Obama's Curiously Flat Gulf Speech
Somewhere between Pensacola and the Oval Office, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico went from an “assault” to an “epidemic”—and President Obama went from commander in chief to surgeon general. And that, in short, is why his speech to the nation fell so flat even as he delivered it.
On the Ground: Watching Obama's speech in Grand Isle, La. , Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Somewhere between Pensacola and the Oval Office, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico went from an “assault” to an “epidemic”—and President Obama went from commander in chief to surgeon general. In Florida, he had referred to the disaster as an "assault" and spoke, at an Army post, in military terms, but by the time he got home he had changed the analogy to a medical matter.
And that, in short, is why his speech to the nation fell so flat even as he delivered it.
It was Obama who compared the gulf disaster to World War II, and it was, unfortunately, Obama who was unable to approach let alone match the specificity, combativeness, and passion of Franklin Roosevelt.
Having just made a tour of the battlefield earlier today—a two-day trip to the four hard-hit gulf states—and having scheduled a meeting tomorrow with his putative but not-to-be-trusted allies, the top officials of BP, the president should have delivered a report full of specifics and fighting spirit.
Instead, there was far too much of: a dissertation on the inscrutability of the future; a discussion of the commissions and studies he planned to set up; the fine credentials of his advisers; and a partial admission that he had been way too credulous in accepting “assurances” earlier this year that it was safe to ramp up off-shore drilling off the American coasts.
As for BP, Obama was acting as if he would scare them off and back to their eagle’s nest in Westminster if he spoke too harshly. The fact is that the company has either been mendacious or negligent or both, and why the president did not take the opportunity to say that to them and the world, I don’t know.
It made it seem as though he was going to have to beg them to establish an escrow fund on Wednesday, not that he was president and he was going to demand it. Isn’t Obama the guy who was studying up so he could kick some ass? Ok, if it’s not BP, who is it, other than some hapless congressional bureaucrat whom he appointed only a few months ago to head the Minerals Management Service?
And where was the battlefield report? FDR and Churchill pored over the maps, knew the troop strengths, knew where the ships were at sea. What evidence is there that this president, famous for his grasp of detail, had that kind of interest in, or stomach for, this war?
Yes, the sad truth is that this well is still mostly unstoppable. It turns out, catastrophically, that BP tapped into the Moby Dick of deep-ocean gushers, and Obama doesn’t want to play the role of Ahab. But he has no choice. He is captain.
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Howard Fineman is Newsweek's Senior Washington Correspondent and Columnist, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief. He is the author of "Living Politics," a column that began on MSNBC.COM and Newsweek.com and that now also appears in the print magazine. An award-winning reporter and writer, Fineman also is an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing regularly on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "TODAY." The author of scores of Newsweek cover stories, Fineman's work has appeared as well in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic. His 2008 national best-selling book, "The Thirteen American Arguments," was released in paperback by Random House in the spring of 2009.
One of the nation's leading political reporters, Fineman has interviewed every major presidential candidate from (then-vice president) George H.W. Bush in 1985 to (then senator) Barack Obama early and often in the 2008 campaign cycle. His current work focuses on the Obama Administration and its top officials, as well as on Congress and politics throughout the country. Although based in Washington, Fineman travels widely in the U.S. and has covered politics and other events in 49 of the 50 states.
Fineman's work has produced many milestones and awards. A cover story in November 2001 featured President George W. Bush's first extensive interview after 9/11. Another cover, "Bush and God," was part of a series of articles that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. His reporting has helped Newsweek win many honors from the Magazine Publishers Association and the American Journalism Review. Other awards include a "Page One" from the Headliners Club of New York, a "Silver Gavel" from the American Bar Association and a "Deadline Club" from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). In 2006 he received the Alumni Award from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
As a reporter and writer, Fineman ranges widely. Besides campaign-year covers, other projects have included: race and politics, the impact of digital technology on society, the influence of Hollywood on politics, the rise of the religious right and of conservative talk radio. He has interviewed business leaders such as George Soros, Bill Gates, Steve Case and Robert Rubin and entertainment figures such as Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda and Jay Leno.
Although now under exclusive television contract to NBC, Fineman over the years has appeared on major public affairs shows, such as Nightline, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose and the NewsHour. He was a regular panelist on Washington Week in Review on PBS (1983-95) and on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday (1995-98). He worked with Ted Koppel on Nightline specials, and has been a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
A native of Pittsburgh, Fineman began his career at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, covering the environment, the coal industry and state politics before joining the newspaper's Washington bureau in 1978. He moved to Newsweek in 1980, was named chief political correspondent in 1984, deputy Washington bureau chief in 1993, senior editor in 1995 and senior Washington correspondent and columnist in 2008.
Fineman holds an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Colgate, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia and a J.D. from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. His legal education included a year as a visiting student at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received Watson and Pultizer Traveling Fellowships for study in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and has traveled to more than 40 countries, among them China, Vietnam, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and the West Bank Palestinian Territories.
Fineman is married to Amy L. Nathan, a senior counsel at the Federal Communications Commission. They live in Washington with their two children, Meredith and Nicholas.
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