Thursday, July 29, 2010

Pissed About Golf....really??

Originally written June 21, 2010



I find it amazing that the GOPers seem to mind horribly that President Obama played a bit of golf this past weekend. They didn't mind in the LEAST that their hero, Dubya Bush, played a LOT of golf during times of crisis in his administration as well…even bantered about fighting terrorists while on the golf course. The right-wing also didn’t mind at ALL that Bush spent more time on vacation than any other president in history also during many times of crisis.

Bush was visiting schoolchildren in his brother's home state when he delivered that "deer in the headlights" look after being told of the World Trade Center attack on the day of America's greatest tragedy. He didn't leave the classroom upon learning of the attack for far too long a time, though there is really no consensus on just HOW long. He didn’t return to Washington for over 10 hours and didn't visit New York for three days. Bush was on vacation while starting two wars (three if you count the "war on terror" as a separate entity from Afghanistan and Iraq...which I do, since if we REALLY had wanted to wage war on the "terrorists" who attacked us, the target should have more logically been Bush's pals the Saudis, but he was busy holding hands and dancing with the Sauds). Bush was also on vacation while watching a major city drown and its people drown along with it (some in their attics waiting for rescue). Watching others die from lack of food, water or shelter during Katrina's aftermath while the bodies of American citizens rotted in the streets.

In the days leading up to Katrina's landfall, when all KNEW that the Category 5 hurricane was going to hit, Bush and Cheney were both on vacation in their respective "home" states...Bush in Texas, Cheney in Wyoming. When Katrina made landfall, Bush and Cheney stayed on vacation. When the levees breeched on Monday and New Orleans drowned, Bush and Cheney STAYED on vacation. The day AFTER the levees failed and Americans were dying in the Superdome, Bush (still on vacation) was playing golf and playing guitar with country singers.

Also on that Tuesday, Secretary of State Condi Rice LEFT for a shopping vacation in New York and saw a Broadway show. Bush didn't return from his vacation until Wednesday, August 31. Cheney didn't return until a day later, on Thursday.

The republicans had NO problem whatsoever with ANY of that behavior. But now suddenly, it's a problem when the president (that they just happen to hate) plays a bit of golf on Father's Day.

They are SUCH hypocrites. And it's so clearly a hypocrisy born out of deep-seeded hatred.

Their utter hate is glaringly apparent in everything they do, starting with the fact that a “filibuster” is no longer a rare event, but now used for EVERYTHING that is put up for a vote. This fact is completely ironic (read hypocritical) considering that when THEY had majority control, they threatened the “nuclear option” of abolishing the filibuster rule entirely if the minority party dared even threaten to try to use it.

Their crazy “birthers” scream about how he’s not an American when the fact that he was born in Hawaii has been completely verified. They scream every crazy accusation that there is...“He’s a Muslim”, “He’s Kenyan”, “He’s a Socialist”, “He’s a Communist”, even “He’s a racist!”

On top of all this they keep calling this BP disaster "Obama's Katrina," this concept is TOTAL garbage. The comparison isn't even 'apples and oranges', because at least apples and oranges have the commonality of both being fruit...this comparison is more like apples and carburetors. One was a natural disaster for which we SHOULD have been better prepared (and had been in previous years) but which was then completely bungled by the government; the other is a man-made catastrophe caused by greed, arrogance and (Bush era) deregulation, that is being managed to the best of the government's ability.

What was needed during Katrina was government intervention...drop-ins of food and water, the promised trailers, peacekeeping forces, etc...all things that our government should excel at, and has excelled at many times in the past. But instead, this time they failed miserably in every way, while the PotUS congratulated the man orchestrating the failure. On the other hand, what is needed in this oil disaster is the EXPERTS (who happen to mostly work for the oil industry, not government) dealing with the horror that the oil industry has wrecked through cutting corners and lack of regulation while attempting to drill the deepest oil well in history.

What is it that the republicans want Obama to do? Put on scuba gear and go down and cap the damn well himself? He has visited the region FIVE times (and not just in a flyover like Bush did during Katrina).


He has made them drill not just one but TWO relief wells, so that if the first doesn't work (as it didn't with the last similar spill, Ixtoc over three decades ago) the second will be almost ready and therefore it will NOT take 10 months (as it did with Ixtoc) to get the leak ultimately shut down. He has mobilized the Coast Guard and other government agencies at his direction to aid with the containment and clean-up. And last, but certainly not least, he has gotten the primary perpetrators of this disaster, BP, to immediately put $20 billion into a fund to enable prompt payouts to begin to those injured... which a republican congressman appallingly called a "shakedown." Incidentally I find it notable that the Congressman who issued that apology to BP for the "shakedown" is the ranking Republican on the Commerce and Energy Committee. Therefore, IF the Republicans regain control of the House in November, he is the one who will become the Chairman of that important committee which plays a role in regulating the oil industry. Also notable to me is this: although BP is seemingly being made to accept their responsibility in this mess, Transocean, the actual owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that BP was leasing, has already received an early partial insurance settlement of $401 million around May 5, 2010 for the "total loss" of their rig.

The fact of the matter is that the right is so full of hatred for our President that even if Obama were to suddenly develop magical powers and could find a way to clean the Gulf with just a wave of his hand it would still not be good enough for these people. The right would STILL hate him...hell...they'd probably accuse him of 'stealing the oil.' 

Or more likely, HALF of them would accuse him of "stealing the oil," the other half would use it as "proof" that he is the "anti-christ"

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