Research Briefing

Obama’s Reactionary Response To Oil Spill Aimed More At Placating Media Criticism Than Protecting The Gulf And Aiding Communities

President Obama: “I Know Everybody Here Is On A 24-Hour News Cycle. I'm Not.” (“Press Conference By The President,” The White House, 6/23/09)

MEDIA IS GUIDING OBAMA ON WHAT TO DO …

MEDIA SAYS GO BACK TO THE GULF COAST: QUESTION: “When is the President expected to go to the Gulf Coast to make an assessment himself?  And also who from the White House is on the ground with you, Admiral Allen?” MR. GIBBS: “Well, I would say this.  As you heard, there’s a federal on-scene coordinator, Rear Admiral Landry, in Robert, Louisiana, which is where the President visited on his trip a few weeks ago…” QUESTION: “So when is the President going?” MR. GIBBS: “If there are changes to that schedule, we’ll let you know.” (Robert Gibbs, Press Briefing, The White House, 5/24/10)

OBAMA MAKES SECOND VISIT TO GULF COAST: “The president will travel to the Gulf on Friday on a trip clearly designed to rebut criticism that he has not taken a sufficiently personal role in confronting the spreading disaster.” (Henry Fountain And Tom Zeller Jr., “Warnings Preceded Blowout Of Gulf Oil Well,” International Herald Tribune, 5/27/10)

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MEDIA SAYS MEET WITH THE VICTIMS’ FAMILIES: James Carville On ABC’s Good Morning America: “The President of the United States could have come down here. He could have been involved with the families of these 11 people.” (ABC’s “Good Morning America,” 5/26/10)

OBAMA SCHEDULES MEETING WITH VICTIMS’ FAMILIES: “President Barack Obama on Thursday consoled relatives of the 11 workers killed in the Gulf oil spill disaster, acknowledging their ‘unimaginable grief’ and personally assuring the families that he will stand with them… The meeting with the families came on Day 51 of the disaster.” (Darlene Superville, “Obama Says He Won't Forget Gulf Oil Spill Families,” The Associated Press, 6/10/10)

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MEDIA SAYS MEET WITH BP CEO TONY HAYWARD: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz: “I'm an Obama supporter, but, I mean, don't you go to the source? I mean, hasn't there been a moment in the last 50 days where the President might have felt compelled to pick up the phone and say, ‘Buddy, what are you doing? You’re killing my environment.’ I mean, it just reeks of constant legal ramifications and attorneys and everything else, but somewhere along the line doesn't -- isn't it the obligation of the president to pick up the phone and say what in the hell are you doing?” (MSNBC’s “The Ed Show,” 6/8/10)

• RNC Chairman Michael Steele: “I don't get it - you tell the American people that you want to sit down and talk face-to-face with Ahmadinejad, but you don't want to talk face-to-face with the guy that has a hand in creating the mess in the Gulf right now, and to try to figure out from him what needs to get done.” (Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” 6/9/10)

OBAMA ANNOUNCES MEETING WITH BP CEO TONY HAYWARD: “Ending days of speculation and criticism about why the president has not met or spoken with top officials of the company responsible for the oil spill off the Gulf Coast, the White House Thursday invited BP’s chairman of the board and other senior managers to meet with Barack Obama in Washington next week.” (Josh Gerstein, “W.H. Asks BP Brass To Face Obama,” Politico, 6/10/10)

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MEDIA SAYS ASK FOR MORE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE: “When State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley refused to tell reporters which countries have offered assistance to help respond to the BP oil spill, the State Department press corps was flabbergasted… Reporters pointed out that the Bush administration identified assistance offers after the Katrina disaster, so what is this, a new policy? They pressed Crowley, but he refused to budge…  The Obama administration has been relentless in its messaging that it is doing everything possible to aggressively respond to the oil spill. But for the record, the current message to foreign governments is: Thanks but no thanks, we've got it covered.” (Josh Rogin, “U.S. Not Accepting Foreign Help On Oil Spill,” Foreign Policy’s The Cable Blog, 5/6/10)

OBAMA ASKS FOR MORE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE: “In the past week, the United States submitted its second request to the European Union for any specialized equipment to contain the oil now seeping onto the Gulf of Mexico's marshes and beaches, and it accepted Canada's offer of 9,842 feet of boom. The government is soliciting additional boom and skimmers from nearly two dozen countries and international organizations.” (Juliet Eilperin And Glenn Kessler, “After Delays, U.S. Begins To Tap Foreign Aid For Gulf Oil Spill,” The Washington Post, 6/14/10)

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MEDIA SAYS CANCEL TRIP TO INDONESIA: MSNBC’s Chuck Todd: “This Presidential trip, he has a big foreign trip coming up in two weeks, Indonesia and Australia, the one he postponed for Health Care. If it was postponable for health care, you’ve got to think it's postponable for the fact that, you know, this is not a great time to -- it may not look like, it may not be the best time to leave the country.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 6/2/10)

OBAMA CANCELS TRIP TO INDONESIA: “President Barack Obama postponed a trip scheduled for this month to Australia and Indonesia, the White House said early on Friday… In an already difficult congressional election year for Obama's fellow Democrats, a foreign trip in the midst of what the president himself has called an unprecedented environmental catastrophe would have been hard to sell to Americans frustrated and angered by the six-week-old crisis.” (Ross Colvin, “Oil Spill Forces Obama To Postpone Foreign Travel,” Reuters, 6/4/10)

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MEDIA SAYS OBAMA SHOULD DELIVER A PRIMETIME ADDRESS: “The change is an effort to control the message, release accurate information about the oil spill and speak in one voice to deliver the daily message on latest developments, officials said. Obama needs to build on the momentum with a primetime address and a heartfelt message to the American people, [Presidential Historian Douglas] Brinkley said.” (Kristi Keck, “Charge To Obama: 'Go off!’” CNN, 6/3/10)

OBAMA DELIVERS PRIMETIME ADDRESS: “By choosing to speak to the nation on Tuesday night for the first time from the Oval Office, where his predecessors have spoken of wars and disasters, President Obama is conveying the gravity of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Yet his theme should feel familiar to the millions of Americans who tune in. Aides say Mr. Obama will describe the eight-week-old oil spill as a slow-motion crisis, resistant to the best efforts and billions of dollars from government and industry.” (Jackie Calmes, “Obama Will Take To Oval Office With A Familiar Theme,” The New York Times, 6/15/10)

… AND EVEN WHAT TO FEEL

MEDIA SAYS “SHOW PASSION”: “Reporters grilled Robert Gibbs at his White House briefing on Tuesday about the president’s strange inability to convey passion over a historical environmental disaster. This was underscored by Obama’s perfunctory drop-by to a sanitized beach in Grand Isle, La. Despite his recent ode about growing up near an ocean, he didn’t bother to meet with the regular folks who have lost their seafaring livelihoods.” (Maureen Dowd, “A Storyteller Loses The Story Line,” The New York Times, 6/1/10)

OBAMA SAYS HE “FURIOUS” ABOUT SLOW RESPONSE: “Amidst Criticism That He Has Not Shown Enough Anger About The Oil Spill In The Gulf Of Mexico, President Obama Said Today That He Was ‘Furious’ About The Situation But That His Job Is To Solve The Problem, Not Yell At People.” (Karen Travers, “Obama Says He’s “Furious” About Gulf Oil Spill But His Job Isn’t To Vent And Yell,” ABC News’ “Political Punch” Blog, 6/3/10)

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MEDIA SAYS OBAMA TOO DETACHED: “‘There are times and places where his cool, technocratic mastery is a great blessing. ... But, ideology aside, what do you think [President Ronald] Reagan would have done in this situation? He’d be down there. Look at [Louisiana Gov. Bobby] Jindal. ... It is puzzling, the detachment,’ said one veteran Democratic strategist, a frequent defender of Obama.” (Glenn Thrush, Josh Gerstein & Manu Raju, “President Obama Under Fire For BP Spill Response,” Politico, 5/26/10)

OBAMA TELLS PERSONAL STORIES TO CONNECT: “[T]hen, finally, he gave the country something more -- a brief glimpse into what the challenges of his job mean to him personally.’ When I woke up this morning and I'm shaving, and Malia knocks on my bathroom door and she peeks in her head and she says, “Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?”’ The next sentence leaps from the mundane to the universal. ‘I think everybody understands that when we are fouling the earth like this, it has concrete implications not just for this generation but for future generations.’ What he says next is so simple and personal that its authenticity cannot be doubted: ‘I grew up in Hawaii, where the ocean is sacred.’” (David Broder, “The President Adds A Personal Note To Oil Spill Crisis,” The Washington Post, 5/30/10)

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MEDIA SAYS “GET ANGRY”: MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann:  “He has not done less than he should.  But, Mr. President, we need you to get angry.” (MSNBC’s “Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” 5/28/10)

OBAMA SAYS HE’S LOOKING FOR “WHOSE ASS TO KICK”: President Obama: “I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.” (NBC’s “Today Show,” 6/7/10)