Oil Disaster: Obama's Best Options

The president needs a plan of attack
By Emily Rauhala,  Newser Staff
Posted May 27, 2010 8:14 AM CDT
Oil Disaster: Obama's Best Options
President Barack Obama, standing with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, center, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, left, delivers remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington following his closed meeting with his Cabinet and other senior administration officials on the ongoing...   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The Gulf oil spill is becoming a lesson in "ineffective leadership and the corporate capture of government," writes Dan Froomkin on the Huffington Post. Today's press conference offers a chance for President Obama to change that. Here's what he should do:

  • Take control: "Obama should make it clear that BP is no longer the final decision maker—about anything," Froomkin writes. The company's motives can't be trusted. The president must have the final word.

  • Demand transparency: Enough with the obfuscation. Both BP and feds must be much more open about what's going on. This must includes "an honest assessment" of how much oil is gushing out, where it's going, and what it's doing to the environment.
  • Talk dispersants: The EPA told BP to switch to a less toxic option; it hasn't. Obama should jump in and ask the bigger question: Should we even be using these on a spill this big?
  • Rally the public: Make this a "teachable moment." It is time to encourage the nation to wean itself off fossil fuels and strengthen regulatory measures.
For more smart options for Obama, click here.
(More Barack Obama stories.)

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