Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Oil Spill Politics May Hurt Both Parties
Talk about an "I-told-you-so" moment.
President Barack Obama was put on the defensive over oil Friday – as a fast-growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico forced the White House to reassure the public that Obama’s plans for expanded offshore drilling won’t proceed without a full review of this accident.
The spill gives fellow Democrats and environmentalists who objected to Obama’s plan a vivid piece of evidence to use against it, as Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said the notion of expanded drilling is “dead on arrival” on Capitol Hill.
But Republicans who are usually quick to criticize Obama have barely raised a peep over his handling of the crisis – even as the White House scrambles to deflect questions over why it took nine days to understand the full extent of the spill.
The Republican reticence is a sign that the political danger over the oil spill cuts both ways, especially for a party that made “drill baby drill” a chant at its presidential convention.
Several Republicans on Friday reiterated their support for offshore drilling – and even Obama said the spill doesn’t change his support for oil exploration in the United States, as a way to replace offshore supplies.
But right now, it’s Obama who could face more short-term political trouble, experts said, since just weeks ago the president was announcing plans for greater use of offshore drilling – and dismissing the risks of a disaster.
“I wouldn’t want to be in Obama’s spot here,” said Rick Kurtz, a professor of political science at Central Michigan University who has studied the response to oil spill disasters. “From Obama’s standpoint, you’re in a lot of hot water. You came out and said you’re for more offshore drilling and then you have this happen. You’ve got a lot of potential political egg on your face.”
Just a few weeks ago, Obama downplayed the idea of a leak like the one that is currently unfolding in the Gulf. “Oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced. Even during Katrina, the spills didn’t come from the oil rigs, they came from the refineries onshore,” Obama said during a Q-and-A session in North Carolina on April 2.
White House adviser David Axelrod said Friday that no new drilling would go forward until the causes of the current spill were thoroughly examined. However, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said no new drilling rights were set to be granted in the 30 days Obama has set for an initial investigation.
“Nothing is immediately impacted by the president’s review. There is nothing stopped,” Gibbs said Friday. “That review will affect everything we take into account about our next offshore policy.”
Obama has already taken fire from Nelson, who called for a moratorium on new offshore drilling.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Nelson said Friday that the spill has undercut any support for expanding offshore drilling on Capitol Hill. Knocking that provision out of an upcoming climate change measure might also strip it of the Republican support it needs to clear the Senate.
"If the idea was that Senator Graham put this offshore oil drilling provision in the draft climate change bill in order to attract Republican votes, while he himself has now walked way from the negotiations, I can't imagine that there is a snow ball’s chance in hell that it is going to survive," said a senior Senate Democratic aide.
"Senator McCain's 'drill baby drill' comments during the campaign are going to come back to haunt him,” the senior aide said, “and give him another reason to wish that he had never heard of Sarah Palin.”
But Republican strategist Mark McKinnon said the incident will cause both Democrats and Republicans to reconsider their positions on drilling as well as the energy legislation more broadly.
“The new political battle cry is ‘Spill Baby Spill,’ and everyone is scrambling,” McKinnon said. “This potential environmental disaster is changing the equation on energy politics overnight…Members of both political parties are trying to adapt.”
On the Republican side, no major figure came forward to criticize Obama – though several reiterated their support for drilling.
Among the GOP leaders keeping their powder dry was House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who favors more aggressive offshore drilling than Obama.
“Our position is we support an all-of-the-above energy strategy,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said, adding that Boehner supports an “investigation into what went wrong in this situation.”
“Even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen,” Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) said in a statement posted on her Facebook page.
“No human endeavor is ever without risk – whether it’s sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization. I repeat the slogan “drill here, drill now” not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills – my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences.”’
She added: “How could I still believe in drilling America’s domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.”
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell maintained his support for offshore drilling, although he said he wouldn’t want the BP spill off the coast of Virginia Beach. “Every time there's an airplane crash, we don't say, ‘Well, we don't fly airplanes anymore,’” McDonnell said on WRVA during the monthly “Ask the Governor” program. “We find ways to improve public safety, make it better and contain any environmental impact.”
A later statement from McDonnell’s office stressed that while he still favors new drilling, he understands that the spill’s environmental toll could be severe.
Republicans in the region directly affected by the spill, but also heavily dependent on the oil industry, were also reluctant to predict the political consequences of the breach.
“We support oil drilling but obviously we support responsible drilling. Obviously, it’s a huge spill and we don’t know what the damage is going to be yet,” said Louisiana GOP Chairman Roger Villere.
Villere said he wouldn’t support a moratorium on new drilling, such as that being proposed by Nelson. “To go slow and figure out what’s going on here is important, but not to stop drilling,” the GOP leader said. “It’s not good for what we need to make America free.”
"My sense is that the big negatives because of the immediate environmental impact will lead Texas leaders to lay low in the short term,” said James Henson, a politics and government professor at the University of Texas.
“If the postponement of expanded drilling holds, well there are very few people in the current Texas political leadership, given their temperaments and political affiliations, who will pass up on any opportunity to criticize the Obama administration.
And if it involves appearing to stick up for the oil and gas sector here, [then it’s] all the more likely they’ll take a turn taking shots at the administration."
Earlier this week, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida cited the “horrific” oil spill as he retreated from his tentative support for some drilling far off the Florida coast.
And McKinnon said of Obama, “Questions will be asked and need to be answered about why the threat wasn’t taken more seriously early on.”
But one Democratic strategist said any GOP leader who pursues that tack is going to face trouble.
“The Republicans commenting on this has the credibility of Fat Albert discussing weight loss,” said former Al Gore spokesman Chris Lehane. “It’s a pretty significant stretch for the Republicans to try to score points on an issue that was arguably at the core of their message in the 2008 campaign….
It’s difficult for Republicans to get any real traction on it because they’re so tied to the idea of opening up offshore drilling.”
Still, the White House is trying to head off criticism that it was slow to recognize the gravity of the spill, which was formally designated to be of “national significance” on Thursday, some nine days after an explosion on the rig killed 11 workers and sent crude oil spewing from pipes thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface.
“The federal response has included anticipation and planning for a worst case scenario from day No. 1,” one official said Thursday.
One of the White House’s strategies to deflect any blame for the spill or failings in the response is to stress that the onus is on the well’s owner, British Petroleum, to plan for and react to this kind of incident.
“We will continue to push BP to engage in the strongest possible response,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday.
Some say the Obama Administration’s claim that BP is in charge and federal officials are just aggressively monitoring is absurd, given the magnitude of the crisis.
“That’s nuts,” said Zygmunt Plater, a Boston University law professor who has studied the federal response to oil spills. “I don’t think they’ve thought it through enough….It’s horrific that 20 years after the Exxon Valdez this is still not something we have really planned adequately for, even though it’s inevitable.”
Lehane said he expected that the public would not hold Obama responsible for the spill itself but that in the long term he will be responsible for how it is cleaned up. “You at least get an initial pass, but ultimately this stuff is going to be a problem for the government,” he said. “People don’t trust private corporations to do the right thing.”
John Temperilli, a disaster response specialist with Witt Associates, praised the response efforts so far, but said that Obama is sure to face sharp criticism if the spill spreads from Louisiana’s shores to beaches as far away as the Florida panhandle.
“I know those folks are just petrified because of what we may be facing as we run into the tourist season. A lot of folks around the Gulf Coast are going to be very unhappy regardless of who’s taking action,” he said. “People will blame somebody. Why not the White House?”
View Larger Map
Sources: MSNBC, PBS, Politics, Youtube, Google Maps
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment