Out of touch?

[Amber]

Our kids are taught in school about national disasters other countries face, asked to participate and help...here we are with a gusher spewing into the ocean offshore in our own country, and everyone is strangely silent. (For the record, no, I'm not saying kids should be reporting for pelican cleanup - save that for BP execs - but they haven't covered it as a current event topic at all.)

Ostrich syndrome?

[Ghostdog]

I have to wonder when the chants will start! "Obama lied, Pelicans Died!"

[deanwo]

This annoys me as well, Amber. There is an expectation in this country that once a disaster hits, the government must bail you out via the declaration of a of disaster area. FEMA moves in and everything gets fixed (just like it worked with Katrina).

We see flooding, tornadoes and hurricanes destroying the homes, lives and well being of Americans every year, yet the press elects to cover disasters abroad with more fever and the "socially conscience" people want Americans to give their money to help those in foreign lands.

I'm not against supporting those in need around the world, but it would be nice to see the same humanitarian efforts practiced with equal energy when our fellow citizens are in need.

[Robo]

This annoys me as well, Amber. There is an expectation in this country that once a disaster hits, the government must bail you out via the declaration of a of disaster area. FEMA moves in and everything gets fixed (just like it worked with Katrina).

We see flooding, tornadoes and hurricanes destroying the homes, lives and well being of Americans every year, yet the press elects to cover disasters abroad with more fever and the "socially conscience" people want Americans to give their money to help those in foreign lands.

I'm not against supporting those in need around the world, but it would be nice to see the same humanitarian efforts practiced with equal energy when our fellow citizens are in need.

I agree as well. Part of the issue here is that this disaster has not created a sudden loss of life or personal property which the media focuses on. Obviously, this disaster will have a profound effect on the gulf states and the environment for decades to come.

[Tony1941]

I have to wonder when the chants will start! "Obama lied, Pelicans Died!"

It looks like you came up with first. (At least on this forum.)

It is unfortunate that anytime an incident occurs, the media and the politicians treat it as some form of Roman Circus.

During the Katrina aftermath, it was Anderson Cooper and Soleda O'Brien leading the chants against POTUS Bush II.
Although the chants against POTUS Obama are subdued, there still a sense that the federal government should be able to fix any problem within 48 hours.
Life is a little more complicated, Four years and 10 months after Katrina, the associated destruction is far from being fixed. Having grown up in the area, I would would have estimated a minimum of five years prior to the BP blowout. I believe that there will be another 10 to 15 years before the New Orleans and surrounding Gulf Coast (100 mile radius) will have their economic base restored to 28 Aug. 2005 level.

[Ghostdog]

While I certainly didn't expect the POTUS to take charge of the effort I fully expected the Gov't to take charge and at least direct the effort rather than allowing BP free reign. It is in their (BP's) interest to keep the clean up costs at as low a level as possible. The other outrage was how slow the Gov't was to respond to some simple evasive efforts. Not allowing the State of Louisiana to start building sand berms until an environmental impact study of the sand berms was done erased any hope that the berms would do some good to shield the wetlands from the advancing oil slick. The failure to not seek outside help from the many oil clean up agencies other countries already have in place is appaling. The Coast Guard not allowing the oil recovery barges to set sail for the impacted areas until they had a chance to visit them at dockside to inspect them for flotation vests and fire extingushers is another Gov't SNAFU. Mark my words, the well will not be sealed off. While the shaft spewing the oil may be sealed BP will make an effort to still pump oil from the well. One has to ask if they were really trying to shut off the flow or just come up with a way to capture it and if the order to just seal the leak was issued would we be still seeing it spew out for so many days now. IMHO I think this will seal the fate of anymore deep water drilling.

[Tony1941]

...... IMHO I think this will seal the fate of anymore deep water drilling.

I believe that the need for energy will overcome any opposition to deep water drilling. Three Mile Island, Santa Barbara, etc are examples were "accidents" were cleaned up and lessons learned. It does appear that BP was doing it on the cheap and the lack of oversight by the federal government certainly contributed to the problem.