After being pilloried for a lack of leadership on the BP oil disaster, President Obama held a press conference yesterday affirming that he was in charge of the effort to stop the now more than 17 million gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. "From the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort," he said. "Make no mistake, BP is operating at our direction." But perception among a number of politicians — including some in his own party — is that it may be too late for Obama to reclaim the leadership role expected of him in a crisis.
One of the most vocal and most quoted among his critics, Democratic strategist James Carville, accused the administration of “political stupidity.” MSNBC calls Carville, a Louisiana native, the Ragin’ Cajun. Carville, who thinks “heads have to roll,” said, “This could be one of the great moments of his presidency if he seizes it. If he’s detached and lets BP run the cleanup it could be worse than Katrina.”
And, taking a page out of George Bush’s playbook during the Katrina crisis, when the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown, was axed, yesterday administration officials fired the head of the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling. Elizabeth Birnbaum told staffers at the Minerals Management Service that she resigned a few hours before the president’s press conference. Jonathan Capehart, a blogger for The Washington Post, wrote, “He [Obama] has to convince the American people that the lax leadership at the Mineral Management Service is over. A good way to demonstrate this is by announcing that the agency's invisible chief, S. Elizabeth Birnbaum, has been shown the door.”
To be sure, nobody expects the government to scuba dive into the oil spill and plug the leak. It’s the optics of the situation, along with a perceived lack of organization, that can undermine Obama’s commanding leadership. The president could help his image with daily press briefings, the appointment of a scientific and engineering panel to assess short-term and long-term damage, being seen shoulder-to-shoulder with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and by appointing a “crisis czar” to implement his strategy.
