IT'S THE COMPETENCE ISSUE, STUPID!
Here’s what I said (in part) in my Blog entry, David Brooks, The Oil Plume and The Incompetence Thing -- LINK
http://jaygaskill.com/blog-mt2/mt.fcgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&id=493&blog_id=2
Mr. Brooks' thoughtful comments notwithstanding, this is not about “how much” government, it is about how little practical intelligence has been enrolled in the current administration.THE WORLD'S INSATIABLE DEMAND FOR PETROL, COUPLED WITH INCREASINGLY TIGHT RESTRICTIONS ON SURFACE AND NEAR SURFACE OIL AND GAS DRILLING LED INEXORABLY TO EVER DEEPER, EVER RISKIER OPERATIONS. THIS WAS AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN.
TO SAY THAT THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION IS “WEAK” IN ITS REAL-WORLD, ENGINEERING SAVVY and COMMON SENSE STAFF SUPPORT WOULD BE TOO KIND.
HOW MANY POLITICAL HACKS AND ACADEMIC IDEOLOGUES DOES IT TAKE TO SIMULTANEOUSLY MISMANAGE A SICK ECONOMY AND A CATASTROPHIC INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT?
THE QUESTION ANSWERS ITSELF.
To my tirade, Dick Morris adds some special insights.
Why can’t Obama plug the hole?
Because he has no administrative experience. I often saw Bill Clinton, as governor and as president, call in experts and ask the tough questions when he faced a new disaster. In Arkansas, it was tornadoes or floods or fires. In Washington, it was Oklahoma City. But, each time, he thoroughly familiarized himself with all the technical issues. He took a bath in the science and substance of the hazard and became as knowledgeable as those who had spent a lifetime studying it. So he knew what questions to ask.
Any CEO or COO or manager has similar experience. But a community organizer, law professor, state senator, US Senator, and president doesn’t have the requisite experience. He doesn’t know not to trust his own bureaucracy. He hasn’t been burned enough to realize that he needs to intervene to waive restrictions, set aside regulations, and open up the process to new solutions. He’s like JFK during the Bay of Pigs. He doesn’t know how to avoid being betrayed by his own bureaucracy and the industry it’s supposed to regulate.
Why did he not waive the Jones Act (he still hasn’t) to allow foreign vessels to ply our waters to clean up the spill? Not because he was against it. He couldn’t have been against so obvious a course as waiving it. It was likely because nobody told him about it and he never knew to ask.
Why did he let the bureaucracy use only US contractors to dredge the Gulf and build the berms that Louisiana wanted? Why did he spurn the offer of Dutch assistance (half the country has been dredged from the sea and is below sea level)? Not because he wanted the jobs to go to Americans. That would have been an insane consideration in the face of this crisis. it is probably because he never realized that our capacity for dredging needed augmentation. Because he never asked.
To the right and the center, these failings show that Obama is in over his head.
LINK http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2010/06/16/dems-turn-on-obama/#more-1090
Stay tuned.
Jay B Gaskill
