No Really, The Leak Isn't Obama's Responsibility

Obama is responsible for our anemic footing on the War on Terror.  Obama is responsible for nationalizing industries like Chevy and Chrysler.  Obama is responsible for the inevitable double dip recession due to his insistence on short term stimulus rather than long term tax relief.  Obama is responsible for puffing up tin-pot dictators around the world with his Blame-America-First mentality.  However, Obama is NOT responsible for the oil leak, nor is he repsonsible for cleaning it up, BP is.

Of course, Obama didn't do himself any favors by offering to take "full responsibility" for the disaster.   He thought the Top Kill was going to work and the matter would be resolved in days.  Taking responsibility when what you think is a winning strategy is already being implemented is a cheap way to take credit for the win itself.  Unfortunately for Obama, the plan didn't work and his approval ratings hit a new low.  Now the spill is being compared to Bush's Hurricane Katrina and Carter's Iran Hostage Crisis.  As Obama weaves and bobs on the issue of the spill, which the federal government is ill-equipped to deal with, he seems like he is trying to shirk his responsibility now that the task has become more difficult.  Pointing the finger at BP (which is correct, even if it is superfluous for him to do so) is looking to more and more people like he is merely trying to take the attention off of himself. 

If Obama is getting an unfair shake in the media, BP is being savaged by comparison.  A federal criminal investigation has been launched into why the leak occurred and what has been done to contain it since.  BP should make full and complete restitution to everyone affected and pay to clean up the mess but clamoring for executives to go to jail spooks the industry and, in turn, the stock market as a whole.  It also doesn't help speed up the process one iota.  Obama pledges to keep his "boot to the neck" of BP but knowing that they will have to make full restitution, aren't market forces already putting the "boot to the neck" more effectively than government ever could?  Isn't BP looking to minimize the damage done to the coast for the purpose of minimizing damage done to their bottom line?  Isn't government (as it always does) just looking for a politically good outcome, either taking credit for fixing the leak or pushing blame off on BP entirely? 

Because Obama believes government oversight is necessary for practically everything, he raced to make this a political story.  Of course, Obama's faith in government is misplaced and the government's response has disappointed him as many conservatives could have predicted.  Government's only proper role in all of this is to ensure that BP cleans up their mess in toto. 

Government should only do what people are unable to do for themselves.  In short that might only be command the armed forces, run the court system, police the streets and a few other narrowly defined tasks.  BP can and will plug the leak. They will do so as quickly as they can at whatever cost necessary because the financial responsibility put upon them to clean up the aftermath is easily greater than any consequence Obama could dream up.