What the President should have done...

I've been a harsh critic of the 44th President of the United States in this blog and elsewhere.  Occasionally I've been asked "OK, hotshot, what would YOU have done differently?".  I've been so appalled by Mr. Obama's involvement in the Gulf oil spill that I didn't think anything he did in that regard could make me madder, but this week I learned that while he refused to speak to the CEO of British Petroleum he was meeting with the families of the victims of the Deepwater Horizon explosion to get their opinions on what could be done to avoid such incidents in the future, etc.

Don't get me wrong - I'm 100% in favor of the President meeting the families of victims of a disaster, but for Heaven's sake can someone tell me what they can possibly provide in terms of improving the safety of deepwater offshore oil drilling operations?  Perhaps each and every one of them is an expert in that field, but I doubt it.

This, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with B. H. Obama's reaction to the disaster - it's all based upon appearances, illusions, and political calculations.  Oh, almost forgot, a few shakes of "Hope-n-Change" and a healthy dollop of "blame Bush" as well.

But I digress - what would "Commander-in-Chief I. M. Archlaic" have done differently?  here goes:

1. I'd call the C.E.O. of British Petroleum first thing.  He'd surely be expecting my call and he'd probably have a pretty good idea what I was going to say, he didn't get where is is by being obtuse.  I'd tell him that now was not the time for recriminations or politics, we both wanted to get this thing cleaned-up A.S.A.P. and he knew how to do it better than I did.  I'd offer him the full support of the U.S. military and give him a private phone number to reach me if he encountered any difficulties with any branch of the Federal Government.  But I'd also tell him that if he dropped the ball we'd take care of it ourselves and send him the bill.
2. I'd call the governors of the Gulf states, starting with Louisiana, and asked them their plans.  I'd brief them on my conversation with BP and tell them that while I assumed that they knew what was best for their states, any resources they needed from the Federal Government would be available as needed.  I'd schedule another call with them for later in the day.
3. I'd convene a cabinet meeting and order the Secretaries of the Interior, Commerce, Transportation, Energy, and Homeland Security, as well as the Administrator of the E.P.A. to inform their departments that any activities related to the cleanup which required their review and approval were to be fast-tracked and handled within 24 hours.  One-time waivers of regulations should be granted, if necessary, on an emergency basis.
4. The Secretary of Defense would be asked to nominate (subject to my approval) a high-ranking officer, probably from the Navy, to take charge of the Federal Government's response.  He would act as primary liason between the Federal Government and British Petroleum and the states.
5. In light of the nature of the disaster and the fact that the Navy and the Coast Guard would be primarily involved (as needed), I'd schedule a daily status briefing by the SecDef and the Secretary of Homeland Security of no more than 30 minutes.
6. The SecDef would also be responsble for initiating an ad hoc project within each branch of the services to identify technologies and equipment which might be usefully brought to bear on the problem of plugging the well.  A similar request would be made to the Administrator of NASA (and any other Federal agency which might have some smart people and cool technology that could help).
7. I'd contact the C.E.O.s of the largest domestic oil companies and request that they identify and make available any and all specialized resources which could assist in the cleanup and leak stoppage process.  I'd make it clear to them that it was BP's baby but that we'd be very interested in their help (again, as needed).  They'd be invited to the White House for a meeting within the next 48 hours.
8. I't would be lunchtime by now so I'd probably take a break for an hour or so.
9. After lunch I'd have the second call with the governors and brief them on the foregoing actions.  I'd request a daily status briefing call of no more than 30 minutes.
10. A day or two later I'd jump on AF1 and make a flying visit to encourage the workers involved in the effort.  No photo ops with oily birds or dead turtles.  No threatening to kick anyone's arse.  No speculation on things of which I know nothing.

in short: provide leadership, set expectations, give the local governments access to the resources of the Federal Government and military forces as needed, clear the red tape and bureaucracy out of the way, and then stand back and let everyone do their part.  How hard is it?  If things were going particularly well I might get magnanimous and call up Al Gore and offer to make him Wildlife Cleanup Czar, provided he agrees to give no interviews on political matters.  This would not only appease the enviro left somewhat, it would keep Algore from his other activities; which are much more harmful to the nation than any oil spill coudl ever be!