Obama’s Lessons from the Oil Leak

Barack Obama isn’t the president America wants in charge of the oil spill crisis. As a methodical thinker, he prefers to take his time before making decisions. The rational intellectual isn’t apt to be a comforter and consoler. In times of crisis, the people want a hands-on man of action who radiates confidence and trust.

Despite that, Obama is exactly the man America should want in charge of this crisis. It’s debatable whether he fully understood the extent of the catastrophe right from the start. BP had been combating the spill for some time while the U.S. government stood on the sidelines and watched in silence. The crisis management wasn’t perfect, and Obama has publicly admitted as much. But in the meantime, an immense quantity of crude oil continues to float around in the Gulf of Mexico. Even if they’re successful in plugging the leak, the biggest oil slick in U.S. history is still floating around in Gulf waters.

Anyone interested in judging Obama’s role fairly and objectively should measure him by what lessons he has learned from the experience. In order to gain needed congressional support for his new environmental program, he announced three weeks prior to the catastrophe that he wanted to open the sensitive Gulf continental shelf to further offshore drilling. That compromise now has to be taken off the table.

The president has to tell his countrymen loudly and clearly what the real price of oil is. He has to increase government regulation over a negligent oil industry, and he must push harder for alternative energy sources. The one bright spot during these dark days is the fact that, for the first time in history, the man in the White House realizes the necessity for all this. If he can muster the courage to actually bring about the greening of America, this oil spill doesn’t have to become “Obama’s Katrina.”