Oil Spill 2

I watched the President's press briefing yesterday and was somewhat impressed. Though a moderate Republican, I voted for Obama in 2008 mostly due to my inordinate love of pragmatic Presidents. Had the John McCain of 2000 shown up it might have been a different story, but the selection of Sarah Palin (and flirting with the even more ridiculous Mike Huckabee) as a running mate was disturbing to say the least.

Peggy Noonan, an occasional Wall Street Journal columnist, wrote an opinion piece today about the disastrous consequences of the oil spill for Obama. From time to time I enjoy her work, such as when she wrote in October 2008 that Palin was a terrible choice of running mate and a symptom of "vulgarization in American politics," but this article is off-base. Her argument that "He attempted to act out passionate engagement through the use of heightened language—"catastrophe," etc.—but repeatedly took refuge in factual minutiae," was silly to say the least. I have a strong aversion to politicians who avoid factual minutiae and recommend the same position to fellow voters. A leader who develops "gut feelings" about situations without considering the facts does not have the intellectual flexibility that we should demand in a President. Obama made some very valid points: the government's role is not to be the technological leader in the energy industry or this specific incident, BP has the proper incentive to fix the issue, the regulation for drilling needs a great deal of reworking, and the MMS is a mess. Where I thought he erred, at least initially, was to resort to the oft-presented prior administration argument:

"When Secretary Salazar took office, he found a Minerals and Management Service
that has been plagued by corruption for years. This was the agency charged with
not only providing permits but also enforcing laws governing oil drilling. And
the corruption was underscored by a recent inspector general's report that
covered activity which occurred prior to 2007, a report that can only be
described as appalling. And Secretary Salazar immediately took steps to clean up
that corruption."

After 18 months in office, it is time to take full responsibility for issues which develop on your watch. Aside: the deficit is clearly inherited, but if you are not attempting to lower it, you should not try to argue that it is not your fault with a straight face.

Noonan went on to take exception to the philosophy that federal government should have a more significant role in American society. This is where my philosophy differs from the rabidly conservative Republican or Libertarian. Certainly the government should not have a role as a direct market participant (running an HMO for instance) because they are subject to market distorting forces (like getting re-elected) which result in irrational positions/policies, therefore damaging the entire market system. But we should be more than happy to accept a regulatory body which serves the common good of the entire market, establishing regulations and laws which protect the rights of all individuals and corporations equally.

At any rate, it was refreshing to hear a more sensible description of the incident and the response than that of Ken "keep our boot on their neck" Salazar. I reiterate my earlier comments about the current pricing of BP shares. Thanks to our judicial system I firmly believe that the clean-up costs will be significantly lower than the market is currently pricing into the stock.