Bad Timing

Inevitable or otherwise — just once won’t hurt — Obama’s timing is not good. One month after having announced new offshore drilling off the coast of the United States, he’s forced to backpedal. Blame it on the explosion of an oil-rig, soon to be a national disaster. After all, environmentalists have been saying it for a long time: Offshore drilling is a ticking time bomb. By taking the risk of authorizing new drilling, particularly in the southern Gulf of Mexico, Obama has poked a hole in part of his electoral base. In fact, this 180 degree turn does much to contradict his 2008 election campaign platform, back when the Democratic candidate opposed lifting the moratorium, imposed by Congress, on offshore drilling off America’s coasts.

By authorizing the drilling, the President was apparently seeking a consensus of convenience with certain Republicans. This was done with the ultimate aim of passing his future legislation on the fight against climate change. In other words, a temporary evil (offshore drilling) could justify a long-term good…

But, beyond mere bad timing is the management of the disaster prior to it reaching the coast of Louisiana, which will be the determinant of the Obama administration’s energy and environmental program. Unlike the terrible precedent of the Exxon Valdez in 1989, the oil spill is not distant nor isolated, as it was in Alaska. It has the potential to become a major test of the President’s abilities.

Already stricken by the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Louisiana cannot afford yet another major catastrophe. Five years ago, George Bush saw his star decisively fade in the aftermath of the disastrous management of the flooding of New Orleans. If he doesn’t want to suffer the same fate ahead of the upcoming mid-term elections, Obama — already unconvincing when being green — urgently needs to formulate some serious responses to the catastrophe.