Steve King interviewed James Carville and his wife, Mary Matalin , on June 10. Of course, Carville is a Democrat and Matalin is a Republican and what they say as a couple is especially significant for anyone with a Radical Centrist outlook. Not that, in the interview, Carville and Matalin sounded like Radical Centrists. But it is more than a little interesting that they spoke with one voice about the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. They agreed that the entire mess has been bungled from the start and, despite all of the expertise and experience available to the WH , the overall project --fixing the well and the clean up and dealing with the economic problems of the Gulf states-- has been badly mismanaged in the past and is still being badly mismanaged. I looked for a TV version of the interview to pass along, or at least a transcript. Because you need to actually hear Carville and Matalin to get the real point, their outrage at the whole catastrophe. Needless to say, you can understand Matalin's point of view, as a Republican operative what would anyone expect ? But Matalin was guarded in her comments, almost soft spoken, or, anyway, in control of her emotions. Not Carville, he was outraged. To be candid, normally I cannot stand either of them. But yesterday they became heroes for a day. Because the oil spill effects them directly, because they can see the oil coming ashore and the devastation it is causing, all pretense was dropped. There was actual honesty in their comments, with Carville, until recently an avid supporter of the administration, now its worst critic. As if one of the leading cardinals in the Curia was now highly critical of the pope. Each specific of the oil disaster was taken apart and condemned, even if analytically. One of the worst mistakes, said Carville, was refusal of the WH to accept foreign help, and much was offered almost immediately after the spill began. The Dutch, for example, offered to send large ships equipped to contain the oil but were turned down because of a clause in US law that prohibits non-American vessels from operating in US waters unless a permitting process runs its course. The administration, as it has done many times in the past, acted as what it is, legalistically, under a government of lawyers. And never mind that the Dutch have a lot of experience at this and also never mind that after Katrina this legal clause was waived under the previous WH so that foreign ships could actually help mitigate that disaster. Similar help from the states of the Persian Gulf was also nixed, still other nations with a great deal of expertise in containing large oil spills. There is also the terrible damage to Gulf fisheries, where about 40% of US seafood originates. While, so far, "only" about a fourth --or possibly a third-- of this industry has been shut down, this has already had a huge impact on many local economies especially in Louisiana. Then there was Bobby Jindal's plea to expedite building of barriers, off shore, to keep the oil away from wetlands, some of which are now damaged to such an extent that decades will be needed for any kind of return to normality. Instead, legalistic procedures were required, a review by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, before anything could be done, to "study" the problem. Meanwhile tens of thousands of barrels of oil were washing ashore each day. Finally the approval came, after two weeks, but no means were provided so that Jindal could actually get the needed work done. Now we have another scandal, falsifying of a major document prepared by a team of experts, which, in its original form did NOT recommend shutting down deep sea oil rigs except for a very limited time in a limited number of cases. This was also reported yesterday but I am unsure if Carville and Matalin discussed it. Anyway, they were adamant that a 6 month moratorium on deep sea wells was an outrage. It seems as if Salazar, with or without Obama approval ( but almost certainly with such approval ), ordered , first, falsifying the document to make it seem as if the experts had approved the moratorium when in fact they had not, and second, a half year moratorium vs a one month actual recommendation by the experts, and then not in all cases. What this could result in, if it is not reversed, is direct loss of, I think, somewhere around 20,000 jobs on the effected rigs, plus another 100,000+ on shore ( there are hundreds of vendors of many kinds who service the rigs ) and a major hit to the region's economy. And why ? So that BHO can show his environmental bona fides to the world I think this account of the Caville / Matalin interview is reasonably accurate. If you can find a CNN video it would be far better, but at least to give you the overall idea. But only an idea. There is MUCH more, and some of it is even worse. Sorry to anyone who might be offended, and with the caveat that it is not too late for Obama to finally have a Damascus road epiphany and do a 180, but as things stand at this time, my respect for him is completely gone. And not just mine. In January of 2009 Obama's approval rating stood at 70 %. The latest Gallup poll also as of June 10, shows it at 44%. Clearly his bungling of the oil disaster is only one factor, but it is a serious part of the equation and, needless to say, it is not going away any time soon. Even if the well head is finally secured and oil leakage drops to a minimum, the damages will continue , not for months, but for years. Billy
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