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| Obama offers empathy for Gulf Coast |
| 2010-06-05 |
| President Obama recorded his weekly Internet address from Grand Isle, La., on Friday, with a message of empathy for the people of the Gulf Coast who are suffering from the effects of the oil spill. Mr. President, with all due respect, shove the empathy up your ass and get us the 5 million feet of hard boom Bobby Jindal asked for a month ago when you had your head in the sand. Recording the address after meeting with local fishermen and other small business owners, Obama said the explosion that killed 11 people on the Deepwater Horizon rig is now affecting far more people, as the resulting spill closes fishing grounds and sends oil toward shore. One bunch of people it's affecting it the 20,000 Louisianians who are going to be out of a job because of your drilling moratorium. Thanks for that vote of confidence. Maybe they can get jobs with the census. Obama traveled to the coast as critics continued to hammer him for what they call his failure to make an adequate emotional connection with the victims of the disaster. Friday's trip was designed to counter that impression. McCain-Palin got 73% of the vote in Lafourche Parish and almost as much along the rest of the coast. We ain't your peeps. You don't like us and we don't like you. How's that for an emotional connection? In his address, the president expressed his anger about what has happened to the people he met Friday. He talked about Floyd Lasseigne, a fourth-generation oyster fisherman, and Terry Vegas, who quit the eighth grade to become a shrimper with his grandfather. Mr. Vegas may not have a degree from Hahvahd but I suspect he knows condescension when he sees it. "It's brutally unfair. It's wrong," Obama said. And it's the Chicago way. If the spill had happened off the Hamptons instead of in the deep south, there would be six carrier battle groups on hand for cleanup. "And what I told these men and women -- and what I have said since the beginning of this disaster -- is that I'm going to stand with the people of the Gulf Coast until they are made whole." You told us that last week, and then you flew up to Chicago for your vacation. What's the expiration date on this promise? Just tell us now so we know. |
| Posted by:Matt |
| #9 that was a "hands clean" move - unimpeachable, but disgusting nevertheless, agreed |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-06-05 20:50 |
| #8 Frank G, he already _did_ that in California by turning the water back on for a couple congressional districts he needed for his health care (SPIT) reform. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-06-05 20:18 |
| #7 I said it before and I'll say it again: I think he's being passive-aggressively uncooperative on a lot of spill cleanup stuff because he wants the US unindustrialized and he wants the pictures of oiled pelicans for his PR campaign. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-06-05 20:17 |
| #6 If you look at the commonalities here, whether it's roughnecks from Texas or oystermen from Louisiana: 1- They are highly independent; 2- Never fail to spit (or worse) when they say the word Washington, unless they're referring to George himself; 3- Produce something of tangible value with their hands; 4- Will, to a man, vote Rethuglican in 2012 (unless Palin is at the top of the ticket, in which case they will each vote Rethuglican twice.) In Marxist terms, this is class warfare. What I think Rahm and the boys have underestimated is the consequences of having a whole lot of these guys really really mad at you (and the same for their wives, except exponentially more so.) |
| Posted by: Matt 2010-06-05 18:52 |
| #5 Dammit! Rahm told me I was going to Golf! /BO |
| Posted by: ed 2010-06-05 18:18 |
| #4 There's proven and then there's proven, Frank. And those who voted for him installed Chicago style thuggery and corruption in the highest office of the land. |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-06-05 18:17 |
| #3 if it can be proven - he'd be impeached and removed |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-06-05 17:42 |
| #2 You know, I hate to seem totally paranoid ... but maybe the Mighty O is dragging his feet for a malign purpose. The Instapundit linked to Moe Lane on this topic, and the first commenter at Moe Lane suggested "You may have read where the EPA came in here about 2 weeks ago to TX and basically hijacked the states refinery operation permitting process for the Flint Hills Refinery- we have 29 other refineries along TX coast (including one of ExxonÂ’s largest refineries) whoÂ’s operating permits are set to renew in the next two months. This has always been something left to the state to regulate and issue until the EPA came in and stripped it away. So if Obama is shutting down all offshore drilling and all refining capacity via the EPA, what do you think that is going to do to tens of thousands of industry related jobs and the price of gasoline? What do you want to bet he will hold these industries hostage as leverage to blackmail Gulf Coast state Senators for Yes votes on Cap/Trade? He did say the other day he didn't have the votes now but he intended to find them..." Do you suppose that this is the long-term strategy being played out? |
| Posted by: Sgt.Mom 2010-06-05 17:28 |
| #1 Matt, it's probably a lot more than 20,000 jobs lost; just take the revenues that the production in the gulf generates, take 10% off for profit/cost of capital/etc, and assume the rest goes to jobs somewhere or other along the way. I did this, based on one-third of US production, etc., and it eventually came out to 810,000 jobs. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-06-05 16:26 |