# The Obama BP/Energy Speech - A Failed Opportunity **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 16, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374 "2010-06-16T00:37:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/1 "2010-06-16T00:37:14Z")
For those who missed it, Obama addressed the Nation tonight on the BP oil spill. You can [read the text of the speech here](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/15/obamas-gulf-spill-speech_n_613554.html). I watched. I listened. Totally unimpressed. He had the opportunity to take BP by the balls, squeeze hard and move this country. I believe he failed. Listening to the political pundits dissect the speech and I must agree that Obama blew it big time. Even conservative Joe Scarborough was spot on, earlier saying: > [@](#): > > “I would make the John Kennedy speech that by the end of the decade, we will go to the moon. This president can say, thank god it’s the beginning of the decade, by the end of a decade, America will break its dependence on foreign oil. By the end of the decade, we will control our own destiny. By the end of the decade, we will be positioned to dominate the world in energy for the next century. We will do it because we must do it…” > **[Beyond Left and Right: Scarborough Says Obama's BP Speech Should Echo JFK's...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beyond-left-and-right-sca_n_611179)** > > Beyond Left and Right: Scarborough Says Obama's BP Speech Should Echo JFK's On Space Race (VIDEO) The worst environmental disaster in US history. We have BP and the other companies by the balls. A golden opportunity by the president, not just to address this disaster but establish an energy policy for the nation and run with it. The president blinked. Twice. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/2 "2010-06-16T00:49:48Z")
What does it mean, in your view, to “have BP by the balls”? All fine, to speak of energy independence, and all that, but I’m still not hearing a concrete plan for anything. Meanwhile, my general take on the speech was, “Obama to Gulf Coast petroleum workers: ‘Drop dead’.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/3 "2010-06-16T00:55:53Z")
I watched it. Typical speech by a president. I don’t see what could be accomplished by a speech. People want the leak to be stopped. The only thing I picked up from the speech was that the relief well would be done “later in the summer”. Well, that’s real specific! Truth is, we still don’t know how much oil leaked out (numbers keep going up every week) and we don’t know when it’s going to stop. A presidential speech doesn’t get us any closer to knowing those two things. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/4 "2010-06-16T01:01:41Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > A golden opportunity by the president, not just to address this disaster but establish an energy policy for the nation and run with it. I sort of agree, but you sound like you made up your mind before the speech. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/5 "2010-06-16T01:08:21Z")
My impression of the speech was, “That’s it, that’s all you’ve got?” In your first Oval Office speech? Less than 20 minutes of fluff. No inititive, no plans, no vision, no leadership, not really any details at all. He had an opportunity to say something, anything, and it came across as if he thought it to be a homework assignment, a chore to be got out of the way. And he did. A speech that said nothing really but filled the available slot. The country has been waiting, and we got fluff, and not even new and interesting fluff. Maybe it’s just me. Did anyone feel inspired by that speech? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/6 "2010-06-16T01:15:26Z")
> [@](#): > > He had the opportunity to take BP by the balls, squeeze hard and move this country To destroy BP as a viable company? To dictate success? Bankrupt them completely? Force them to make us energy independent? What does your statement here mean, exactly? > [@](#): > > The worst environmental disaster in US history. Is it? I would have thought the great dust bowl would have been a worst environmental disaster. I’m just curious here as to the validity of this statement, and what it’s based on. > [@](#): > > A golden opportunity by the president, not just to address this disaster but establish an energy policy for the nation and run with it. To (presumably by fiat) get us off fossil fuels in a decade? Or to squeeze BP like a grape for all the juice we can get? I’m confused as to what your OP is really saying here. -XT ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/7 "2010-06-16T01:20:49Z")
It is a moratorium on new drilling rigs. They have to clean up MMS before they can proceed. They have assembled experts to clean up the agency and formulate new regulations. The"drop dead workers" was BPs answer. Obama is trying to facilitate payments for damages ,in case you missed that. Tomorrow he meets with BP to determine how big the fund will be. Getting money for damages in a hurry would be good for the gulf people. Would you think business as usual would be a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/8 "2010-06-16T01:24:28Z")
Oh, and we have Dr. Chu, Nobel Prize winning Physicist, on the job. Kee-rist. Is he supposed to be like the Professor on Gilligan’s island? If I have a problem with cooling and trapping atoms with lasers, he’s my man. Capping an oil well at the bottom of the ocean? I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/9 "2010-06-16T01:40:31Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > It is a moratorium on new drilling rigs. They have to clean up MMS before they can proceed. They have assembled experts to clean up the agency and formulate new regulations. > The"drop dead workers" was BPs answer. Obama is trying to facilitate payments for damages ,in case you missed that. Tomorrow he meets with BP to determine how big the fund will be. Getting money for damages in a hurry would be good for the gulf people. > Would you think business as usual would be a good idea? Thanks, **Gonzo** ; despite having worked in the industry for 27 years, I had no idea what the moratorium is about until you came along. I don’t expect business as usual at all. Some acknowledgement by Mr. Obama of the significance of what is likely to be additional hundreds of thousands thrown out of work for an undetermined period, in an area where there will be little alternative employment, would have been nice, but whatever. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/10 "2010-06-16T01:43:32Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Oh, and we have Dr. Chu, Nobel Prize winning Physicist, on the job. > > Kee-rist. Is he supposed to be like the Professor on Gilligan’s island? If I have a problem with cooling and trapping atoms with lasers, he’s my man. Capping an oil well at the bottom of the ocean? I don’t think so. I am glad someone else has seen the light. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/11 "2010-06-16T01:48:21Z")
I was actually going to praise him for keeping it short. He was taking a political hit for the government’s response and used some free air time to put a smiley face on it. Kudos for not spending valuable network time for personal use. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/12 "2010-06-16T01:55:32Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Oh, and we have Dr. Chu, Nobel Prize winning Physicist, on the job. > > Kee-rist. Is he supposed to be like the Professor on Gilligan’s island? If I have a problem with cooling and trapping atoms with lasers, he’s my man. Capping an oil well at the bottom of the ocean? I don’t think so. Who then, Brownie? Perhaps Sarah Palin’s Hubbie? Cheap shot, **John**. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/13 "2010-06-16T02:01:34Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] Who then, Brownie? [/QUOTE] Well…it depends. What exactly is his role supposed to be? Oversight? He is energy secretary, so I’d say in that role he’s the man who’s in the drivers seat. Rolling up his sleeves to actually work on solutions? I’m with John there. > [@](#): > > Perhaps Sarah Palin’s Hubbie? Because Mace is SUCH a Palin fan, right? 😛 > [@](#): > > Cheap shot, John. It is…and it isn’t. I thought it was pretty funny, personally, but then my gore isn’t getting oxed here (I actually think Obama is doing a pretty decent job on this, to be honest). -XT ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/14 "2010-06-16T02:50:44Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Who then, Brownie? > Perhaps Sarah Palin’s Hubbie? > Cheap shot, **John**. A very important question, not to be set aside lightly, but hurled with great force! But seriously folks…who indeed? Why don’t we have experts on capping these sorts of wells? Because nobody would pay anybody to become such an expert. We paid people to press the cutting edge of the envelope on how to drilll such a well, and how to profitably extricate the oils thereunder. Science in a devoutly capitalist society follow profit, the glow of the dollar sign shows the way through the darkness. Well, some of it. The engineering of creating such a thing has grown by leaps and bounds, the engineering of cleaning up the shit is precisely the same after fifty years. Because there’s no money in it. “Don’t worry about it! Chances of a disaster are one in a thousand!” “How many are you planning on building?” “About ten thousand.” “I see a problem.” ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/15 "2010-06-16T02:54:43Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] “Don’t worry about it! Chances of a disaster are one in a thousand!” [/QUOTE] And if the chances are one in a million? [QUOTE=About ten thousand.] "How many are you planning on building? [/QUOTE] And to restate your final line…‘ah, I see the problem here. Failure to grasp probability’… 😛 > [@](#): > > Why don’t we have experts on capping these sorts of wells? Who would pay their salaries to sit around waiting for the improbable (read ‘more than a thousand to one chance’) event to happen? Should the government keep experts on retainer for every unlikely event? Or should they just know in advance what unlikely event is going to happen and simply keep those experts on board?? -XT ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/16 "2010-06-16T03:02:31Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > A very important question, not to be set aside lightly, but hurled with great force! > > But seriously folks…who indeed? Why don’t we have experts on capping these sorts of wells? Because nobody would pay anybody to become such an expert. We paid people to press the cutting edge of the envelope on how to drilll such a well, and how to profitably extricate the oils thereunder. We do have experts on capping the wells. They ignored every safety rule imaginable. It was stupid to the 4th power. There may be some additional useful information that comes out of this but the bottom line is the technology to do it right every time was sitting on the bottom of the ocean waiting to be used correctly. What this means (AFAIK) is that the oil companies pay us for a handful of government engineers to babysit them. The cost would be minuscule for those doing things correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/17 "2010-06-16T03:23:21Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Oh, and we have Dr. Chu, Nobel Prize winning Physicist, on the job. > > Kee-rist. Is he supposed to be like the Professor on Gilligan’s island? If I have a problem with cooling and trapping atoms with lasers, he’s my man. Capping an oil well at the bottom of the ocean? I don’t think so. Your post is even funnier if you imagine it as an XKCD cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/18 "2010-06-16T04:18:33Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Well…it depends. What exactly is his role supposed to be? Oversight? He is energy secretary, so I’d say in that role he’s the man who’s in the drivers seat. Rolling up his sleeves to actually work on solutions? I’m with John there. I imagine that as Energy Secretary, he’s someone who’s ability to manage projects Obama is familiar with. And as a Nobel prize-winning physicist, he is someone who is good at dealing with top scientists. Sort of the Robert Oppenheimer of the job, not the most brilliant scientific mind in the room, but the one who can assemble and lead the team. Does anyone have any better people in mind? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/19 "2010-06-16T04:36:36Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > For those who missed it, Obama addressed the Nation tonight on the BP oil spill. You can [read the text of the speech here](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/15/obamas-gulf-spill-speech_n_613554.html). > > I watched. I listened. Totally unimpressed. He had the opportunity to take BP by the balls, squeeze hard and move this country. I believe he failed. Listening to the political pundits dissect the speech and I must agree that Obama blew it big time. Even conservative Joe Scarborough was spot on, earlier saying: > > [Beyond Left and Right: Scarborough Says Obama's BP Speech Should Echo JFK's On Space Race (VIDEO) | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/14/beyond-left-and-right-sca_n_611179.html) > > The worst environmental disaster in US history. We have BP and the other companies by the balls. A golden opportunity by the president, not just to address this disaster but establish an energy policy for the nation and run with it. > > The president blinked. Twice. Absolutely! He should just prohibit any future oil leaks. In fact, he should Super Prohibit them. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/20 "2010-06-16T05:45:09Z")
Dang! Even Obama’s cheerleaders at MSNBC are trashing his speech and lack of command in office, even going so far as to raise the spectre of Jimmy Carter. [Cite](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/06/15/msnbc_trashes_obamas_address_compared_to_carter_i_dont_sense_executive_command.html) I’m almost beginning to feel sorry for the guy. Clearly there’s more to the job of being president than being able to run a campaign well, look good in a suit, and project an air of elegance and self-containment. It’s looking more and more like the guy is in over his head and just doesn’t have a clue as to what the job of being president really entails. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374.md?page=2)