Posted by
John Caile on Friday, July 02, 2010 12:24:37 PM
The conventional wisdom is that the relentless flow of oil from the BP rig in the Gulf is bad for Obama and the Democrats. Even liberal pundits like James Carville were angry that Obama would drag his feet so badly, even refusing to accept equipment and expertise from the dozens of countries around the world who offered it.
It seemed like the most politically suicidal move he could make. Didn't the President realize what the endless video of the spill would do? He most certainly did. Just not in the way you think.
Contrary to the way normal people would view the problem - something to be solved as quickly as possible - Obama saw the spill as yet one more opportunity to "never let a crisis go to waste." Because Obama has a much more long range agenda than merely stopping an oil leak - he wants to stop our use of OIL, period.
And what better way to gain support for his radical environmentalist agenda than to have the spill go on and on, despoiling beaches, ruining fishing grounds, and of course, providing the anti-prosperity loons with the most compelling marketing tool of all - video of oil-covered birds. It was a propagandist's dream.
You see, had BP, the government, and countries all around the world jumped on the problem and gotten it under control within days, or even weeks, the message would have been that modern industrial ingenuity was able to respond to a problem quickly and effectively.
However, that would have done nothing to advance the anti-fossil fuel agenda of Obama. But by letting it go on just long enough to create the compelling videos so necessary in today's visually-oriented world, Obama and the Democrats get what they want - public support for a whole host of radical environmentalist policies.
Even laying off thousands of oil workers (as a result of Obama's outlandish ban on drilling), which would seem like a very bad move politically, will help Obama in his environmental jihad. Because, in the end, the oil spill itself will be falsely blamed for the unemployment.
Meanwhile, it creates yet one more group of people dependent on a check from the government (why do you think Obama want's BP's payments to Gulf residents be funneled through a government agency?), and dependency on the government is the Democrats' favorite method of recruiting voters.
Naturally, the Democrat-friendly media leaped on board - from Matt Lauer to Chris Mathews, the conversation wasn't about stopping the leak and cleaning up the mess as quickly as possible. No, it has been a non-stop discussion of "our addiction to oil" and how if we don't find "alternatives" then certainly "such catastrophes will continue to occur, year after year."
What nonsense. The BP spill was the first in almost 30 years, and even the last one, the EXXON Valdez spill, was eventually contained and cleaned up - and that was with far less effective tools and procedures than we have today.
And having made the point - "Big Oil" Bad - "Green" Good - you can bet Obama will finally move to clean up the mess - initiating steps that could all have been taken within the first days and weeks of the disaster. So don't be so foolish as to think Obama doesn't know exactly what he is doing - he always does.
Just as he knows what he's doing when he pushes "comprehensive immigration reform" to give citizenship to illegal aliens - otherwise known as "Undocumented Democrats" - regardless of the political backlash, he knows that the long term result will be a whole new bloc of ready-made Democrats voters.
Why do you think he is attempting to ram it through before the mid-term election? Because even if the Democrats in Congress get thrashed this coming November, the next time around (2012) all those recently arrived "Mexicrats" will likely put them back in power - and perhaps even save Obama's reelection in the process.