June 21, 2010
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A Rant
You know the worst thing about online classes? When you are frantically correcting because it is the end of the quarter and you need to get things done, and the platform that hosts the class goes down, you can’t get your work done! I was just congratulating myself on the fine progress I was making, and now – BOOM! – I am stopped in my tracks!
For better or for worse, I am going to use this opportunity to indulge in a little rant. I. for one, am getting really tired of all of the politicking about the Gulf oil spill. I am becoming very convinced that our government is broken beyond repair. I see absolutely no need for people to be trying to assign blame. British Petroleum has already accepted responsibility and has stated that they will pay the cost of clean-up. Is there any longer any need to establish blame? Hasn’t it been established?
Barack Obama did not cause this problem. I am pretty sure that he does not personally have the technical knowledge to stop the leak and solve the problem. I think that he has mobilized those who do have that knowledge. So why are people so bent out of shape because he played golf with the Vice President? What is he supposed to do – go stand on the shore at the Gulf coast until the leak is plugged? Would that really speed up the process?
I also don’t know why the opposing party (you know who they are) seems to be pointing fingers at Barack Obama as if it were his fault that the off-shore drilling was taking place at all. Just a few short months ago, one of their candidates was waving her fist in the air and shouting “Drill, Baby, Drill!” The permit that allows BP to drill in the gulf was not signed under this administration. The fact is that it was issued, though, that drilling has been taking place, and that now we have a problem. Couldn’t we just stick to dealing with that?
I don’t quite understand why people are so upset because Tony Hayward attended a yacht race, either. Although his background is geology and he may be better equipped technically to solve the problem, I am betting that he is not the one who is heading up the efforts to solve it. CEO’s don’t do that. They supervise the people who do that. With all of the electronic communication devices that we have today, supervision can happen from anywhere.
I will grant you that PR-wise, it would have been better if both Barack Obama and Tony Hayward weren’t engaging in public recreation, but I seriously doubt that it actually affects the efficiency of solving the problem. However, all the media hype about it does have the potential to have a very negative effect. Instead of being focused on a constructive solution to the problem, it just fuels the finger-pointing that takes time and energy away from accomplishing anything meaningful.
What I want to know is why is this a political issue? This is a monumental disaster. Why can’t the movers and shakers of our government just put their differences aside and work together in a positive way to solve the problem? Why does it have to become a campaign opportunity? Wouldn’t it be just a little bit better to be thinking about the welfare of our country instead of how to turn this into a vote-getting opportunity? Couldn’t we work toward putting systems into place to help prevent this from happening again? Is divide and conquer really the most effective technique for doing that? For that matter, is it the most effective way to run a government?
Right now, I am pretty darned ashamed of the behavior of the political leaders in this country!
Comments (15)
I am also ashamed of the behavior of all of our politicians. They all need to quit throwing temper tantrums and work together for the good of all. This planet is not going to get cleaned up til we all start working together.
@styx_site - Thanks for your comment. It has become really upsetting to me that we seem to have to focus on tearing each other down instead of coming together to work in a positive way. That seems to be true in all situations now, and it makes our government very ineffective.
I share your feelings.
A lot of the “blame” for the polarization and the politicking is surprisingly due to the 24-hour news cycle and the need to fill airtime with blather from talking heads who serve mainly to foment and antagonize and further polarize.
I’m being cynically realistic here, but the sad truth is that it would be “dull” for such airtime to be filled up with nothing but sober entreaties for less gridlock and more action, even though that’s what’s needed.
But I didn’t mean to stray so far from your main point. As I said at the outset, I share your feelings.
@twoberry - I agree with you totally! In fact, I almost put those thoughts into this blog, but I decided that it needs to be a separate blog at some point because it is not confined to just this issue or even just to political topics. We have way too many people spending way too much time trying to report the “news” with the result that very little of what they are reporting is actually news, or actually. It becomes editorial comment.
I also think that Barack Obama is making a mistake by spending so much time on TV. I know that he wants to be accessible and transparent and that he wants us to be properly informed, but he is creating a nice big target for his detractors.
What would be wrong with more entertainment in the media instead of so much news?
part of the reasons some blame is being put on Obama is because the regulation of offshore drilling was the responsibility of the Minerals management service part of the department of the interior and therefore ultimately under the control of the White House. The Minerals management service was poorly run and many individuals there in were taking kickbacks from oil companies.
@wearywalden -
Barack Obama has been in office for 17
months, though. The system for regulating offshore drilling was in
place when Obama took office. It’s not reasonable for him to completely
overhaul the government in 17 months. If that’s the expectation, then
all laws and all federal regulations should be repealed when a new
administration takes office. All government services and government
regulated operations should cease. The administration can then put into
place new laws and new regulations. Then it would be fair to hold each
administration completely responsible for everything that occurs on its
watch. Of course, the entire country would be completely
non-functional most of the time.
If we are to hold a president responsible for a defective system that exists or existed during his administration, why isn’t George H. W. also responsible, then? This same regulatory system existed under his administration, too, and the leak could have occurred then. It just didn’t.
We have a huge problem. We need
to solve it. That needs to be the focus. I have no idea why our
country cannot just get its act together and do that.
@Nance1 - The current problematic policy was probably the policy of the past several administrations not just the current and the previous. Of course no one is suggesting President Obama or any administration should remake the entire executive branch open taking office. The issue is it took a disaster to uncover the corruption in the department. As the head of the executive branch Obama does share some blame for the failings of those below him. Just like the CEO of BP shares the blame for mistakes made by those in the company. If 17 months is not long enough for Obama and those he appoints to weed out corruption in his administration, how long would be enough?
@wearywalden - Well, 8 years was not long enough for the previous administration because this is the situation that they left.
My point is that laying blame is very non-productive.
@Nance1 - I agree laying blame is pointless, I was just trying to explain why some people are saying Obama shares some of the blame in this case
We are too quick to blame, in fact we are to blame because its our need for oil that has the oil companies drilling in places that they have not gone before so at the full limit of their equipment. All this has not done any good for British/ American relations
@englishjuls -I’m not so sure that it will have any long term effect on British/American relations. In fact, it’s interesting that I do not hear anyone over here even mentioning Great Britain in the discussion about the oil spill. I really don’t think it’s any government’s fault. It is our government’s problem, though.
The activists politicians forget the main thing : the disaster for the sea and the inhabitants of the shore .
Politician discours are vain when fire is in the house
Love
Michel
RYC : Nancy I would want to watch your collection of hats !
Love
Michel
One of my daughters tryed on line college – she couldn’t get ahold of the teacher when she wanted. It didn’t go good for her.
@Randy7777 - I respond to my students very promptly, usually withing a couple of hours and always the same day. To teach successfully online, you have to be willing to work at it. It’s a 7 day a week job!