By Peter Daou, Huffington Post
Posted on May 24, 2010, Printed on May 25, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/146979/


Shame on us.

A calamity is unfolding before our eyes - the greatest oil spill in history
- and America's response is little more than a big yawn.

Bob Herbert writes
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/opinion/22herbert.html> :

The vast, sprawling coastal marshes of Louisiana, where the Mississippi
River drains into the gulf, are among the finest natural resources to be
found anywhere in the world. And they are a positively crucial resource for
America. The response of the Obama administration and the general public to
this latest outrage at the hands of a giant, politically connected
corporation has been embarrassingly tepid. ... This is the bitter reality of
the American present, a period in which big business has cemented an unholy
alliance with big government against the interests of ordinary Americans,
who, of course, are the great majority of Americans. The great majority of
Americans no longer matter. America is selling its soul for oil.

Where is the outrage? Where are the millions marching in the streets, where
is the round-the-clock roadblock coverage tracking every moment of the
crisis, every effort to plug the leak, every desperate attempt to mitigate
the damage?

Where is the White House? Where are Republicans? Where are Democrats? Where
is the left? Where is the right? Where is the
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37248587/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/>
"fierce urgency of now?"

Prominent oceanographers [are] accusing the government of failing to conduct
an adequate scientific analysis of the damage and of allowing BP to obscure
the spill's true scope. The scientists assert that the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and other agencies have been slow to investigate
the magnitude of the spill and the damage it is causing in the deep ocean.

In the movies, pretend heroes like Bruce Willis and Will Smith save the
planet while the whole world watches with breath and belief suspended. In
real life, a global catastrophe is treated like a mere annoyance, mismanaged
by a rapacious oil company, while drill-baby-drillers double down on their
folly and the White House puts out defensive fact sheets about how they were
on it from "day one."

Is this really the best we can do?

America is capable of greatness -- but our reaction to this unprecedented
event is anything but great.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/us/23drill.html>

In some parts of the country, the sight of oil drifting toward the Louisiana
coast, oozing into the fragile marshlands and bringing large parts of the
state's economy to a halt, has prompted calls to stop offshore drilling
indefinitely, if not altogether. Here, in the middle of things, those calls
are few. Here, in fact, the unfolding disaster is not even prompting a
reconsideration of the 75th annual Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival.
"All systems are go," said Lee Delaune, the festival's director, sitting in
his cluttered office in a historic house known as Cypress Manor. "We will
honor the two industries as we always do," Mr. Delaune said. "More so
probably in grand style, because it's our diamond jubilee."

Granted, some scientists are telling us the truth, some reporters are
digging up unpleasant facts, some citizens are rising in anger, some federal
agencies are doing what they are tasked to do. People are working to fix
this. But by and large, America's collective response to this crisis is
disproportionately anemic.

Leadership is virtually non-existent. Blaming BP for being greedy and
destructive is the least we should do, not the only thing we do. We need to
turn the tide once and for all against those whose ideological rigidity is
ravaging the planet.

A month before the spill, I wrote about green-bashing
<http://www.undispatch.com/node/9631> :

Of all the wrongheaded ideas proudly trumpeted by America's right,
anti-environmentalism occupies a unique position: it is at once the most
devoid of a rational or moral foundation and the most dangerous. It is
selfish, crass, illogical, willfully blind, a denial of the undeniable
reality that humans are pillaging irreplaceable natural resources and
spewing filth into the air and water and soil at unsustainable rates.
Green-bashers stubbornly negate what is directly before them. There is no
moral imperative underlying their belief (or lack thereof). It's about
unbridled hostility at the suggestion that we must all make shared
sacrifices. It's about refusing to acknowledge that the environmental
movement has been right to sound the alarm. It's about laziness. And greed.
And irresponsibility. And colossal shortsightedness. Green-bashing exposes
the rot at the core of modern conservatism.

The Gulf disaster is a singular moment - an opportunity to bring the human
race together to save itself, to protect its only home. This should be a
rocket-boost for the environmental movement, a time to finally put to rest
the notion that environmentalists are misguided alarmists, a chance to
finally marginalize green-bashers and put an end to their fatal
obstructionism. Instead, this grand debacle will gradually fade into the
background once some political gaffe or sports game or celebrity scandal
occupies us.

Lawmakers can say that the law mandates BP take responsibility for clean-up
and costs; federal officials can list all the things they're doing to fix
the problem; President Obama can launch as many fact-finding commissions as
he sees fit. But we shouldn't be impressed that they are doing what we
elected them to do - it's their job to deal with emergencies promptly and
effectively. Far more is called for in this uniquely cataclysmic
circumstance: a level of outrage, alarm, intensity and focus worthy of the
size and scope of the spill.

We need, and must demand, boldness and resoluteness worthy of a planetary
emergency - true leadership, rallying the nation and the world to action.
Offense, not defense. We're not getting anything close to that from
Democratic leaders. And from Republicans, far less.

The administration seems miffed and mystified that it is being criticized.
After all, it can reel off dozens of swift actions taken in the aftermath of
the spill. The White House's defenders want the spotlight aimed exclusively
at BP. But this is a situation where body language and words are just as
important as actions. Scheduling an 'angry' presidential news conference
weeks after oil started gushing into the Gulf waters is exactly the wrong
thing to do. Authentic anger isn't something you turn on for the cameras and
leak to the press the previous day. Indignation and defensiveness are
precisely the wrong message
<http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/22/obama-announces-oil-spill-c
ommission/?fbid=iVE93v9QZZS&hpt=T1> ...

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs faced a barrage of questions at his
daily briefing about why the federal government is not intervening to take
over responsibility for the cleanup from BP. "Again, we are overseeing the
response, OK?" Gibbs said just hours before the news about the commission
broke. "I don't know what you think - we're - we're working each and every
day. That's why Secretary (Steven) Chu - the Department of Energy - it
sounds technical. The Department of Energy doesn't have purview over oil,
oil drilling. That's not in their governmental sphere."

That this lame response from various quarters of the administration,
Congress, the media and the public comes on the heels of a banner year of
climate denialism is no coincidence. We are at an inflection point, one that
will likely determine the fate of our species. Green-haters have been
winning the message war, the all-important battle of public opinion. If
those of us who want to salvage and protect our earth don't rise in
righteous anger and use this moment to cement our case, then we have failed
ourselves and future generations.

America is perfectly capable of extended, intense, undivided attention.
Michael Jackson's death is a good example. But for some reason, the Gulf
disaster can be sidelined by an offensive remark from Rand Paul or a
meaningless debate over Elena Kagan's sexual orientation. And BP is taking
its cues - America's apathy is their cover
<http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/bp_is_sticking_wi
th_its_disper.html> :

BP has told the Environmental Protection Agency that it cannot find a safe,
effective and available dispersant to use instead of Corexit, and will
continue to use that chemical application to help break up the growing spill
in the Gulf of Mexico. BP was responding to an EPA directive Thursday that
gave BP 24 hours to identify a less toxic alternative to Corexit -- and 72
hours to start using it -- or provide the Coast Guard and EPA with a
"detailed description of the alternative dispersants investigated, and the
reason they believe those products did not meet the required standards."

Why has this unfolded so badly?

*        Democratic leaders have been blindsided by this spill, having just
come out in favor of offshore drilling to appease Republicans.
*        The right, for the most part, is stuck in the 19th century, consumed
by a manic hatred for anything green.
*        Oil companies are after one thing: money.
*        The press and punditry are busy chasing the story du jour.
*        Defenders of the administration are loathe to critique it, out of a
sense of loyalty.

Consequently, we're left with a halfhearted and halting, shameful response
to a profound tragedy.

This isn't Katrina II, it's worse. As the oil keeps gushing and the damage
keeps growing, we are squandering a rare chance to turn the tide against
those whose laziness and greed and ignorance is imperiling every living
thing on our wonderful and beautiful - and wounded - planet.

Words are a necessary precursor to deeds, anger is an essential ingredient
for social change. Speaking up and speaking out is the difference between
apathy and action. 30 years of conservative message dominance is a function
of the right's ability to master outrage. Now is the time for Democrats and
progressives to muster (and master) the kind of outrage worthy of this
calamity.

UPDATE: Over at The Seminal <http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/50179> ,
Rayne lists 11 steps the White House can take to deal with the spill and
asks readers for more suggestions.

Peter Daou is political consultant and former adviser to Hillary Clinton.