No win in sight How a political calculation over the oil spill could cost the president

WASHINGTON, DC—In what is now clearly a political calculation gone awry, President Obama is feeling the effects in his poll numbers and his political clout. The fallout his inaction to the BP oil spill will come at a heavy price and may even damage his party more come November. This remains to be seen, but an early handicapping would indeed conclude the president’s party is going to be set back even more because voters will remember the federal government’s response to Katrina—there was one, whereas here, there has not been one.

When asked about the political strategizing that came when the president was informed about the spill, I simply explain the advice he received from Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod was probably, “Stay out of it; you don’t want your fingerprints on this.” That is until the spigot would be capped within a week or so, then, “Mr. President, move in and take credit.” But that didn’t happen and over thirty days later, Obama had to hold a press conference stating the federal government had been in charge since day one but didn’t have the resources for a fix.

Strange how a man, with a statist mentality who pushed health care reform at the cost of losing a democrat majority, who nationalized General Motors, and who seeks to regulate every aspect of Wall Street has to admit that government isn’t the answer. As Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “When you ask a government far away in Washington to handle everything, it will handle nothing well.”

-- Owen E. Richason

Chief Editor, Killswitch Politick

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