Oil Rig Not The Only Thing That's Been Blown Up

The oil is still pumping out of the ruins of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Albeit, the oil is now mixed with the heavy mud being pumped into the pipe, but as of today, the "top kill", the latest in a series of everything-but-the-kitchen-sink fixes, has not worked. This spill has given credence to the environmentalists who claim that oil spills are a matter of "when" and not "if." They have also raised legitimate questions about regulation and safety precautions on off shore drilling platforms. But one other thing this spill has done is to expose President Obama as a mere shadow of the inspirational second-coming that many had hoped. That dream, which had been on life-support more or less since day one, has now passed on. Obama has been shown to be just like most other politicians, steeped in so many briefings and so much bureaucracy as to be detached from the reality on the ground. Much has been made of this spill being Obama's Katrina, a comparison that looks laughable on the surface. But Katrina destroyed what was left of George W. Bush's image as a down-home, compassionate guy. Remember all the talk about Bush being the one voters wanted to have a beer with? That died with Katrina. Obama has now been shown in a similar light. Gone is the inspiration, the colour, the energy. Obama is now cold, detached, indifferent. You can see it in the way he parses his words, in the way that even what is to be an emotional visit to the Gulf Coast is scripted, parsed and teleprompted. You can see it in the way he speaks now too. What was once great oration is now dull, meaningless and calculated. He bobs his head from left to right and then back again at such regular intervals that it leaves me convinced it must be timed and rehearsed: "Right teleprompter...one...two...left teleprompter...one...two..." Whereas Bush or Clinton would be down in Louisiana, knee deep in sludge, shucking oysters and hugging locals, Obama is at best, arms-length, approaching the oil spill as the lawyer and professor that he is. With the oil still pumping into the Gulf, the coming days will determine not only how long it mars the beautiful Louisiana coast, but also to what extent it stains this president.