Misplaced Priorities

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Monday, I offered some thoughts on what seems to be the poor response by the federal government with regard to the Gulf oil spill. Here are is an article that will have you scratching your head in bewilderment. 

My take: There are far too many U.S. agencies that are too worried about their bureaucratic perquisites to meld into an effective team with a genuine sense of urgency. We need to bring every resource to bear to mitigate this problem.

Comments

  1. Bill DugganJune 28, 2010 at 9:10 AM

    We've seen this time and again, under different administrations. You wrote about it in your book regarding Katrina, so it is not an "Obama" problem, but a overall political one. On one hand, some want BP to be accountable and fix the problem without government intervention. On the other, some call for the government to "fix everything", even though it is a private enterprise disaster.

    If BP wanted the Dutch help and were prevented by the US Government, that is a huge flaw in the overall government system. When is America going to wake up and begin to solve problems without concerns over borders, unions, etc.? Protecting US jobs by training them to place sand barriers, while losing US jobs due to the delay of response and action (tourism has already been drastically affected all around the Gulf), is a losing proposition. It is the same as allowing oil to spill for over 60 days now, while preventing Dutch assistance that would have removed 99% of the oil from the water.

    I can't understand an Administration (and Bush's was the same) that demands accountability and promises assistance and results, while quite evidently not doing everything they are able. This is inexcusable and everyone (government and BP) should be held accountable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike SmithJune 28, 2010 at 9:51 PM

    Bill,

    I am trying to keep politics out of the blog as much as possible. You are right -- the problem of inadequate response to disasters is apolitical. Bush's administration did a terrible job in the immediate aftermath of Katrina and Obama is doing no better in the Gulf.

    I will likely write more in the near future on this situation.

    Thanks for the comment.

    Mike

    ReplyDelete

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