That was an early meme the right wing tried to introduce into the political dialogue when it became apparent that the gummint had no real idea how to deal with the BP oil spill. It caught on briefly--I saw it take root slightly when a right-inclined pal who usually has no interest in politics telephone breathlessly and those were the first words out of his mount. Wiser heads in the GOP eventually prevailed, it seems. Do they really want to bring back
"Heckuva job, Brownie" and that classic photo of the
Worst. President. Ever. flying high above the destruction five days too late?
That said, it's not a bad question to ask, not because the other side is, or was, pushing it, but because the White House has allowed itself to appear disconnected from the issue,
lackadaisical was
James Carville's devastating word for it, and doing a lot of talking but not much walking.
Perception or reality? And, in politics, does it really matter either way?
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The public's perception has always been divorced from reality--but with the generous help of the media, politicians, activists, and "short attention span theatre."
ReplyDeleteThe only way the government could have "prevented" the New Orleans quagmire would have been to forcibly uproot everyone who lived below sea level and relocate them permanently long in advance--in effect, "cultural genocide" against New Orleans and its poorer residents. Yet when the disaster happened, it's somehow "the government's" fault.
The only surefire way to have prevented this oil well disaster would have been to ban offshore drilling--and watch oil prices domestically go up massively as a result. I don't think it's one bit fair to lay blame at Obama & Co. at all for this--sue the hell out of BP and the blow-off preventer maker, if even half the allegations are true--but I do feel that "what's good for the goose is good for the gander." Let's hear all the screaming that "Obama doesn't care about the environment/fishermen/coastal businesses" just like we heard "Bush doesn't care about New Orleans blacks".
As you sow, so shall you reap.