Is BP oil disaster Obama's Katrina or Bush's second Katrina?

It has been close to two months since a British Petroleum's off-shore oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. While the biggest concern at this point is stopping the leak, there is also the issue of how this will play out politically for the Obama Administration.

Before we get into the politics of this issue and whether or not our federal government has done enough to remedy the situation, I first must say that I hope this spill is a wake up call to Americans who are on the fence in terms of off-shore drilling, including the thick headed "Drill Baby Drill" thugs and our president, who supports "safe" off-shore drilling - as if there is such a thing. Since the oil has started flowing up on the shores of four U.S. states, it has been heartbreaking to see the oil soaked birds, gasping for breath, not being able to move. It would be nice, if nothing else, we could take the BP executives, give them a good old fashion tar and feathering, and parade them down the streets of New Orleans, where they may or may not be stoned to death by onlookers. But in a capitalistic society, where the rich are protected by our elected officials, such an act of justice will never occur.

It is sad that due to our dependency on fossil fuels and capitalism and corruption within the Bush Administration, we have had to subject our people and environment to such pain. But we can't turn back the clocks now, so all we can do is move forward and fix the problem and clean up the Gulf.

While the oil continues to billow into the Gulf, the biggest question, aside from stopping the leak, has been, "has President Obama shown enough emotion?" Not, "has the government done enough?," which in many ways it has because the president has had the best scientists and engineers in the country working on fixing the leak since it started - hell, he was even ahead of BP and the media in terms of responding. But the media is more concerned with how unemotional the president is, as if they are just now realizing that Obama is a thinker and not one that wears his emotions on his sleeve - we all know how that worked out the last eight years. This question of course is not necessarily a concern of the people, but rather some creation of the media, both on the left and right. I mean what do these bastards want, for Obama to fall down to his knees on the beaches of Louisiana, gripping oil soaked sand in his fists and screaming and crying at the heavens "Die BP Die!" I mean really people, the guy is more like Ghandi, and less like Randy Marsh. And maybe it is just me but I prefer a level headed leader, instead of some drama queen. But in a world ruled by reality television, it is no surprise that we now need crying and temper tantrums for our president to prove that he is upset over a specific event. And just because I don't expect the president to be someone he is not, does not mean I wouldn't like to see more pressure put on BP to fix the spill and clean up the mess. But we also can't lose sight of the fact that our president is dealing with a number of pertinent issues right now, including but not limited to: two wars, an unstable economy, high jobless rate, Iran's nuclear program, a potential civil war between North Korea and South Korea and Israel's strangle hold on Gaza.

But as the oil continues to pour into the Gulf, pundits are asking, "is this Obama's Katrina." While others, like Time Magazine columnist, Joe Klein, have pointed out that this is actually "Bush's second Katrina." While I would like to blame the spill on Bush, which would not be a long shot considering his utter lack of regulation over his friends in the oil industry, this is in fact President Obama's problem, even if it was the policies of the previous administration that paved the way for such a disaster to occur. And while the spill might in the end effect as many or more people's lives than Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 combined, to correlate an environmental disaster with the death of thousands to me is a long shot. The fact is Obama does not have the capabilities to stop the leak, only the oil companies, who possess the technology and research to contain such a spill, can fix the mess. While we can all sympathize with the 11 workers who died in the off-shore rig explosion that caused the spill, in reality it is incomparable to the loss of life we witnessed during Hurricane Katrina and 9/11. In the end the real victims of this disaster will be the animal life living in the Gulf. And while it is a great shame that so much animal life will die, and as painful as the images are to watch on TV, in the world in which we live, the mass loss of animal life and human life is incomparable. Because when 3,000 people die we mourn, hold candle light vigils and feel the pain of the loved ones they left behind. When 3,000 birds die, we say, "what a shame," and ask, "what's for dinner, chicken?" Like it or not, it's the truth.

In the end it may take decades to restore the Gulf to what it was prior to the spill, but it will be how the president responds to the clean up that will determine his fate in history, not the fact that the spill is still occurring or how he emotionally responded.

Currently, BP has made some progress at capping the leak, but it is now looking like it wont be stopped until August, when the relief wells are scheduled to be drilled. Earlier this week, the company successfully put a "top hat" over the leaking pipe and collected 11,000 gallons of oil in the first day, which they suspect is only one-third of the oil billowing out of the pipe. 

And while we would all like to see an emotional leader, we cant ask for someone to be something they're not. But what we do have in our president, if nothing else, is a thoughtful leader who I trust will do everything in his power to clean up the mess BP made once the spill is finally capped. And in the end that is what matters most. Well that and creating jobs.