lol they'll find a way, come on now.

They'll spend the weekend brewing talking points, something like "Republicans were and are for RESPONSIBLE oil drilling, not wrecklessly liberal oil drilling. Obama Drilled, People Animals and America Got Killed."

The right will say Obama demanded offshore oil drilling recently so he's responsible, Democrats will point out this rig has existed since 2001 or whatever, the media will repeat both claims, and who's to know where the truth lies? Obviously somewhere in between "fate" and "all Obama's fault".

Obama is cursed! He recommends more off-shore drilling and stuff blows up. Is this really the guy we want in control of the button?

If this rig has existed since 2001, isn't it OBVIOUS that Bush was able to keep it in check? It's only now, when we have a Muslim in office, that the oil rigs know the time is ripe to strike!

Actually I think in about 2 days it's going to be "Obama didn't act fast enough". If it's not already on Fox News.

At least Obama came out for offshore drilling a month ago. Otherwise Glenn Beck would be saying: "Isn't in interesting that this happens under Obama, who as we all know if vehemently opposed to offshore drilling? Now I'm not saying that Obama called in a favor from one of his old terrorist buddies and blew the rig. I'm just saying timing of the whole thing is a little interesting. But one might have to ask... if Obama didn't do it, why doesn't he just say so? Why keep evading the issue Mr. President? Just come out and tell the American people you had nothing to do with that explosion. Why is that so hard???"

I've already read this multiple times today.


Also, I know for a fact that Palin caused the explosion and impeded cleanup efforts by shooting volunteers from a helicopter.

"Obama's Katrina??" is already being plastered everywhere.

theres been some REALLY good snark the last few posts

It's already happening as you predicted. Right wingers are on the attack giving blame to Obama for not acting quickly enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/opinion/01sat1.html

The New York Times wasn't alone in attacking Obama on the oil spill. Last night Bill Maher went after him:

"But I'll tell you who I'm really mad at which is Barack Obama. Couple of weeks ago, the President, our President said, "It turns out the oil rigs today generally don't cause oil spills. They are technologically very advanced." Now if, if I was quoting George Bush, this crowd would be laughing in hysterics."

"So, why isn't Barack Obama getting more s*** for this? I think he should."

Still tough, it's going to be pretty to sell the narrative that Obama doesn't care about shore birds.

Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher

A confidential government report on the unfolding spill disaster in the Gulf makes clear the Coast Guard now fears the well could become an unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf.

"The following is not public," reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Emergency Response document dated April 28. "Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought."

Asked Friday to comment on the document, NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said that the additional leaks described were reported to the public late Wednesday night. Regarding the possibility of the spill becoming an order of magnitude larger, Smullen said, "I'm letting the document you have speak for itself."

In scientific circles, an order of magnitude means something is 10 times larger. In this case, an order of magnitude higher would mean the volume of oil coming from the well could be 10 times higher than the 5,000 barrels a day coming out now. That would mean 50,000 barrels a day, or 2.1 million gallons a day. It appears the new leaks mentioned in the Wednesday release are the leaks reported to the public late Wednesday night.

They were talking about this on CNN yesterday. Scary thought.

As long as Obama can avoid a phrase like - "heckuva job, Brownie" - I don't think he'll get much blame for whatever might come. Generally, it's pretty easy for politicians to come off well in times of disasters, just by showing up and appearing somewhat sympathetic.

Bill Clinton was the master of this type of show.

I don't know **** about oil rigs, but I think Obama kind of ****ed here. It will make for nice, temporary optics if he's running around on a Gulf Coast beach pointing and ordering people around and doin' stuff, but I don't get the sense anyone has any idea how to stop this thing. Assuming this goes on for weeks unabated until some kind of natural end game (the well gets tapped dry or whatever), he'll probably look ineffectual, especially after a couple of weeks of "why can't Obama stop this terrorist oil"

Do you guys think people from the future went back in time and destroyed the oil rig because in the future the effects of the US offshore drilling end up destroying the country and they thought this would cause them to not pursue it?

Or did they only manage to delay it?

How much worse do you think offshore drilling could be than thousands of gallons of oil pumped into the ocean daily with no one having any idea how to stop it?

Things can always get worse.

It's got to suck being the top guy at BP right now.

Yeah it is. He's going to get fired and only make like 100 million.

.

Yeah, that too.

FYP

They can drill relief wells but that could take up to three months from what I've read.

Robots Work to Stop Leak of Oil in Gulf

The robots were trying to activate a device known as a blowout preventer, a 450-ton valve at the wellhead that is designed to shut off a well in the event of a sudden pressure release.

Officials had initially said that the operation, which began Sunday morning, would take 24 to 36 hours. But on Monday a Coast Guard spokesman said officials would keep trying as long as the efforts were feasible because “it’s the best option.” The other options — collecting the oil in a dome and routing it to the surface or drilling one or more relief wells — would take weeks or even several months to execute.

ummm.... a month of leakage at that rate, and you can say goodbye to not only all gulf marine life, but likely much of the western Caribbean...

this says nothing of the danger the drift poses to existing refinery infrastructure all along the gulf coast, which may have to be shut down.

like I said, this is horribad .... on more levels than the press is admitting.

Jiggs, I take it you're a glass is half empty kind of guy.

Well, let's see... 2500,000 gallons of thick, heavy crude per day at 30+ days... what do you think this might mean? ... chewy fish and less shark risk?

I dunno. I don't doubt it will be terrible. I'm just waiting for you to post something like....

"You know, this probably won't be as bad as the news is making it out to be.