Although I don’t blame Obama one bit for the disaster, I am very frustrated with the lack of planning and leadership in this country. Forty years ago we brought a crippled rocket home by jimmy rigging a carbon dioxide removal system using coffee filters and duct tape. And yet…we’re completely helpless while this disaster escalates. We’ve become soft and lazy and corrupt and our incompetence is showing.
With the exception of truly extraordinary events (e.g., 9/11), a President’s job approval is almost exclusively a function of the economy, and how many of our boys and girls are dying on a foreign war. But for the purposes of 24/7 cable news, every statistically insignificant blip must be explained as if the voters actually gave a damn. So we pretend that even though most Americans cannot name a single Supreme Court Justice, or find Alabama on a map, they care deeply about the Minerals Management Service, or something.
Oh, come on- are you saying that Fox News is somehow misrepresentingthe facts?
$750 million dollars! Why, the *entirety *of Obama’s campaign money came from BP, because they knew this was going to happen and they wanted to buy him off! Next you’re going to try to insinuate that Fox News has some sort of *agenda *against Obama. I scoff, sir, I scoff.
“proper formatting”? What does that even mean? Most style guides call for Mr Last Name. The only thing that demands calling the President President all the time are guys on the Internet who don’t know anything about widely used style rules that long predate Mr Obama’s presidency.
If we were writing for the Times, we would use Mr. Obama on 2nd and subsequent mentions just like their style book calls for. (along with most other papers)
I found myself referring to the former president by his last name without any honorific because I really thought the guy was pond scum. The proper form of address is either President Smith or Mr. Smith. In fact, the usage of Mister President was established by President George Washington. When commentators (whether from Fox or some other less right-wing news outlet) drop the title, it is subtly denigratory in my opinion. IT may, in fact, be deliberate when the commentator is one of the more prominent critics of the current POTUS.
You posted something to the effect that entities who haven’t been charged or convicted of anything were “criminals” and I snarked at your presumption and you suggested that you know so much about the matter it’s only a matter of sentencing not guilt or innocence and I snarked at that and you are now trying desperately to change the subject. Just so we are clear as to what is going on here.
I’ll admit that that interpretation is tough to argue with. And while you label your comments snarking, I’m halfway 'round the planet thinking, “Nice use of the Socratic Method, Brisbane. Touché.” 
The post you originally responded to contained sarcasm and an attempt at over-the-top humor. You commented and I’m thinking, “Riiiiiight. Let’s have some fun with this, 'cause the BP oil disaster is totally not-fun.” What followed was more over-the-top humor that I ratcheted up a notch.
From that perspective, I hope your compassion allows this interpretation of my comments. My comments and BP’s response to the oil disaster are both jokes. The difference between them is … one of them isn’t funny.
(I’m curious. Have you read the article my so-called presumption quoted? If you somehow or other missed it, that’s OK. It was a tiny link. But I’d be interested in what you thought of it.)
I see. So having tried the “let’s start joking” gambit and the “change the subject” gambit, you are now trying the “I was only ever joking” gambit. Gotcha. Go back and read your first post. Sure, you were just joking. Yeah, I believe that.
EvilTOJ Comic Book Guy// Greatest Painting Ever//Comic Book Guy
Well, the incident DOES reveal Obama’s total lack of experience in managing…remember, he is just a lawyer who has never run a business, evaluated senior executives, or delegated serious work to underlings.
I am not surprised, because his cabinet includes unqualified people as well (Eric Holder, Janet Reno, etc.).
His failure to appoint a strong person to coordinate a unified response to the disaster is significant…now he announces that he is going to “kick butt”, or something like that (whatever he means by that).
This administration is a bunch of highschool nerds trying to run GM.
Janet Reno would be quite surprised to hear she’s a member of Obama’s cabinet and that she’s unqualified for a job she doesn’t hold.
Sorry! (I have been known to make a mistake); I meant Janet Napolitano.:smack:
I’m struck by the fact that the coast guard ordered BP to clean up a certain beach before the president arrived this week. This is the second time I’ve heard of a beach being cleaned up prior to Obama’s arrival. I’ve got to ask: Why? Isn’t the point so the president can see the effects of the disaster? It makes no sense to me to have the beach cleaned up before Obama arrives, but apparently they are in the habit of doing it.
The same reason people frantically tidy up before the cleaning lady arrives, I guess. 
ralph, you’re absolutely right. He should have been down there from Day One, standing in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner and blaming the spill on terrorists.