POLITICS UPDATE DEPT:
President Obama and the oil spill:
I think today that Thomas Sowell nails it concerning the biggest problem with the Obama administration's handling of this crisis:
"Either the government knows how to stop the oil spill or it doesn’t. If they know how to stop it, then why have they let thousands of barrels of oil per day keep gushing out, for weeks on end? All they have to do is tell BP to step aside, while the government comes in to do it right. If they don’t know, then what is all this political grandstanding about keeping their boot on the neck of BP, the attorney general of the United States going down to the Gulf to threaten lawsuits — on what charges was unspecified — and President Obama showing up in his shirt sleeves?
Just what is Obama going to do in his shirt sleeves, except impress the gullible? He might as well have shown up in a tuxedo with white tie, for all the difference it makes....This government is not about governing. It is about creating an impression. That worked on the campaign trail in 2008, but it is a disaster in the White House, where rhetoric is no substitute for reality. If the Obama administration were for real, and trying to help get the oil spill contained as soon as possible, the last thing its attorney general would be doing is threatening a lawsuit. A lawsuit is not going to stop the oil, and creating a distraction can only make people at BP start directing their attention toward covering themselves, instead of covering the oil well. If and when the attorney general discovers that BP did something illegal, that will be time enough to start a lawsuit. But making a public announcement at this time accomplishes absolutely nothing substantive. It is just more political grandstanding....This is not about oil. This is about snake oil."
Bingo. You know, I knew when the Obama administration came into office that I and many other conservatives would disagree with it on many issues. But I really didn't think Obama would sink to the level of the Clinton administration and it's endless spinning, it's endless obsession with polls and its political standing, its grabbing on to issues not for their intrinsic merit but for the political benefits they could offer, the Clintons' willingness to do anything, say anything, lie about anything, solely (again) for political benefit.
I used to call Bill Clinton just that--a snake oil salesman, a carnival barker, a guy willing to do pretty much anything to advance himself. I thought Obama might be a bit above that. I might be wrong. I don't think Obama has quite sunk to Clintonian levels yet. But he keeps getting closer.
Some polling news:
Some interesting 2010 generic ballot numbers out today. Both Gallup and Rasmussen have Republicans out to a solid lead on the generic ballot--Gallup by 5, Rasmussen by a rather astounding 10 points.
Of course, this comes after this past weekend when polls both by FOX and PPP had Democrats with a slight lead on the generic ballot.
We'll have to see how the polling continues to go in coming days, but Gallup has consistently shown Republicans inching up in their poll, and Rasmussen has consistently shown the GOP with a solid lead.
By the way, concerning senate races, Republican David Vitter is running for re-election this year in Louisiana. He's the man who had a rather bad personal scandal not long ago, and you sure don't hear too many folks speaking highly of him. And yet, and yet...in a poll out today, he had a 20 point lead over his opponent.
