The BP Hurricane oil Katrina spill

Up until last week, 2.1 million gallons of crude oil per day had been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. Since then BP and the Coast Guard have done some to siphon the leak, yet millions of gallons of oil, in hundreds of thousands of patches, float throughout the Gulf. They hurt and threaten tourism, fishing, and ecology. BP suggests that the leak might be almost completely stopped within a month. However, nothing is really certain of the future of the leak or the spill and its effects.

People think President Obama could be doing a better job addressing the oil spill ^[1]. Obama spent the end of April and the beginning of May meeting behind closed doors with administrative officials and BP representatives. He made occasional and vague public statements about the incident. He also spent time vacationing, meeting with NCAA champions, and attending Democratic fundraisers. But it was not until the end of May that he nominally and authoritatively positioned the federal government in charge of the disaster. As of June 3rd he had only visited the region three times.

There is a reasonable temptation to compare Obama and the BP oil spill with Bush and Katrina. The oil spill and Katrina took place in the same area of the country within a relatively short period of time from each other. During the first two days of flooding and chaos in New Orleans, George Bush did not communicate very well with the leaders of Louisiana, New Orleans, and other important agencies. Obama has not communicated well with BP. Bush overestimated the governments of Louisiana and New Orleans’ ability to manage the problem at all, as has Obama with BP.

The right and left are engaged in intense hypocrisy — as often happens when the roles between the two are reversed in sequential administrations — arguing that there is no comparison, that one handled his disaster worse than the other. The right, who thought the media attacked Bush unfairly during Katrina, is down Obama’s throat for the oil spill. And the left, who would not give Bush any benefit of the doubt, is coming up with excuse after excuse for Obama.

The fact is that the situations are not so comparable. Bush reacted much quicker than Obama. Bush declared a state of emergency before the hurricane hit. He activated the National Guard, and addressed the nation all within the first two days of disaster. Once it was clear that chaos had broken out, the White House scrambled to get the federal government more involved. Obama’s reaction has been less urgent by weeks, almost months.

The situations are not comparable for another reason, this one not so favorable to W. Hurricane Katrina was down right more calamitous. The oil spill will undoubtedly cause people to lose their jobs. Wild life is going to suffer and the local economies are going to tank. And who knows what the oil spill will do ecologically? However, human lives were lost in Katrina on the spot. It may take 10 years for the effects of the oil spill to be reconciled, but New Orleans and the families affected will never be the same, not in their lifetime. Bush had to be quicker because of the stakes.

So in the end, the two leaders were just not quick enough, whether it was a day late or a month. Nevertheless, once he got going, Bush probably did everything a President could do in that situation, which was to authorize resources, release statements, and make appearances. And it seems Obama is now finally doing the same. Is it possible that we expect too much from these guys when something like this happens? Do we expect the President to emerge from closed-door meetings with a silver bullet in one hand and a bullhorn in the other?

And as much as I cannot stand Rachael Maddow, she made a good point the other night. For all the investment that BP does in drilling research and finding new sources of oil and energy, they invest nothing, and have made little progress in risk management — i.e. protocols and technologies to prevent and minimize the effects of disasters like this. In fact, the same could be said for the entire human race concerning the fields of medicine, space, and communications. We spend way too much of our intellectual, economic, and human resources into developing technologies that prosper under perfect conditions, but do little to invest in risk management and or societal responsibility. I guess it just doesn’t pay to plan for failure. Right BP?