Mr. Zakaria is spot on on his repudiation of the media for their coverage of the oil spill. Unlike Hurricane Katrina whose main destructive event occurred in hours, the BP oil spill is a ongoing destructive catastrophe that will be occurring for months until those with the technology can find a way to plug the leak. In the interim, the President must govern. World events do not stop. Moreover America will be weakened if rogue nations perceive us to be so consumed with a singular domestic event that it makes us unable to keep an eye on other issues or events that are just as or of greater importance.
The President has no immediate power to do anything about this spill. He can and has sent federal support for cleanup. With the area of oil coverage so large, cleanup will be slow, inefficient, and in some instances impossible. Going forward the President must institute strict regulation that ensures that any company drilling offshore has a provable plan to cleanup a spill before it reaches the shore. Those in the Right Wing complaining about the President’s response and emotions are the ones whose policies in effect allowed this disaster, lack of regulation and a false request for small government till we realize we need appropriately sized government to cleanup the mess. Now the Chamber Of Commerce and Republican Leader Boehner is advocating that the Government should aid in paying for the cleanup. Had the President said this wouldn’t the Right Wing spin this as a tax increase?