The Leak Is Stopped

For the first time since April 20th, the leak in the Gulf has stopped. Thanks be to God, BP and Thad Allen.  This accident (because that's what it was) represents an incalculable wound to the Gulf region--its inhabitants, its wildlife, and its ecosystem writ large.  It is also a huge blow to BP--the company may never come back, as the liability associated with this accident could easily bankrupt the company (but--I'd be long BP if I had a few extra dollars, for damn sure).

What I hope eventually comes out of this is a book that describes the Herculean efforts of BP Engineers and others to figure out a way to cap a well a mile below the surface of the ocean--an engineering feat worthy of great praise and accomplished under unbelievable pressure.

I also remain a huge fan of retired Admiral Thad Allen--the man who helped bring order to the chaos of Katrina and who provided the steady hand for the past three months. 

We should all be proud of what humans accomplished in order to right the accident humans likely caused. 

Peak Oil?

"Oil is a finite resource", the President intoned in his address to the nation last night. "We're running out of places to drill."

Really?

Scientists are providing new estimates that as much as 2.5 million gallons of crude oil per day may be leaking from the damaged oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

2.5 million gallons. Per day. From one rig.

'I Can't Suck It Up With A Straw...'

Oh, I don't know about that...



"Even though I'm President of the United States, my powers are not limitless...I can't...jump in there and plug it up...".

Sounds like a guy who is beginning to doubt his own press clippings.

The Oil Spill As A Metaphor For Obamanism

Ok. What I'm about to write may turn out to be some of the more controversial stuff I've ever put on this blog. I'm working this out as I write it (which is after all, both the wonder and the horror of blogging), so stay with me.

I've had a sinking feeling since Barack Obama became President that he and his administration were determined to permanently alter the political landscape, that the detrimental impact of their policies and actions would be huge, pervasive, long lasting, and very difficult to reverse. Even more than this though, I've had a feeling of powerlessness, that no matter how hard guys like Boehner, McConnell, Ryan, and Cantor work, they are really only just monkeying around on the edges; that the best we can hope for at this point is slowing down the decline and hope that they can minimize the damage to the country until such time as we are able to reverse things at the ballot box. Do you see where I'm going with this...?

The oil spill by itself is a calamity of epic proportion. The technical challenges associated with stopping a leak at 5000 feet below the surface are mind-numbing. Any suggestion that "the government" should step in and "take control" of this strains credulity. Do we REALLY think that this kind of expertise resides in the government? No. It resides in the brains of smart, rough men and women who work in private industry and who are paid massive amounts of money to perform this dangerous, rarely needed and incredibly difficult work. The charges I hear leveled against BP are amazing--we are watching a great company disintegrate before our very eyes. Do we really think that they aren't more motivated than ANYONE to plug this leak?

But because of the direction of the country, the oil spill has double the impact on me. Every time I think about the spill--unrelenting, massive in scope, devastating to whole swathes of our population, a cleanup of YEARS duration to follow, absolute powerlessness to stop, good men and women doing everything they can to reverse it--I cringe. I know in my heart that someday the gusher will be plugged somehow. But every day that it continues, I get a little more disheartened.

And so it is with our government, and so it is with our country. When I see the President stand in the Rose Garden with the Mexican President while both run down an American state trying to enforce federal law, I grow disheartened. When I see the Mexican President repeat that performance in the well of our legislative chamber to the thunderous applause of the Democrats, I grow disheartened. When the Democratic Congress and Administration pass "financial regulatory reform" that does NOTHING to address Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--two organizations DEEPLY enmeshed in our financial crisis, I grow disheartened. When the Congress kvetches once again about extending unemployment benefits with no way to pay for them, I grow disheartened.

I know that this will all end. The Republicans will take a chamber of the legislature, they will eventually retake the White House. The oil leak will eventually be plugged. The shoreline will eventually be cleansed.

In the meantime, both the spill and this government will cause inestimable damage for years to come. So you tell me. Is this an apt metaphor?