“Well, President Obama said today he’s going to use the gulf disaster to immediately push a new energy bill through Congress. I got an idea. How about first using the gulf disaster to fix the gulf disaster?” —Jay Leno
“Now, I know Obama was trying to take the long view, but talking about solar energy in the middle of the oil spill is like watching your house engulfed in flames and saying, ‘We really should change the curtains.’” —Craig Ferguson
“Today, President Obama finally met with BP’s CEO, Tony Hayward, but the meeting was only scheduled 20 minutes. Call me crazy, but I think it should take more time to discuss an oil spill than it does to get your oil checked.” —Jimmy Fallon
The White House bashed BP CEO for taking his son on a yacht this weekend but defended Obama’s seventh golf outing since the Deepwater Horizon explosion 63 days ago. “I think that a little time to himself on Father’s Day weekend probably does us all good.”
More: Of Course. White House Defends Obama’s 39 Golf Outings
The White House says Obama deserves the time to clear his mind. After all, it’s only the greatest environmental disaster in US history. It’s like 9-11.
Never mind the fact that Obama said, “I will not rest until the leak is stopped,” just last month:
Obama has played 7 rounds of golf since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon back in April.
The White House is dismissing criticism that President Barack Obama shouldn’t play golf during the Gulf oil spill.
White House spokesman Bill Burton on Monday said the president deserves some time to relax, and he doesn’t “think that there’s a person in this country that doesn’t think that their president ought to have a little time to clear his mind.”
During the weekend, Obama played the 39th round of golf of his presidency, according to reports.
White House reporters joke among themselves about who might get stuck with weekend pool duty, which seems more likely than not to include a few hours sitting at the food court near either Andrews Air Force Base or Fort Belvoir while Obama hits the links.
But Burton dismissed Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s criticism that Obama should stay away from the links.
Speaking at the daily White House briefing, Burton said Obama needs some time to himself after dealing with the business of his office.
“Do you understand the words that are comin’ outta my teleprompter?”
Did you see Obama’s pitch for Cap & Trade on Tuesday night… er, I mean his speech stressing the importance of plugging the hole and cleaning up the Gulf? I didn’t, because I was distracted by a funny looking oven mitt and a shiny ball bearing, but it’s a good thing I didn’t see it because I wouldn’t have understood Obama’s genius anyway:
(CNN) — President Obama’s speech on the gulf oil disaster may have gone over the heads of many in his audience, according to an analysis of the 18-minute talk released Wednesday.
Tuesday night’s speech from the Oval Office of the White House was written to a 9.8 grade level, said Paul J.J. Payack, president of Global Language Monitor. The Austin, Texas-based company analyzes and catalogues trends in word usage and word choice and their impact on culture.
Though the president used slightly less than four sentences per paragraph, his 19.8 words per sentence “added some difficulty for his target audience,” Payack said.
He singled out this sentence from Obama as unfortunate: “That is why just after the rig sank, I assembled a team of our nation’s best scientists and engineers to tackle this challenge — a team led by Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and our nation’s secretary of energy.”
“A little less professorial, less academic and more ordinary,” Payack recommended. “That’s the type of phraseology that makes you (appear) aloof and out of touch.”
Obama’s problem isn’t that people listening at an 8.5 grade level can’t understand his words and phrases — it’s that 2nd graders can understand his inactions and the government’s insane bureaucratic delays.
Lucky for Obama then that with each brilliant speech he gives, fewer and fewer of us morons are tuning in — Tuesday night’s “green energy” sales pitch included.
In order to fully comprehend an Obama speech, you must be an Obama Scholar.
Alalbama Governor Bob Riley slammed the Obama Administration for their poor response to the Gulf oil crisis. The Alabama governor spoke with CNN yesterday:
“You can’t have a committee that are going to make decisions that impact this entire coastal area.”18 US beaches may be ruined for decades from the spill and delayed cleanup activities including Queen Bess Island in Louisiana.
Clean-up workers pick up blobs of oil in absorbent snare on Queen Bess Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay near the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., Friday, June 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A key governor on Sunday blasted the lack of leadership in the US response to the worst ever US oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying decisions were being gummed up in committee.
Governor Bob Riley of Alabama said he was more frustrated with the Obama administration’s lack of coordination and unity of purpose than he was BP, the British energy giant blamed for the spill.
“You can’t have a committee making the decisions that are going to impact this entire coastal area,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
Riley, a Republican, said decisions were being stalled because each government agency represented on the “unified command” running the response has a veto on decisions advanced by other government agencies.
As an example, he said a Coast Guard plan for protecting the Alabama shoreline has been held up for 45 days because another member of the committee is reviewing it.
“You can’t continue to do that. We’re going to have to have one person who makes the call on what we do and where,” he said.
The Obama Administration turned down offers to help clean up the spill from The Netherlands and the British Government just days after the explosion. They didn’t have the proper paperwork. The administration still has not given the OK to allow emergency workers to use a Maine company’s oil boom even though they were made aware of the warehouse full of containment boom back on May 21.
It wasn’t just the Netherlands who offered to help with the disaster. Top officials in the British Cabinet offered assistance to help clean up the oil spill a few days after the explosion. The Obama Administration turned them down because they did not have the correct paperwork.
A high-level British offer of help to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was rebuffed by America shortly after the accident, fuelling fresh fears of political tension between the two countries over the disaster.
A few days after the BP-leased rig sank on April 22, the Cabinet Office made a direct offer to the US State Department to airlift half of Britain’s 1,200-tonne stockpile of chemical dispersants, The Times has learnt.
At the time there was an urgent demand for fresh supplies. The offer to provide the chemicals, at the cost price of £3 million, was made through diplomatic channels and via the Civil Contingency Secretariat, the Government’s emergency planning unit.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which was also involved in drafting the plan, said that the US had chosen not to accept the offer. Officials said the US claimed that the chemicals held in Britain did not have the correct paperwork.
You wouldn’t think it would be difficult for President Obama to understand why his response to the Gulf oil spill leaves many of us more baffled than Joe Biden in a Dunkin Donuts with no Indians behind the counter.
Obama skipped the memorial service of those killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion to attend a fundraiser for Barbara Boxer. This morning, Obama compared the spill to 9/11, and right after comparing the oil spill to the most deadly attack on American soil, he went golfing for four hours.
“Not one man on this force will rest for one minute until the people who did this are behind bars! Now let’s go grab a bite to eat…” –Lt. Frank Drebin
9/11 — you remember that day, when people died in an accident caused by airliners taking maintenance short-cuts combined with government environmental regulations that made buildings taller than they should be followed by the president using the tragedy as justification to pass Cap & Trade. The similarities to the Gulf spill are uncanny!
And, on this topic, here’s the quote of the day. These weasels must snicker when they write this stuff:
Fifty-four Democratic senators wrote to BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, demanding that BP put an initial $20bn into a ring-fenced fund. Although BP has pledged to pay clean-up costs and damages, “history has taught us that corporations often fail to live up to their initial promises”, the lawmakers wrote. They demanded a response by Friday.
Corporations don’t come through on their promises nearly as often as politicians — luckily the Democrats are on it. We’re in good hands here.
It figures. President Bush’s trips to the Gulf Region following Hurricane Katrina outpaced Barack Obama’s Gulf trips following the rig explosion and oil spill this year. But you certainly wouldn’t know that from the state-run media. FOX Nation reported:
…When it comes to visiting the disaster-stricken area, Obama still lags behind his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, whose slow and stumbling reaction to Hurricane Katrina drew scathing reviews and left a permanent mark on his approval rating.
In the 46-day period in the fall of 2005, after back-to-back hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Bush made eight trips to the distressed region, including a 35-minute flyover of the region on board Air Force One. That trip came two days after Katrina hit, and Bush returned to review response actions on the ground several days later. He proceeded to make trips to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas to track the government’s response.
The difference, of course, being that President Bush was a Republican and President Obama is the the media’s chosen one.
Barack Obama’s brother Samson was refused entry into the UK last year after being accused of an attempted sex attack on a young teen girl. He traveled to America with his family for the Obama Inauguration in January.
Samson Obama, the brother of US President Barack Obama, traveled to Washington DC by boarding a connecting flight to the US from East Midlands after being refused entry into Great Britain. (News of the World)
FOX News earlier reported that Samson admitted admission of the criminal offense:
Samson Obama — one of the president’s 11 half-brothers and sisters — is alleged to have been living illegally in Britain when he was arrested in Berkshire last November. A group of girls, one aged 13, told police a man approached them and followed them into a cafe a mile from the home of Samson Obama’s mother in Bracknell.
Obama, 41, was questioned by Thames Valley Police for several hours, during which his fingerprints and a DNA sample were taken. He is alleged to have told detectives that he was Henry Aloo, a genuine asylum-seeker, but gave the address of his own mother, Kezia. Obama denied any sexual assault, but is reported to have accepted an official caution for a public order offense. A caution is an admission of a criminal offense. Police were reported to have also discovered that Obama had been living illegally in Britain for seven years.
Obama was refused permission to re-enter Britain at Heathrow in January while travelling from his home in Kenya to Washington for his brother’s inauguration. An immigration officer used his discretionary powers to allow him to remain “airside” in the terminal overnight before catching his connecting flight to Washington.
Obama’s half brother Samson Obama was not allowed into the UK this week again after being accused of a serious crime on his earlier visit. The BBC reported:
Barack Obama’s half-brother was denied entry to the UK after being accused of a serious crime on an earlier visit, the Home Office has confirmed.
Samson Obama, who lives in Kenya, was on his way to the US presidential inauguration in January when he was stopped at East Midlands Airport.
According to the News of the World, fingerprint tests linked him to an alleged sex attack on a British girl.
He was questioned but not charged over the incident in Berkshire, it added.
A Home Office spokesman said Samson Obama was denied a visa after immigration officers noticed one of his documents was false. That led them to further inquiries.
Samson Obama, who runs a mobile phone shop outside Nairobi, had been planning to make a short break in the UK on his way to Washington.
He eventually took a connecting flight to the US without formally entering the UK.
I ran across that picture at Free Republic and I really needed the laugh — especially after how last night’s Tigers game ended.
In any case, Paul McCartney played at the White House last night, and what with the oil gusher non-management, economy on the brink of ruin and getting worse by the day, debt continuing to mount, states going to economic war with one another, terror attacks dramatically rising and emboldened tin pot dictators spouting off, it was the perfect time to talk about how stupid George W. Bush is:
They shouldn’t cut a note from McCartney’s closing suite. “I hope the president will forgive me if I sing this song,” he quipped after Obama presented him with the Gershwin, and began crooning “Michelle.” During the I-love-you-I-love-you-I-lovvvve-you, the president leaned over to sing into the first lady’s ear.
When it was over, McCartney joked under his breath, “I’m gonna be the first guy to get punched out by a president.”
Then, “Eleanor Rigby,” “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude” — followed by what felt like endless applause.
A sweet moment, but McCartney topped it off with a bite. After thanking the Library of Congress one last time, he let it rip: “After the last eight years, it’s good to have a president that knows what a library is.”
I’d rather have a president who knows what a terrorist is and seems actively aware that the friggin’ Gulf of Mexico is about to be 10W-30 for the next decade, but hey, that’s just me. If you’re more comfortable with the genius who thinks there are 58 states, tried to enter the White House through a window and can’t go to the john without a teleprompter, that’s your right, Sir Paul.
Here’s Obama’s introduction of McCartney, where he justified having a soirée right now because music “gets us through the tough times.” Unless Sir Paul’s bass guitar can be used to plug the leak, I beg to differ:
Doug Powers - michellemalkin.com
More:
Those Obamas sure seem to like it when people from foreign countries say insulting things about Americans in the highest houses of our government. Sir Paul would be the latest.
Too bad the cameras weren’t on the Obama’s after that Bush attack. You know they were chuckling along with all the other radicals at the party.
It turns out that the ignorant one was Paul McCartney. Laura Bush is a librarian. She and her husband made a mini-cause of supporting literacy and public libraries both in Texas and in Washington DC. Charles Lane at the WaPo’s Post Partisan Blog reported:
There are many things of which Bush may be fairly accused. It would be boring to list them all. My point here, however, is that those who smugly deride his ostensible ignorance often inadvertently demonstrate their own.
And so it was with McCartney’s obnoxious crack, which was not only nasty, and totally inappropriate to the occasion, but also perfectly uninformed.Bush’s wife Laura is a librarian. She and her husband made a mini-cause of supporting literacy and public libraries, both when he was governor of Texas and when he was president.
“If you taught Leadership 101 this would be an example of Exactly NOT what to do.”
Rudy Giuliani slammed Barack Obama’s disgraceful handling of the BP oil spill crisis. Rudy was on with Hannity tonight:
Rudy on Obama’s lack of leadership:
Sean Hannity: How would you rate the president’s handling of the Gulf oil spill crisis?
Rudy Giuliani: It couldn’t be worse. This would be an example if you taught Leadership 101 of Exactly NOT what to do. Minimize it at first. Two days after or three days after it happened, go on vacation. He’s been on vacation more often than by far he’s been to Louisiana… The reality is the Administration has made every mistake it could possibly make right down to the criminal investigation of BP… And, if they’re being criminally investigated then why are we allowing them to do it? If we got a bunch of criminals doing it then why are we allowing them to do it?
Top Ten Ways that Barack Obama Can Act (or at least look ) Presidential (not necessarily in order of importance):
10. Put the Sestak matter to rest. Instruct your people to fully cooperate with the justice department and the press until this is resolved and behind you. 9. Lay off the golf course. Every president needs to get away from the pressure of the job every now and then. You need to get away from the pressure of the golf course and take care of some business now and then. 8. Leave your children out of this. If we want to hear cute stories about what some kid said, we’ll dig up Art Linkletter! 7. Try treating our allies with a modicum of respect. Your childish snubs of Netanyahu are worse than your choice of DVD gifts to the British. 6. Meet with the governors of state in crisis. What are you afraid of? Avoiding the governors of Arizona and Louisiana makes you look extremely partisan or incompetent (or both). 5. Secure the border. Twelve hundred unarmed guardsmen aren’t going to make a dent in the problems of drugs, weapons, or the potential for terrorists to enter the country. 4. Put a cap on all government spending to last year’s budget plus inflation. Except the military. Bring military salaries up to last year’s plus inflation. 3. Stop publicly flogging BP. When you stomp your little foot and demand that they stop the leak, as if that had never occurred to them before is childish. Especially when you tell the world that you are in charge of the cleanup. You come across as shallow and slightly schizoid. 2. Facilitate drilling in ANWAR. Until the environmental and technical problems in the Gulf are resolved, the country needs domestic oil product. and the number one thing Obama can to to act Presidential?
1. Stop blaming Bush for everything. Put on your big boy pants and man up. Take responsibility for your budget, your spending, your foreign policy and your regulatory agencies. You’re the president. Act like one.
Update: One down, nine to go
FOX News — President Obama intends to meet with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Thursday, a White House official told FoxNews.com, after criticism mounted over the president’s refusal to meet her while she is in Washington this week.
A heckler shouted “Liar! You liar!… You should be impeached.” as Barack Obama gave an impromptu speech to supporters on a bus during his rained out Memorial Day speech. Via CNN:
Jokes from Late Night:
