Research

Obama and White House officials claim that cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill ranks at the top of their priorities.  However, that hasn’t stopped the President and members of his administration from hosting lavish fundraisers and taking time off for vacation since crude oil began flowing into the gulf. 

Last night during a fundraising dinner at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, Obama claimed that no one “is more upset than me” when it comes to the millions of gallons of oil washing up onto the gulf coast every day, but that didn’t stop him from going to another after-dinner fundraiser at the house of Gordon Getty, heir of the late oil tycoon, and raising a whopping $1.7 million  for embattled California Sen. Barbara Boxer and his cronies in Congress.  Apparently Boxer’s approval ratings are of more concern for the President than the livelihoods being destroyed on account of the oil spill.

This was not the first time off from his responsibilities Obama has taken since the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20.  On April 29, Obama dashed off to a DNC fundraiser at the same time Louisiana was forced to declare a state of emergency as oil began to wash up on her shores.  And a week before that Obama was vacationing in North Carolina as the Coast Guard was reporting that oil was escaping from the well head 5,000 ft below the surface.  Now Obama is planning another vacation for Memorial Day weekend and the timing couldn’t be any worse.

This negligence and disregard towards the disaster doesn’t begin and end with the President.  On April 27, Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland left for a rafting trip with his wife at the same time it was being reported that the leak was five times greater than originally estimated.