Obama’s opportunity to move US beyond oil

Obama’s opportunity to move US beyond oil
By Edward Luce in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010
Published: May 31 2010 23:48 | Last updated: May 31 2010 23:48
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/921fa7cc-6d04-11df-921a-00144feab49a.html


God forbid the cameras catch Barack Obama playing golf. Almost inevitably, the US president in the past few days has been forced to take full “buck stops with me” ownership of the oil spill crisis as its enormity has unfolded.

That means Mr Obama is effectively on a wartime footing until the leak is plugged – an event that could be as far away as August following the failure of the “top kill” on Saturday. It also means that any display of insouciance on his part will be punished at twice the speed and twice as hard as it otherwise would. Indeed, Mr Obama is already being pilloried for events that have not yet happened.

At the weekend, Arianna Huffington, the liberal blogger, dubbed Mr Obama a “nowhere man” in advance of an event he will host in the White House on Wednesday to honour Sir Paul McCartney, the former Beatle. The moniker, of course, was meant to capture Mr Obama’s allegedly half-hearted engagement with the oil spill crisis in spite of his strong protestations to the contrary.

Others have revived the comparison between Mr Obama and Mr Spock, the Star Trek Vulcan, whose capacity to reason is matched only by his incapacity to feel. It is hard to imagine any other president emulating Mr Obama’s facility with the complex techniques required to contain and plug a deep sea oil leak.

Phrases such as “blowout preventer”, “skimmers”, “controlled burns” and “dispersant” trip off the presidential tongue. But Mr Obama’s critics, a large number of whom appear to be on the left, would prefer to hear more righteousness in his tone. The implication is that the more anger Mr Obama conveys in public, the more effective he will be at containing the disaster.

More ominously for Mr Obama, who in spite of sharing a rising portion of the blame for the disaster with BP still has far higher approval ratings than either the Republican party or his own Democratic allies on Capitol Hill, unflattering comparisons with former president Jimmy Carter are starting to resurface.

Specifically, there is a growing parallel with Mr Carter’s Iranian hostage crisis, which sank his presidency and his place in history. Then, like now, Mr Carter was required to make promises that he simply had no means to guarantee – to ensure the return home of the US hostages unharmed.

Then, like now, the network news channels reminded viewers daily of that unfulfilled White House pledge: “Iranian Hostage Crisis: Day 100”. In the past three days, most US cable and network news channels have adopted a similar drumbeat. We are now in: “Oil Spill: Day 43”.

The more that number mounts, and the closer we approach the mid-Atlantic hurricane season, which could add another horrifying dimension to what is already the US’s worst environmental disaster, the more Mr Obama will be pressed to do something radical. Mr Carter caved in to such pressure when he launched the hopeless rescue attempt, which crashed in the Iranian desert.

Mr Obama is already under pressure to “just do something” – even if it sometimes seems it is merely to give the impression of doing something. At the weekend, Colin Powell, the former secretary of state and supporter of Mr Obama, even suggested applying what sounded like the wartime “Powell doctrine” of defeating your enemy with overwhelming force.

Without specifying what precisely he had in mind, Gen Powell urged Mr Obama to launch a “comprehensive total attack” on the spill with “decisive force”. But as Mike Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, hinted on Monday, militarising the response would raise expectations beyond the capacity of the US military to meet them. Incarcerate all BP personnel, perhaps? Nuke the well?

There is another avenue available. While straining every sinew to contain this disaster, Mr Obama could seize the chance to overhaul America’s energy debate.

As Mr Obama himself has made plain, every crisis is an opportunity. This summer may well be his best to move the US towards a future in which oil is a thing of the past. We know Vulcans are intelligent. But are they creative?