What is Obama to blame for regarding the oil spill?

Tweet

So, I've been kind of avoiding this topic until I know more about the situation. I've been doing a little bit of research, and decided to share my findings on the subject. Let me preface this by stating the fact that I'm a small government individual who doesn't believe in relying on the government to "save us" from problems. My initial reaction to Obama getting blame for the "response" is skeptical. I didn't believe the delay in Catrina response was Bush's fault due to the ineptitude of the local governments in La. and the delay in request for federal help under the National Response Plan (stating that local governments must request aid from county, county from state, state from federal). So in being consistent, I viewed the reports of "delay in response" as A. partisan efforts to take advantage of the "save me government" attitude that the country has been growing toward (and was displayed with Catrina) and B. actual "save me government" attitude from the Left, which expects Obama and the federal government to control the moon, tides, and cancer. So the question is: what did I find with my research? First of all, Bobby Jindal is awesome...and is the exact opposite of Obama (horrible speaker, good governor). He's been trying to get this thing under control, and asking for federal help, once it was clear that this was going to hit Louisiana's coast in full force. Second, this oil spill is in federal government territory. So, unlike Catrina, it is the federal government's responsibility...first and foremost...to prevent this from becoming a disaster (if possible). So that brings us to: In my opinion, what is the Obama administration to blame for, if anything? ORIGINAL EXPLOSION: Well, the Obama administration blamed the Bush administration for "coziness" with the oil companies regarding safety measures and permits. While they may have a point here, it is THEIR job to eliminate this "coziness". Verdict: Blame for the ACTUAL explosion: BP first and foremost, and both the previous (and maybe previous) administrations for their lax investigation into safety matters. THE DELAY IN REACTION: The Obama administration waited 8 days to publicly mention this disaster, whether or not they had behind closed doors reactions we don't know for sure (other than Obama saying they had...but of course he's not going to say he dropped the ball). I don't think they could have done much in this time other than lean on BP to get the problem fixed sooner. Verdict: It's really too hard to tell, maybe something could have been done sooner had Obama leaned on BP...but we'll never really know. THE DISASTER ON THE SHORES AND MARSHES OF LOUISIANA: Bobby Jindal requested emergency permits from the Corps of Engineers (of which Obama is the ultimate boss) to dredge and build a chain of islands in order to help stop the flow of oil from getting into the marshes. I'm not sure the date of this, but Jindal applied for these permits before May 17th and according to an article I'll post below. At that point, he said that they were expecting the permits to be approved by the end of the week...they still haven't been approved. Jindal also requested more boom to be used offshore to catch the oil, and has not received it yet to my knowledge. Verdict: This, I believe IS the administration's fault by not focusing their efforts on approving these permits and getting booms to the state of Louisiana. There would still be oil in the marshes, but not like there will be/is at this point. Inevitably, BP is the foremost responsible for the situation...but since everyone likes to play the blame game I figured I'd let everyone know what I've found with my research of the subject. Here is the link I mentioned, as well as an additional one: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/artificial_barrier_island_plan.html http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-louisiana-governor-bobby-jindal-asks/story?id=10731680&page=1 Here is a link of the timeline for the oil spill: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/interactive.spill.tracker/index.html What do you guys think? Am I missing anything?