Gibbs: Oil crisis “solved by plugging hole & responding to damage done, not by method acting”

[Pirate Smile]

Robert Gibbs: Oil crisis “solved by plugging hole & responding to damage done, not by method acting”

Jake Tapper has a good quote from Robert Gibbs:

“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.”

He was responding to the criticism of President Obama’s coolness in the face of the gigantic oil volcano crisis. There have been numerous calls for him to be more emotional, which of course, would be gratifying, because we could all relate to that so easily. It’s reassuring somehow, and even cathartic, to see someone as unflappable as President Obama get all wee-wee’d up with us.

However, Gibbs is right. Taking action, getting something done, solving problems all take precedence over being Prez Emo. I believe he feels our pain, despite the fact that I wouldn’t mind seeing him reveal his feelings from time to time.

It’s more comforting to know that he can stay calm in the midst of a calamity while the rest of us are tearing our hair out. He deserves credit for that.

http://www.thepoliticalcarnival.net/2010/06/robert-gibbs-oil-crisis-solved-by-plugging-hole-responding-to-damage-done-not-by-method-acting/

[Lerkfish]

1. agreed, plugging the hole and addressing the damage is more important than emotionalism

[roguevalley]

39. actually, given that he's the leader and we are on the edge of

abyss, he has to address the people who are suffering and losing their livelihoods, etc. Consider Bill Clinton. he was up to the intellectual part but he also understood the emotional part and what he owed as a leader to the people so that they would understand that he truly did know what they were going through. You can't be a professor in a crisis like this all the time. You have to 'feel their pain'. Clinton was circling the drain until the Oklahoma catastrophe and when he went there and took care of the people and by proxy the entire country, he because the king again. Obama would do well to study that. He does owe something more than a strongly worded speech to this country. He did that all through the health stuff and look what happened. The wolves out there don't fear him and they should. They feared FDR because he didn't give a damn and he did what he had to do and the people ADORED and trusted him and voted him in four times.

[laconicsax]

2. While I appreciate the point he's making...

What's really been accomplished? The well is still vomiting up thousands of barrels per day with no end in sight, the mess isn't getting smaller, and the MMS just approved a new offshore drilling permit.

[DrToast]

5. What do you propose?

If you've got an idea of how to plug the hole, let's hear it.

[frylock]

9. here..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8468998

[laconicsax]

11. Not bragging about solving an unsolved problem.

Obama's decision to try to work to solve the problem rather than yell and scream is the right one, though arguably a false choice since there's no reason why he can't work to solve the problem and yell and scream about it.

I'd just like to see some tangible progress on the whole "plugging the hole and responding to the damage done" issue. Like I said, the well is still vomiting up thousands of barrels per day with no end in sight, the mess isn't getting smaller, and the MMS just approved a new offshore drilling permit.

It seems that though they're working on it, nothing's getting done.

[DrToast]

12. Gibbs never said it was a choice between one or the other

He said there's no point in screaming because it's not going to do anything.

[laconicsax]

20. And my point is that the alternative isn't doing anything either.

The way Gibbs framed the answer was as an either/or--the President can either yell and scream, or he can get something done. That's the false choice, because there's no reason why the President can't yell and scream and get something done.

[Cha]

14. No it's not a false choice at all..it's a true choice.

[laconicsax]

15. No, it's a false choice.

"But he believes this crisis will be solved by plugging the hole and responding to the damage done, not by method acting."

The choice given is an either/or. That choice is false.

[Cha]

18. I thought you meant if he's being himself that it would

be false..sorry.

[Cha]

16. Edit.. Wrong place.

[Cha]

13. It's been an impossible situation that wouldn't be helped by

yelling.

Link to the new offshore drilling permit?

[laconicsax]

22. Here ya go.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10807595

[Cha]

25. Thank you..I don't like it but

they obviously think it will be safe..it better be.

"The interim safety measures, as long as they're completely adhered to, we feel that's enough for the shallow-water drilling to proceed under closer scrutiny and stepped-up inspections," Quimby said."

Btw, I don't drive a car but I will be taking a stupid plane out to Kaua'i in October but I won't be coming back.

[laconicsax]

37. I don't see what's changed in the past few weeks.

The ban on offshore drilling was because it's not safe. Now they're saying it's magically safe.

[Cha]

41. It's the difference between deep water and

more shallow water.. and everyone can stop driving their cars if they don't want oil.

[bluestateguy]

3. And if Obama fed the media and acted more "emotional", guess what would happen next:

Cackles and heckles about Obama being the "angry black man".

[AtomicKitten]

6. Exactly right. nt

[jaxx]

4. Gibbs hits the nail on the head.

All the posturing going on in the media and the rightwing and he calls it "method acting". I love it!!

[Kahuna]

7. The M$M wants another actor like raygun. nt

[joeybee12]

8. No, we want him to take control and stop having people making excuses for him...n/t

[Arkana]

19. Who's making excuses for Obama?

All we're doing is pointing out that actually LEADING is more important than merely APPEARING to lead.

[Phx_Dem]

10. Love it. And he's right. n/t

[Arkana]

17. Ha! Great way to put it.

Sackcloth and ashes is not the way to steer the ship of state through a crisis of this magnitude.

[Cha]

21. The "media" can stfu and report the news...as if. nt

[amborin]

23. they why did Obama appoint Movie Director for "The Deep" for his expert panel to deal w/ disaster?

[Bluenorthwest]

Wow, Peter Yates would be over 80 by now, I'd imagine...

and a particularly odd choice. Are you sure you have the facts right, there?

[babylonsister]

28. Nice try, but according to this, Cameron contacted BP several weeks ago...

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-02/bp-suggestion-box-frustrating-companies-not-cameron-costner.html

BP Suggestion Box Frustrating Companies, Not Cameron, Costner
June 02, 2010, 11:00 AM EDT

snip//

Cameron contacted BP several weeks ago and offered the company use of his private fleet of deep- dive craft, which he has owned since filming Titanic in the 1990s, according to a report by the Associated Press.

[Bluenorthwest]

29. Cameron did not direct The Deep

But he is certainly a deep sea problem solver.

[amborin]

33. what are his scientific creds? and how would his "expertise" help in this scenario?

[Pirate Smile]

35. He is "one of the world’s leading experts on filming deep underwater and on remote vehicle

technologies."

[amborin]

38. filming LOL

[phleshdef]

40. and remote vehicle technologies LO... oh wait.

Seriously, one of these days you are gonna slip up with your little "say some stupid, unintelligent, smart ass thing and follow it up with LOL" schtick and say the wrong thing. I hope you enjoy your tombstone when that happens.

[amborin]

31. anyone who's read any scientific report would know that's useless

[babylonsister]

34. My point is, Cameron offered his services, he wasn't 'appointed' by

anyone. And maybe he thought the equipment he was offering wasn't a solution but a way to get a closer look. I imagine he was trying to help any way he thought he could.

[EffieBlack]

42. If Cameron had offered his help and the White House ignored him, imagine the criticism

Unfortunately, the president just can't win in this scenario since no matter what he does, they'll attack him. When he's too accessible, he's "over-exposed." When he pulls back, we hear "HE HASN'T DONE A PRESS CONFERENCE IN MONTHS - WHAT'S HE AFRAID OF?!" When he appears to give priority to an issue, they jump on him for supposedly being unable to multi-task. When he multi-tasks, he's attacked for not spending every waking second thinking only about the crisis the media is interested in at the time.

No matter what he does, he's going to get beaten up.


If I stand, I'm loitering
If I walk, I'm prowling
If I run, I'm escaping -
It just don't make no sense . . .

Lyrics from a song in the play "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death" by Melvin Van Peebles

[ProSense]

24. The media has been screaming nonsense about Obama's tone for weeks

None of them have demanded that BP be held criminally libable.

The WH, on the other hand, began its probe weeks ago.

The media pundits are assholes.

[depakid]

26. Looking at the numbers coming out- it appears that the role of dispassionate techocrat

in this drama is getting panned.

[babylonsister]

27. Thank you, Robert Gibbs! The constant criticism that Obama doesn't

emote enough is truly sickening.

[jeanpalmer]

30. This coolness, lack of emotion issue

is just a canard. It's a way for Obama's supporters to deflect attention away from the fact that he hasn't been able to stop this disaster, while being pro-offshore drilling. It's a false issue. No one would really care whether he's "cool" or "emotional" if he were solving the problem.

[babylonsister]

32. Oh jeanie, even Dana Perino admits he can't don a wetsuit and do it himself.

Seriously, instead of just constantly bashing, what do you suggest Obama by his onesies could have done that he hasn't done? And please don't sound like faux in your response. Not even Perino is buying that, and she's a fauxstepfordwife.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/100967-dana-perino-obama-cant-don-a-snorkeling-outfit-and-do-it-himself

Dana Perino: 'Obama can't don a snorkeling outfit and do it himself'
By Bob Cusack - 06/02/10 12:41 AM ET


George W. Bush's former press secretary defended the Obama administration Tuesday on its handling of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

During an appearance on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News, Dana Perino said, "I think that we are expecting a little bit too much of the administration. I'm not fully defending their response, but I do think President Obama can't don a snorkeling outfit and do it himself."

During a panel discussion, Perino disputed the notion that the Obama administration is sitting on its hands.

"I disagree. I mean, they have stepped it up...What can be done?"

She added, "Nobody knows how to deal with it."

Perino said she questioned Attorney General Eric Holder's involvement in opening a criminal probe of BP, and said the Obama administration should have acted more swiftly to address the environmental disaster.

"I'm not defending them for their slow response initially, but I do think at the moment they are trying to do what they can," she said.

[Clio the Leo]

36. Thank you Barack Obama .... thank you for Robert Gibbs....

.... my admiration for him ALMOST makes me forgive him for being an Auburn fan.