I call it the paradox of finger pointing at the finger pointers. In a holier-than-thou sermon last Friday which was meant to be an update to the American people regarding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico president Barry Hussein Soetoro pontificated on the evils of companies finger pointing at one another and not owning up to their corporate responsibilities.President Soetoro doing what he does best
"I have to say, though, I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings into this matter.
You had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else.
The American people could not have been impressed with that display, and I certainly wasn't." —president Barry Hussein Soetoro
However in the midst of the president’s homily if one listened closely one could hear the faintest mea culpa also in a speech which resonated largely in, “do as I say, but don’t finger point as I do” tones.
Yet unbelievably, president Barry Hussein Soetoro admitted that he is responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. That’s right he did. Did he say I’m responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf? No he didn’t. But would you expect a man who has spent his entire presidency up until now finger pointing at “the previous administration” to willingly and openly except responsibility for anything?
So why do I say he admitted guilt? Because he did in the only way he knows how to, hidden in plain sight in language said and unsaid. Once you understand the double speak which he and his fellow Democrats employ and once you know the facts, it’s quite easy to decipher what he meant from what he said. What he said was the following:
"For too long, for a decade or more, there has been a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill. It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little more than assurances of safety from the oil companies. That cannot and will not happen anymore. To borrow an old phrase, we will trust but we will verify."—president Barry Hussein Soetoro
Now when we decipher the president’s statement we first find a Barry Hussein Soetoro finger point at both the previous administration and the Clinton administration. And maybe even beyond that. He chooses to do that with a carefully laid beginning premise. He says, “For too long, for a decade or more…”
So when we do the math the administrations that the federal agency was under which permitted drilling in the time frame of a decade or more included at least two administrations before his administration. This is a finger point!
Secondly this is a man that receives daily briefings regarding global situations by the best intelligence on the planet. He has the whole of government agencies as well as the intelligence agencies; the NSA, the HLS, the CIA, and the FBI at his disposal yet instead of making a detailed factual time and date statement regarding the “cozy relationship” between oil companies and the federal agency which allowed them to drill with no or easily obtained permits, the president chooses to say the words, “It seems…”
It seems? It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little more than assurances of safety from the oil companies? Why wouldn’t president Soetoro know definitively whether or not permits were issued based on his allegations? Hum?
It is my contention that the president does know exact dates and times yet he chose to use wording that would distance him from any blame in this matter on the one hand, while on the other hand only accepting Executive responsibility. Executive responsibility is taking responsibility for the actions of one’s subordinates while absolving oneself from any personal responsibility.
It would be like a Captain of a ship handing over the bridge to his first officer and in the Captain’s absence the ship is ran aground. The Captain would be held responsible even though technically he didn’t cause the ship to go aground.
Third the president said, “That cannot and will not happen anymore. To borrow an old phrase, we will trust but we will verify."
This statement is dripping with ambiguity referring to the issuing of permits without proper scrutiny based on the cozy relationships between the oil companies and the federal agency’s, in charge of oversight, actions--actions done under previous administrations. Furthermore because all of this happened, for too long, or for a decade or more I (Barry) was not here. All of this is meant to convey the unspoken message that, “these deals for drilling didn’t happen on my watch.”
But also if one looks closely we see president Soetoro assuming some responsibility for the future when he says, “That cannot and will not happen anymore…we will trust but we will verify.”
So from all of this the impression that we are supposed to come away with is under the Soetoro administration things will change from the way the oil companies and the government previously did business before the Soetoro administration.
But not so fast Mr. president. Let’s take a look at the facts. Let’s do a little trust but verify!
It is reported that oil companies received permission to drill oil starting in January 2009 and continued to receive permission to drill for offshore oil as late as May 2010 by the New York Times. Uh Mr. president were you not inaugurated in January of 2009?
The [MMS] agency since January 2009 has approved at least three huge lease sales, 103 seismic blasting projects and 346 drilling plans. Agency records also show that permission for those projects and plans was granted without getting the permits required under federal law.-- IAN URBINA, The New York Times (see article)
Five request for drilling from oil companies dates ranging from 5/4/10 to 5/12/10 and five approvals for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico dates ranging as late as 5/10/10 to 5/12/10 (see source)
And let’s not forget in March of 2010 the Barry Hussein Soetoro administration announced that it was going to open offshore areas that had never been opened for drilling before. (see article)
And Mr. president you did this knowing or you should have known that there were problems with the government agency in charge of oversight of the oil companies because a May 27, 2009 letter from Ken Abbott a scientist of BP outlined his concerns if drilling for oil were permitted in the Gulf of Mexico. (see letter)
This is a responsibility that all of us share. The oil companies share it, the manufacturers of this equipment share it, the agencies in the federal government in charge of oversight share that responsibility. I will not tolerate more finger pointing or irresponsibility.—president Barry Hussein Soetoro
And it is well that you shouldn’t tolerate any more finger pointing Mr. Soetoro because even the hard core progressives know that no matter how you attempt to parse words and craftily blame others with your high and condescending paternal lashing out we all know that you’re the blame for this crisis.
He [President Soetoro] owns this now [Gulf Oil catastrophe]. It was only a few weeks ago he came out for offshore drilling.—Bill Maher (source)
So go ahead and preach at us like old crazy drunk Uncle Joe who thought he was fooling everybody but wasn’t fooling anyone. This Catastrophe is your Katrina. It happened on your watch. It was warned about under your administration and it was you sir who called for drilling offshore for oil.
If there was an Oil man in the Whitehouse and this same disaster happened on his watch he would be catching holy hell right about now for the greatest oil spill and ecological disaster in U.S. history.
Funny thing about pointing fingers Mr. president you point one and there’s three pointing back at you. But in this case I’m willing to bet there’s about 308 million fingers or more pointing at you Mr. president.
