A LITTLE MAN IN A BIG OFFICE

Journalists who in the past have had orgasms when President Barack Hussein Obama spoke were unimpressed by his speech from the Oval Office Tuesday (6/15)  on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The speech was "curiously flat," said Newsweek’s Howard Fineman.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews compared Mr. Obama unfavorably to Jimmy Carter.  "I don’t sense executive command," he said.

"We know that the country is eager for reassurance," the New York Times said in an editorial.  "We’re not sure the American people got it from a speech that was short on specifics and devoid of self-criticism."

"President Obama said he is going to use the Gulf disaster to immediately push a new energy bill through Congress," said comedian Jay Leno.  "How about first using the Gulf disaster to fix the Gulf disaster?"

Americans seemed to agree.  The president’s job approval fell to its lowest level ever in Rasmussen’s tracking poll.  The Democrat firm Public Policy Polling indicated most people in Louisiana think President Bush did a better job responding to Hurricane Katrina than Mr. Obama has responding to the oil spill.

The most hilarious line of the evening came when Mr. Obama said: "the one approach I will not accept is inaction," because inaction is what has characterized his response in the first 57 days. 

This president doesn’t act in a crisis.  He reacts — sluggishly — and does so chiefly to deflect blame from himself.

Members of Congress share blame for the oil spill in the Gulf – that’s what His Petulance told the Politico June 11.

But it wasn’t Congress that failed to implement the containment plan that had been in place since 1994, or turned down offers of help from 13 foreign governments, or delayed for a month Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s request to build sand barriers to protect his state’s marshlands. (On Monday, 6/14, a disgusted Gov. Jindal ordered the National Guard to go ahead without permission from the feds.)

"From the beginning, the effort has been bedeviled by a lack of preparation, organization, urgency and clear lines of authority among federal, state and local officials, as well as BP.  As a result, officials and experts say, the damage to the coastline and wildlife has been worse than it might have been if the response had been faster and orchestrated more effectively," said the New York Times Monday.

Orchestrating the response is the job of the president.  But for the first six weeks, Mr. Obama contented himself with calling British Petroleum nasty names.  If the company is as bad as he says it is (as it may be) why did he put it in charge of the cleanup when — under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 — the legal responsibility rests with him?

"Instead of seizing the reins, the Obama administration cast itself in a supporting role, insisting that BP was responsible for cleaning up the mess," said Rolling Stone magazine.  "The failure of the Obama administration to crack down on BP — and to tackle the crisis with the full force of the federal government — is likely to haunt the Gulf Coast for decades to come."

As more oil spewed and his poll numbers dropped, the president butched up his rhetoric.  In an interview with the Today Show’s Matt Lauer June 8, Mr. Obama said he was looking for some "a** to kick."

This descent into adolescent bravado was lampooned by late night comedians, and drew critical comment from abroad.

"Barack Obama’s escalating tough talk against BP… is a weak political maneuver that magnifies his administration’s inaction on the big questions that have arisen from the oil spill," said the Toronto Globe and Mail.

In the Today Show interview, the president said — to Mr. Lauer’s stunned surprise — that he had yet to speak personally with Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive officer.  That brought this retort from Sarah Palin:

"It’s the president’s duty meeting on a ceo to ceo level with Hayward, to verify what BP reports," she said.  "You cannot outsource the cleanup and the responsibility and the trust to BP and expect the legitimate interests of Americans adversely affected by this spill will somehow be met. You have to get involved, sir."

Two days after the tongue lashing from Ms. Palin, the White House announced Mr. Obama would meet with Mr. Hayward.  The meeting Wednesday (6/16) lasted just 20 minutes — barely long enough for the photo op.

Such a big office.  Such a little man occupying it.

Jack Kelly is a former Marine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.