimburse the federal government for all costs associated with the spill. Steve Kagen’s (D-WI) bill, H.R. 5520: Oil Spill Responsibility Act of 2010, would require BP to pay reparations to people affected by the spill, and a bill, H.R. 5513: Spilled Oil Royalty Collection Act, by Chellie Pingree (D-ME) would place a 12.5% royalty on oil removed (or spilled) from the Outer Continental Shelf (which includes the Gulf of Mexico), and apply it retroactively before the spill. Of these five Democrats, Kagen received the most oil money, $6,400, 231st among House members, and less than 1% of his fundraising total for this cycle.

Of the bills introduced in the last two months none have moved to the floor for a vote. The answer to how much BP and big oil will ultimate pay for the oil spill will play out in the coming months and will be a test of big oil’s influence on Congress.

Fox News Poll: Most Think BP, Government Could Do More on Oil Spill

I'm sure, given his love of polls, MEM was going to post this one any second now but I thought I'd save him the trouble.

I've never fucked a 12 year old girl.

....the republicans and their bills that protect big oil....