Oil Sticks to Pelicans and Presidents

It was a virtual catastrophe, almost as if people thought it could never happen. Crude oil has been pouring in gigantic quantities out of the well deep in the Gulf of Mexico where the oilrig Deepwater Horizon once stood. Now the catastrophe has made landfall and finally hit the political leadership of the country as well. The oil leak could become for President Obama what Hurricane Katrina was for his predecessor, George W. Bush — namely, the beginning of the end.

Tough, reddish-brown oil scum is penetrating in large quantities into the marshy, ecologically sensitive Mississippi Delta. Television stations are now broadcasting pictures that make the enormity of the deep-sea oil catastrophe understandable even to “Joe six-pack,” the average American consumer. A signal: The major television networks are reporting directly from onsite locations affected by the pollution thereby emphasizing the national calamity. The pictures of birds, trying to flap wings dull with oil, of dead dolphins and sea turtles, touches peoples’ souls. The damage has even affected the pelican, Louisiana’s state bird.

It took BP four weeks before they finally acknowledged their responsibility for the oil leak. The multinational oil firm tried several different approaches to plugging the leak, all in vain. There’s also doubt being expressed about the latest variation called “top kill.” It could actually increase the oil flow if not completely successful. BP engineers hesitated to employ this killer application, and with good reason: They know the catastrophe would become completely unmanageable.

There was a time when BP wanted to break up the company (BP was to be an abbreviation for “beyond petroleum”) and it might still happen — just in a totally unplanned way. The end of the company wouldn’t come about because of a switch to biofuels and solar energy, but rather due to a financial crisis and even possible bankruptcy. BP C.E.O. Tony Hayward promised to reimburse all claims arising from the Deepwater Horizon case. He needs to be held to that promise. There can be no alternative scenario wherein a corporation engages in the risky business of deep-water oil production, reaps billions upon billions of dollars in profits, and then expects taxpayers to pick up the ecological costs.

Barack Obama’s political fate won’t depend solely on his administration’s ability to better combat the pollution of America’s coastal lands, to prevent the demise of the Gulf fishing industry and to later clean up the beaches. Obama will also have to enforce the principle that the polluter (in this instance, BP) pays, and he must ensure the powerful energy industry is put in its proper place.

That would be the first step toward dismantling the government within the U.S. government known as “Big Oil,” which was constantly expanded during the George W. Bush administration. Since the Deepwater worst-case scenario, it is obvious: The oil industry in the United States was almost completely self-regulated, and it had a dangerously cozy relationship with what government regulation there was, including mutual participation in sex and drug parties.

If Obama is unsuccessful in making this change, he will have the oil stains of this national catastrophe permanently on his vest, and rhetorical dry cleaning won’t ever get them out.