# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/21 "2010-06-16T06:10:08Z")
I’m impressed with this new found love of environment in the USA, especially by Republicans. Any chance consumption of 25% of the worlds oil by 5% of the worlds population will be reduced soon? ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/22 "2010-06-16T06:21:47Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > 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? Speeches like this are boring if it’s about clearing up an oil mess under the sea. Far better clearing up another kind of oil mess in a faraway country you invaded for the purpose. That’s proper attention grabbing and worth watching - this just wasn’t in the same league. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/23 "2010-06-16T07:30:33Z")
The Senate are going to do a real number on BP; why should Obama get in their way? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/24 "2010-06-16T07:38:29Z")
If BP haven’t invested their vast profits wisely and diversely, and instead are completely reliant on their oil industry income and assets, then they deserve everything that happens to them, and if they’ve had to learn the hard way, fuck 'em. They’ve had a nice run up until now. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/25 "2010-06-16T10:11:40Z")
Right, it’s about finding blame with an abstract like a corporate identity rather than considering the issues that have allowed entire industries to buy their own levels of regulation, oversight and culpability from a corrupt and entirely self-serving political class. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/26 "2010-06-16T10:24:25Z")
I blame ACORN. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/27 "2010-06-16T11:27:52Z")
What do you want him to do, go all Bobby Knight and stand up and throw his chair? If he rants and raves about how he’s got BP by the short hairs, that’s just going to make BP say “screw you, take us to court if you want anything out of us”. Dr. Chu may not know squat about drilling. But he knows enough to know what he doesn’t know and knows how to ask intelligent questions so that he can put it in terms Obama can understand and make informed decisions. In a crisis of an engineering and scientific nature, why not call the number of the guy on your team with the best science background? What’s going to be ignored is the call to wean ourselves off the finite oil resource. As long as one party refuses to act like grownups and come to the table and talk seriously, meaningful change just isn’t going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/28 "2010-06-16T11:42:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > 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. Is he going to drop a giant coconut on the oil well? ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/29 "2010-06-16T12:32:29Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > I’m impressed with this new found love of environment in the USA, especially by Republicans. > > Any chance consumption of 25% of the worlds oil by 5% of the worlds population will be reduced soon? Probably not, since those 5% use that oil as an input to produce 25+% of the world’s wealth. [http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data\_Set\_Group\_Id=804](http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=804) But as we get more productive and efficient over time, I would expect that ratio of gallon/$GDP to decline somewhat. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/30 "2010-06-16T12:45:17Z")
As long as it’s not related to industrial output and the national SUV wankfest and the like, that’s outstanding. ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/31 "2010-06-16T14:03:35Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > As long as it’s not related to industrial output and the national SUV wankfest and the like, that’s outstanding. Of course. I didn’t even realize that was up for debate. Industrial output and SUVs = Bad. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/32 "2010-06-16T14:04:13Z")
Yep, Obama is revealed to be the empty suit he is. Where is “Plan B”? This guy has had two months to meet with experts, plan a strategy, and remediate the destruction…and we get another teleprompter speech. As Yogi Berra said “deja vue all over again”…only this time, we have a guy who isn’t as smart as Carter. Eric Holder should sue BP…that’l solve everything. ---
**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, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/33 "2010-06-16T14:09:06Z")
In your haste, you neglected to include your brilliant plan to remedy the situation. We wait wtih bated breath. ---
**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, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/34 "2010-06-16T14:12:37Z")
Strange logic afoot here. Chu is a scientist ,but the wrong choice to be in charge of the oil teams because it is not his field. But, Obama who is not a scientist or an oil man is at fault for not stopping the flow. He had to rely on BP. There were no other options. They said they could stop it from the first day. If they did ,all would be fine. But they failed over and over. They also lied repeatedly. That must be Obama’s fault too. ---
**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, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/35 "2010-06-16T14:17:54Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Yep, Obama is revealed to be the empty suit he is. Where is “Plan B”? [Sarah Palin: Call The Dutch To Help The Oil Spill, Because They Know About Leaks](http://www.oliverwillis.com/2010/06/16/sarah-palin-call-the-dutch-to-help-the-oil-spill-because-they-know-about-leaks/) Humor aside, we’re already on Plan B. Plan A was to use effective government oversight to prevent a deepwater disaster like this in the first place. Of course, there were some who chose to sabotage plan A. They don’t like to talk about that now. They prefer to talk about how Obama didn’t magically and instantly fix the problems they created. ---
**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, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/36 "2010-06-16T14:19:45Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Who then, Brownie? > Perhaps Sarah Palin’s Hubbie? > Cheap shot, **John**. Yeah, those two were on the top of my list. I just forgot to post them. :rolleyes: Look, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about “Nobel Prize Winning Physicist…” from Obama. I’m sick of hearing it. It’s his job, not mine, to make sure people working on this know something about oil drilling. This guy doesn’t. I expect more from Obama than a throw away line about a “Nobel Prize Winning Physicist…”. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/37 "2010-06-16T14:25:16Z")
Here’s another thought: Obama is anti-British, and known to be. Letting his personal animus into things does not sell well. Fortunately he’s intelligent and realised this, so he’s letting other people be the attack dogs while rising above it. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/38 "2010-06-16T14:35:05Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > What’s going to be ignored is the call to wean ourselves off the finite oil resource. As long as one party refuses to act like grownups and come to the table and talk seriously, meaningful change just isn’t going to happen. What I was hoping for was a pivot from BP to the need to address the problem of climate change. The one big thing he really could have done was start selling America on the necessity of doing that, and outlining what that would involve in practical terms, and what it would mean to them. But even if he was going to just address the problem of our dependence on foreign oil, he needed to go a bit further than he did. Because most of us are, like it or not, tied into a life where there’s really no alternative to putting a lot of miles on one’s car every year. And that’s going to be the way it is until we’ve got other ways of getting around. We need more mass transit, and we need to (hear this, libertarians) _get rid of the regulations that prevent dense development_ around subway and light rail stops, so that more people have the option of living and working near public transit. Whether we’re talking about climate change or energy independence, a major investment in mass transit infrastructure, be it subway, light rail, or even GPS-equipped buses with dedicated lanes at rush hour, needs to be part of the solution. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/39 "2010-06-16T15:00:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Look, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about “Nobel Prize Winning Physicist…” from Obama. I’m sick of hearing it. It’s his job, not mine, to make sure people working on this know something about oil drilling. This guy doesn’t. I expect more from Obama than a throw away line about a “Nobel Prize Winning Physicist…”. Except that the oil drilling experts obviously don’t have the solution to this problem. It makes sense to gather new ideas from people outside the field with scientific expertise. Given his combination of scientific and administrative experience Chu is a good person to do this and in fact there was a [story](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/05/AR2010060503827_pf.html)about a suggestion he made about using gamma rays which turned out to be useful: > [@](#): > > Obama has also called in some of the many scientists on the federal payroll, led by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Chu at one point pushed the unusual idea of using gamma rays to peer into the blowout preventer to determine if its valves were closed, a technique he experimented with in graduate school while studying radioactive decay. > > The suggestion at first elicited snickering and “Incredible Hulk” jokes. Then they tried it, and it worked. “They weren’t hot on his ideas,” a senior White House official said of BP’s initial reaction to Chu’s suggestions. “Now they are.” As for the speech itself it seemed to be OK. Obama laid out the steps he has taken to deal with the issue and what he wants to do in the future. There was nothing very original but there are probably many people who are confused about what’s going on so it makes to lay out the basic story. This is one of the those occasions where media pundits who are obsessed with the issue forget that much of the average public is unaware of the basic facts. Also pundits love the grand gesture like Kennedy aiming to go to the moon but not every issue can be solved using that approach. Energy policy is a much larger and more complex issue than the moon landing and Obama can’t dictate solutions. He can nudge Congress to move on the issue which is what he did. ---
**Author:** ![wmfellows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@wmfellows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wmfellows)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/40 "2010-06-16T15:05:55Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > He had the opportunity to take BP by the balls, squeeze hard and move this country. … We have BP and the other companies by the balls. … Pray tell how? Is the US going to try seize BP assets and then magically hope for the oil you need to run things appear? What pray tell does this have to do with the other oil companies? > [@Magiver](#): > > 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. At least this is a practical thought. Good one actually. > [@Quartz](#): > > Here’s another thought: Obama is anti-British, and known to be. Letting his personal animus into things does not sell well. Eh? Don’t have that impression at all. [Clive Crook in FT](http://blogs.ft.com/crookblog/2010/06/britain-should-back-down-over-bp/)had a rather adult take on this (his critique of the speech is interesting as well). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374.md?page=3)