Sources: President Obama to Visit Gulf Again ‘Soon’; White House Discussing Delaying Trip to Indonesia Again
EmailThe White House has shown disdain for what officials call the "theatrics" the punditocracy is demanding of the president — more emoting, more visits to the Gulf, fewer administration spokespeople.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told ABC News: "If the president thought that yelling at the top of his lungs would solve this crisis, he would stand on top of the White House and do that. But he believes this crisis will be solved by plugging the hole and responding to the damage done, not by method acting."
But the White House is not insensitive to these concerns. White House officials tell ABC News that the president will visit the Gulf coast again "soon," perhaps as soon as next week.
In addition, sources say that White House officials have discussed the possibility of delaying — again — the president's trip later this month to Indonesia and Australia, though no decision has been made on the matter.
And what of the myriad ceremonial events President Obama has hosted or participated in this month, ones Jon Stewart mocked him for earlier this week on The Daily Show?
Officials say they're sensitive to the awkward dynamic — no leader wants to be seen as fiddling while Rome burns — which is why President Obama, sometimes perhaps a bit clumsily, tries to invoke the oil spill at these events, as he did at the ceremony for Paul McCartney last night.
But even if there weren't an oil spill, officials say, the U.S. is fighting two wars and in the middle of an economic crisis. There's always something more important to be focused on instead of, say, Jewish American Heritage Month or a celebration of the Duke University Blue Devils men's basketball team. The unprecedented move would be to cancel all the ceremonial events, officials say.
– Jake Tapper
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Gosh, I have to agree with Gibby on something? The world is coming to an end. I do not care about “method acting” from the president– but then, it should not be acting to show concern. Still, with ceremonial side, which is important to the work of the president, should be balanced by evidence that the WH is on top of the situation.
I know full well the president can’t plug the hole, and I don’t expect him to do that. However, he can and should be pushing the clean-up effort; he can and should be “focused like a laser” on making sure every effort is made to clean up the marshes, to get the oil out of the water quickly, to limit the damage. Call for volunteers– there would be tons of people showing up. Develop a plan for how trained volunteers can help clean up the mess. BP should be focusing on plugging the hole; BP should be writing checks to cover the costs; BP should NOT be in charge of the clean-up.
Posted by: moderate | June 3, 2010, 8:09 am 8:09 am
“Officials say they’re sensitive to the awkward dynamic — no leader wants to be seen as fiddling while Rome burns — which is why President Obama, sometimes perhaps a bit clumsily, tries to invoke the oil spill at these events, as he did at the ceremony for Paul McCartney last night.” **********
Poorly masked damage control by ABC. He is partying like it is 1999 while 44 days after the explosion, there are still not enough boats, booms, skimmers, etc. to prevent the oil from coming on shore. You can not dismiss indifference, ignorance, or worse.
Posted by: wheresmymoney | June 3, 2010, 8:40 am 8:40 am
“But he believes this crisis will be solved by plugging the hole ”
Yes and we have heard reported here that the President has stated angrily, “just plug the damn hole.” Now that’s leadership, no acting there.
“and responding to the damage done”
I believe this is where most people are calling out the President. Its been 44 days and yet the clean up process seems to be severely lacking. The one can go to the Gulf all he wants, but if he doesn’t show leadership in moving the clean up efforts forward this administration will hear more and more criticisms. And they can only spin them for so long before everyone starts leaping from what’s left of Obama’s bandwagon.
Posted by: J.R. | June 3, 2010, 8:55 am 8:55 am
“There’s always something more important to be focused on instead of, say, Jewish American Heritage Month ”
I, for one although I hardly think I’m alone in this, would be happy to eliminate all the ridiculous month designations celebrating every heritage, race, creed, orientation and etc. What a waste of the President’s time and our money. This country celebrates diversity everyday just by existing in the manner we do.
We do not to designate every month of the year for some special group.
Posted by: J.R. | June 3, 2010, 8:59 am 8:59 am
How about”Bavarian-American History Month”?We’re a minority too( outside of eastern Wisconsin).
Posted by: Nephron | June 3, 2010, 9:28 am 9:28 am
Yep, his polls are falling faster than that oil gushing upward, the Obungler will use yet his third trip to the Gulf as a convenient photo op.
Posted by: WeMadeAmistake | June 3, 2010, 9:35 am 9:35 am
The feds are doing all they can to deal with the oil spill, but cleaning up after a private industry disaster is not the only – or even primary – job of the president. It is critical for our economy that people continue to live their lives and business goes on. It is even more critical for states like Florida, with its $50 billion+ annual tourist industry, keep people aware that their beaches are mostly fine and Disney World is still a great place to splurge on the grandkids.
We don’t have royalty, so the President traditionally serves the same figure head and rallying job.
Posted by: jhw539 | June 3, 2010, 9:37 am 9:37 am
This president is in charge. He has placed competent people in charge in the Gulf and he has respect for them to do their jobs. He does not have to be there constantly to feel the pain of what is going on. This is a president who pushes for clean air, other sources of energy for years. Now, maybe he will get more support. We wanted a president who was calm and made changes. He has and he is and now we want to change him. We want someone who pounds his fists and yells. That is not his style.
Posted by: talmag | June 3, 2010, 9:50 am 9:50 am
I am so sick of Jake and the press complaining. What do you want the president to do go sit on the oil spill. I was laid off you do you want him to cancel everything because I do not have a job that is so stupid. He is dogged if he do and dogged if he don’t. It hard america to be black.
Posted by: Jackie | June 3, 2010, 9:55 am 9:55 am
“The feds are doing all they can to deal with the oil spill,”
then that needs to be better communicated because the picture coming from the gulf seems to be one of inadequacy and delay.
“but cleaning up after a private industry disaster is not the only – or even primary – job of the president.”
This is not just a private industry disaster, it has the potential (or most like has become) the worst environmental disaster of our lifetime. It occured in federal waters, the results will effect multiple states. I would most certainly consider the clean up, salvation and/or restoration of this to be one of the primary jobs of our commander in chief.
Bringing up the Florida tourism industry has nothing to do with the President’s job. It’s weird that you mentioned it in the same paragraph.
Posted by: J.R. | June 3, 2010, 10:06 am 10:06 am
Who’d a thought running the country would be so time consuming…really getting in the way of street agitator’s perpetual vacation.
Posted by: littleblindjeffymcrib | June 3, 2010, 10:13 am 10:13 am
He won’t have to go as far as the Gulf. He’ll just have to walk down to the Potomac.
Posted by: Redford | June 3, 2010, 10:18 am 10:18 am
OILbama said he was in charge from “day one”. He owns it. He may not have blown the well, but his hand picked team approved it. That is a fact. It is also a fact he took more money from BP that any other politician. And we do not know for sure if that is all he took.
You own it OILbama, now man up and get on top of the clean up and get er done.
Posted by: Lester | June 3, 2010, 10:21 am 10:21 am
For a country that has sent a man to the moon, are we so inept that a real true mobilization cannot be installed by the government? Give me a break. They own the seas! This is where they are needed to protect their people and the states! But, no, they would rather control our healthcare, our schools, our industry, banks, insurance companies, but to protect our shoreline? No they leave it up to BP who caused it in the first place. They could have gotten together a fleet of ships and large tankers from day one to start protecting the shoreline and scooping up the oil on the surface…Come on…what they did was stand by and watch Louisiana go down the tubes…Where are all the egghead genius WH Czars who are supposed to advise the President? Why didnt they ask oil industry experts? The President should have gone on TV and made a speech indicating his full commitment to cleaning up the gulf and tell what he would do and how this would be resolved…he seemed so detached, so unaffected, like he would part the waters and they would be clean by him…so I am very upset by the behavior of this administration.
Posted by: tressa | June 3, 2010, 10:45 am 10:45 am
Awwwwww……Obama has to delay another vacation at taxpayer expense???? How sad.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | June 3, 2010, 10:59 am 10:59 am
Visit soon?? It all depends how the Lakers-Celtic series will go!!
Posted by: SurrealWorld | June 3, 2010, 11:04 am 11:04 am
I give Obama credit on this one. What difference does his presence make if he visits the Gulf? Maybe his putting off his trip home, again, will gain him some political points but really its not like Obama can, by his presence, stop the leak. Let Obama have his trip home and, hopefully, stay there!
Posted by: Ed | June 3, 2010, 11:16 am 11:16 am
They could have gotten together a fleet of ships and large tankers from day one to start protecting the shoreline and scooping up the oil on the surface…
tressa | Jun 3, 2010 10:45:36 AM
So government goes from too inept to even regulate health insurance companies to having a flotilla of oil skimming ships on standby for dispatch at a moments notice.
The lengths of doublethink Republicans will go to in order to bash Obama are astounding. First they bravely defended Medicare as not having a cent to be cut – while fighting ‘government run healthcare’, and now this absurd Big Lie.
Posted by: jhw539 | June 3, 2010, 11:50 am 11:50 am
With the clowns in this White House, especially the Clown in Chief, it’s all photo ops and politics anyway. Why go somewhere dirty and smelly like the Gulf regions when you can party like mad with Paul McCartney!?! Priorities, guys!
Posted by: Al | June 3, 2010, 12:07 pm 12:07 pm
Did you say Gulf or Golf?
Posted by: Jan@64 | June 3, 2010, 12:31 pm 12:31 pm
It’s obvious the President should be IN the gulf waters with a snorkel 24 hours a day – or sitting at a command desk on a the beach 24/7 – and obviously all other duties of the President should be suspended whether functional, ceremonial or otherwise. No more awards given out, no more celebrating accomplishments, no more meetings – just doom and gloom and the snorkel.
Posted by: tierra | June 3, 2010, 12:39 pm 12:39 pm
None of this will help Obama now.
The truth about this guy is out and it is not pretty.
Posted by: walter12 | June 3, 2010, 12:45 pm 12:45 pm
The more he goes on TV, or goes down to LA to “show he’s concerned”, the more INEPT and POWERLESS he looks!! The curtain has been pulled back from the “Wizard” and there is NO going back and convincing people he is “all-powerful, all-knowing”. He has been exposed(forever) as an INEPT fool……
Posted by: Todd | June 3, 2010, 12:52 pm 12:52 pm
Stop giving Obama the benefit of the doubt. This is his Katrina and he is failing far worse than Bush because he is not smart enough to understand how bad it is. His problems are his lack of any intelligence and guts.
Posted by: Bill | June 3, 2010, 12:56 pm 12:56 pm
Stop giving Obama the benefit of the doubt.
………………
How about stop close-mindedness and being unwilling to give the President a fair shot?
Yeah, I like mine better as the President has more guts and intelligence than anything the GOP can offer up.
Posted by: a great democracy must be progressive | June 3, 2010, 1:12 pm 1:12 pm
Look – “This is no drill” all hands on deck! Yes there is plenty more the president can do. The first thing is to reassure the American people, by deeds, not words, that we are pulling out all the stops to stop this event, which is in the same destructive vain, as an attack. Big deal, so he is canceling one of his trips to Indonesia
to view his movie review.
There should be a redoubling containment efforts. Where is the skinner vessel built for this work?
Work the boom suppliers around the clock for more material. Hire students
and retured people to fight it.
News Flash! Storm season is here, and now we are hearing that we can expect
leaking until December!
Use some common sense.
Posted by: blc | June 3, 2010, 1:12 pm 1:12 pm
What the hell is he going to Indonesia for???? I never saw a president that traveled around so much in that HUGE jet. Talk about carbon footprint and He wants cap and trade???? I think we taxpayers need a total of what he has spent traveling in the past year. How about it???????
Posted by: RJMoline | June 3, 2010, 1:32 pm 1:32 pm
He needs to take that trip to Indonesia rather than visit the gulf coast once more
Posted by: Teaparty01 | June 3, 2010, 1:33 pm 1:33 pm
The only reason Obama went to the gulf was, he thought somebody said, “Do you want to go golf?
Posted by: Bill | June 3, 2010, 1:37 pm 1:37 pm
All ceremonial events should have been canceled long ago! But Obummer doesn’t want to pull the plug on his entertainment or photo ops! He should NOT go to Indonesia (they don’t like him anyway) and Australia (the latest in family vacations while the girls are out of school that WE pay for)! The idiot needs to stay home, stop spending and think about the mess this country is in. He doesn’t seem to be able to do anything about it, other than talk, but he can at least stop the spending on ceremonial events and travel!
Posted by: MaryA | June 3, 2010, 2:10 pm 2:10 pm
Are you sure he’s not going to golf? It would make more sense than going to the gulf, he has spent more time golfing than on his official duties. He should deal with his Bay of Rigs that he created, being the biggest recipient of BP donations and having Rahm Emanuel literally sleeping under the same roof as the boss of BP’s PR firm.
Obama’s admninstration is the most incompetent and corrupt in history!!
Posted by: The Whole Truth | June 3, 2010, 2:34 pm 2:34 pm
I never saw a president that traveled around so much in that HUGE jet.
RJMoline | Jun 3, 2010 1:32:00 PM
Did you just move here and miss our last Administration’s regular 2000 mile commute back and forth from the ranch in Texas (on the way to smashing all days-on-vacation records)?
Posted by: jhw539 | June 3, 2010, 3:35 pm 3:35 pm
I wish Zero would go to Indonesia and STAY there!!!!
Posted by: MrsK | June 3, 2010, 4:29 pm 4:29 pm
When they told him he needs to go to the gulf, he packed his clubs.
Posted by: I'm just sayin' | June 3, 2010, 4:55 pm 4:55 pm
Obumbler does NOT need to go to Indonesia! Stay in the US and do your DAMN JOB!
Posted by: Darrel | June 3, 2010, 5:03 pm 5:03 pm
Would getting people to work that are unemployed in helping with the cleanup be unreasonable? How about the congressmen and senators helping at least one day in the gulf? I’m sure the motels would give them a break in the rates since the tourists won’t be there. Just a thought
Posted by: Joe | June 3, 2010, 5:07 pm 5:07 pm
A community organizer lawyer doesn’t know squat about how to stop an oil spill. Having never managed a government agency or private enterprise in his life, I don’t suspect he has the faintest clue about how to check and double check the information he’s getting from his knuckleheads in the Interior Department (you know, the same ones who gave BP a safety award).
The best he can do is photo op trips, feel good speeches, and finger pointing.
I’d just as soon see him overseas. For this, he’s next to useless.
Posted by: Dennis | June 3, 2010, 5:49 pm 5:49 pm
It would be swell of the President to remain here in the USA for a while,instead of galavanting all around the world. Try worrying about your own people,for a CHANGE,President Obama.
Posted by: mauren | June 3, 2010, 7:40 pm 7:40 pm
Just go to Indonesia…..And stay there.
Posted by: RickC | June 3, 2010, 9:04 pm 9:04 pm
If the rig explosion were to be investigated by a neutral third party, I believe this so-called “accident” would lead right back to the white house. I have never allowed my thinking to run along the lines conspiracy theory, but I can smell the stinking oil devastation from here. There are too many sequence of events that have been handled so badly that you would have to ask yourself “do they mean to destroy the gulf coast region and the nation’s domestic oil drillers?” The answer is “yes.” Presbo seems quite elated these days and is already talking about this disaster and how it supports the case for Cap and Trade and the Clean Enery bill. Oil drilling, both deep and shallow, have been underway for over four decades in the gulf coast region. A few accidents have happened but nothing to this magnitude. Is BP this incompetenet and evil, or are the higher-ups with BP doing the bidding of an evil administration. There is currently a cease on domestic drilling as a result of this horrible disaster and that is just the start. Barack Obama is evil and he is going to destroy America at any cost.
Posted by: Athena | June 3, 2010, 9:37 pm 9:37 pm
He acts like he’s president of the world instead of “The United States”
Posted by: Bob K | June 3, 2010, 9:48 pm 9:48 pm
“A community organizer lawyer doesn’t know squat about how to stop an oil spill. Having never managed a government agency or private enterprise in his life, I don’t suspect he has the faintest clue about how to check and double check the information he’s getting from his knuckleheads in the Interior Department (you know, the same ones who gave BP a safety award). ”
.
Palin’s 8 year old daughter running her lemonade stand has more free enterprise experience than oBama. Its pretty bad when oBama walks into a room and realizes that he has the least experience of everyone else in the room…. regardless of the room and who is in it.
Posted by: gk | June 3, 2010, 10:02 pm 10:02 pm
The oil spill is a real problem. Obama is simply not equipped to handle real problems…and if the problem does not fit into his vision of a new world order, then he is just not interested in it. He has appointed a commission and sent lawyers to sue everything in sight…that is a big help to the people who depend on the gulf for a living. He will stop by the gulf when he is on his way to his third vacation in the last two months.
Posted by: ringmaster76120 | June 4, 2010, 3:02 am 3:02 am
As an Aussie, I don’t want my tax $$$$ going towards Oblumer’s junket in my country. He has no credibility in our eyes. Fingers crossed he’s a footnote in history come 2012.
Posted by: Aussie # 1 | June 4, 2010, 6:26 am 6:26 am