đź”· Open Thread

oilwellsHowdo.jpg
 
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-...il-by-carol-browner-on-how-bad-bp-spill-was-/

Obama Knew the Spill Was Hopeless



As the president visits the Gulf anew, Richard Wolffe reports that he was first briefed in April on how bad the spill would be. Plus: the real reason the White House is so mad at Carville?and why Obama would rather talk about the economy.

Critics have bashed President Obama for being slow to seize the political initiative in combating the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast, now widely believed to be the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. The White House has battled back, releasing a timeline of events showing that Obama was briefed?and deploying the Coast Guard?within 24 hours of the Deepwater Horizon blowout.
What has not been previously disclosed: The president was not only briefed on the real-time events of the spill, but also on just how bad it would be?and how hard it would be to plug the hole.


Carol Browner, director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, told Obama at one of the earliest briefings in late April that the blowout would likely lead to an unprecedented environmental disaster, senior White House aides told The Daily Beast. Browner warned that capping a well at such depths had never been done before, and that they ought to expect an oil spill that would continue until a relief well was drilled in August, the aide said.
That early briefing on the scope of the spill?and enormous technical challenges involved in fixing it?might help explain the sense of fatalism that has infused Obama's team from the start.
Little that has happened since has changed their mind-set. Now six weeks later, the president?s top advisers expect the oil spill?and the negative stories?to continue through August.
The fact that Team Obama was warned of the extent of the disaster so early on suggests that White House officials were aware of the environmental challenge long before they decided to demonstrate concern via presidential visits to the Gulf.
When asked about the prospects for the new cap fitted over the leaking well earlier this week, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs voiced little optimism. ?I?m long out of the prediction business on this,? he told reporters on Air Force One on Friday. ?Everyone is hopeful that this works.? His comments were echoed by Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the national incident commander for the BP spill?who warned reporters against ?over-optimism.?
Given the lack of technical capabilities on the sea floor, there?s not much the White House can do to plug the hole. And there are limited options for effectively preventing the oil from reaching large stretches of coastline. Instead, Obama?s team is focusing on the options at their immediate disposal?methods of news management and presidential communication.


Obama?s aides have grown increasingly frustrated with the public criticism that the president has failed to express sufficient anger. As Gibbs put it at a recent briefing, ?If jumping up and down and screaming were to fix a hole in the ocean, we?d have done that five or six weeks ago. We?d have done that the first night.?
That frustration has boiled over in dealing with some of their most high-profile critics?especially the ones on the Democratic side.
Case in point: James Carville, the Democratic strategist, whose TV eruptions have helped focus attention on the president?s response.
Carville recently chanced upon Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen eating dinner with BP CEO Tony Hayward at a New Orleans restaurant, the senior White House aide says. Allen had called Carville after his first TV outburst to talk about the administration?s response, but Carville failed to return the call. When Allen asked why, Carville said he had been busy, the aide says (Carville did not reply to requests for comment). That does not sit well with administration officials who suggest that Carville?s readiness to go public with his criticism is not matched by his private willingness to offer concrete suggestions about what they could do differently.
Amid the frustration, the White House has taken steps to make their response more visible in recent weeks. In addition to daily briefings by Allen, the White House has staged two presidential visits to the Gulf over the last week.


As they plot course, Obama?s team is determined to avoid two scenarios. They?re mindful of BP?s habit of scheduling rounds of TV interviews to tout a new development?only to discover that the news was more disappointing than expected. And they want to avoid the perception that the president is focused exclusively on the oil spill, at a time when both public and private polling shows Americans have greater concerns?and care far more about the economy at this stage than they do about the oil spill.
That, of course, could change as shocking pictures of oil-covered animals begin to surface on TV. But for now, the latest CBS News poll?released Friday?shows that approval and disapproval ratings of Obama?s performance on the oil spill are more evenly split than expected, given the news coverage and the scale of the disaster. The poll showed 44 percent disapproval and 38 percent approval, a marginal improvement from a week earlier, when the numbers were 45 percent disapproval and 35 percent approval.
When asked about priorities in a recent Economist/YouGov poll, respondents ranked the environment in eighth position of ?very important? issues, after the economy, health care, social security, the budget deficit, taxes, terrorism and education. The environment ranked ?very important? with 50 percent of respondents, compared to 82 percent saying the economy.
 
Go to GOOGLE Translate.

Translate "AIDS" from English to Yiddish.

Then copy the translation and re-translate it from Yiddish to English. NOTE: Auto-Detect Language to English does not work.
 
I know I'll get lots of scoffs from the connoisseurs here, but I don't care.

This is one hell of a sexy machine:

10_d_cgr_photo_ext_16.jpg
 
This is one of those things where:
When you're young it's your panty peeler.
When you get older it becomes a symbol of your insecurity.
When you get much older it becomes your legitimate hobby.
When you get much much older it becomes your casket.
 
Hmmph, I scoff at the Challenger... too big, too clumsy, a design that blandly copies the original, awful interior... a distant third to the other two pony cars... something for someone who cares more about what the badge says and less whether it's actually well engineered or not.
 
I'll agree with you that both the engineering and interior are well behind both the Camaro and the Mustang, and I like the retro styling on all three but I really think Dodge did a much better job of pulling off the retro look with the Challenger (but oddly enough completely screwed up the Charger).

2010-chevy-camaro.jpg


2010ford_mustang_1.jpg


10_d_cgr_photo_ext_16.jpg


Yeah, the first two are better cars, but based on looks alone, I'll take #3 every time. I just wish they didn't have reputations for being redneck cars. :(
 
statler said:
but I really think Dodge did a much better job of pulling off the retro look with the Challenger
Click to expand...

I guess we have different criteria for what's good design in a pony/muscle car -- I don't care for the whole retro thing, and the fact that the Challenger is nothing but retro (with zero new ideas thrown in the mix) leaves me cold. I mean, it's cool to hark back to your heritage, but there's gotta be something new to chew on too. This one looks exactly like the old, just fabricated out of cheep plastic instead of chrome and steel (don't forget vinyl for the roof!).

Another thing, the slab sides on the Challenger look decidedly un-agile compared to the sculpted, muscular flanks on the other two. Me like sporty and sexy curves on my cars!
 
I like the way all 3 cars look. Test drove a Challenger, which seems to be just a shortened Chrysler 300 and is decently quick. Handling is ok. Decent space. Rented the Mustang for a couple of weeks when I was fishing in Florida. Entertaining. Killed the tires. Usual Mustang vice: short wheel base, poor rear suspension, dangerous in the wet. Spun it out a couple of times on dry pavement! I haven't tried the Camaro yet.

My favorite recent rental car: Fiat 500!
 
tobyjug said:
Usual Mustang vice: short wheel base, poor rear suspension, dangerous in the wet.
Click to expand...

The only one of the three I'd truly consider owning is the Mustang (Camaro IMO is a bit too cartoony looking/trying too hard to be macho), but then that live rear axle is inexcusable in this day and age, so I might have to pass on the segment altogether.

PS: where did all the (semi-)affordable coupes go? Besides these you've got the Hyundai Genesis and little else.
 
statler said:
This surprises me. You are such a fan of old-school European sports cars I figured these would bore you.
Click to expand...

Oh, no. I take my pleasure where I can find it. It's true that the cars I've bought and/or kept tend to fall into certain categories. But if I had the space, here are some less pricey additions I'd make to the stable:

63-66 Buick Riviera
66-67 Oldsmobile Toronado
67-68 Cadillac Eldorado
72 Cadillac Eldorado convertible
68-70 Cadillac deVille convertible
Cadillac Allante
56-57 Lincoln Continental Mk 2
61-65 Lincoln 4 door convertible
69-71 Lincoln Mk3
Late 40 Willys Jeepster (in yellow)
53-66 International Travelall
Early 50's Chevy pickup
Late 40's Ford Pickup
Ford Model A pickup
32 Ford Deuce coupe with Lincoln V-12 flathead, 3 speed Columbia rear axle, moon discs and flames on front.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top