And, So…What’s The Problem?

As President Obama began his address to the nation on the Oil Spill Crisis, words kept flashing through my head. “You’re a liar.” “Ohmigod, I cannot believe you are LYING.” “I can’t believe YOU think you are going to get away with lying.”

I am referring to all his actions he outlined that he supposedly took immediately when the crisis began. I am specifically focused on his claim that he formed a team of industry experts and academic types to brainstorm solutions. Granted, he did not state the exact problem they were to solve (plugging the damn hole OR lessening its effects on wildlife, Mother Earth, a food source, industry, economy, a people’s way of life).

BTW, the first task for any team should have been determining WHAT is the problem, because many Americans thought those stated above were the obvious problems BP was working. Instead BP viewed “the problem” as how to capture the oil and sell it to salvage what profit they could from the situation. They focused on this aspect, which is valid, because they are in the business to make money and stay in business. Our POTUS mistakenly believed their perspective would prioritize our shoreline or the ocean.

In business, we call this a rookie mistake. Before a business team begins brainstorming, it identifies the problem and then articulates how any potential solution will be measured and thus viewed as a success or failure. I am amazed at how many organizational mistakes are made by our government and even our military, when it comes to just evaluating and picking a strategy! People with business experience have been around this mulberry bush so much, that this is an accepted and understood way of organizing work.

And another BTW: a real leader is in the same room with the brainstormers, sleeves rolled up, asking questions, learning, helping reach consensus, looking for any hidden agendas…he trusts no one else’s interpretation.

Returning to my main point, I just had this powerful intuition that the whole thing is a lie, and then a feeling of sadness, as a result.

I sincerely hope there is a Real Journalist somewhere today tracking down the team members’ names, when they met, and what they did, so this can be communicated to us. It should have been reported when it happened, to help us feel that something was being done. I need some proof that he was not lying, to counteract my depressing suspicion that we have a leader who is a disgusting, gutless liar.

This is the situation, my friends. We have a POTUS who needs to be told what to do. He can look handsome, he can speak with the aid of a teleprompter, he can write, he can create new bureaucracy (commissions, panels, czars, departments – oh, my), he can get outrageous bills passed and new taxes levied, BUT he cannot figure out what to DO in a crisis when real action is called for. TWO MONTHS AFTER THE OIL BEGAIN SPEWING, HE IS FINALLY MEETING WITH THE BP CEO. Does anyone else see how crazy this is? Hate Ronny Reagan all you want, but he woulda been on the horn with Maggie (Britain’s Margaret Thatcher) within an hour into the situation, discussing possible scenarios and restitutions. Reagan understood relationships are everything.

Dammit, it is just NOT SMART to create an us-versus-them vibe, when the TRUTH is we’re all in this together. (We need a commission to determine the cause of this crisis? Really? My analysis took about 5 minutes. See previous postings. We’re all at fault ultimately, with some particularly terrible transgressions committed by BP and our federal government who did not oversee BP as it was supposed to. Love that emergency plan our government approved from BP that involves protecting the walruses in the Gulf Coast.)

So, it would appear that to solve the problem of corrupt, lazy, ineffective government is to create more, but slightly different, corrupt, lazy, ineffective government (like give it a new name or something or a new head guy). THEN it will do its job of overseeing the corrupt, lazy, destructive Big Business. Right?

Us-versus-them: I’ve seen all the public outrage smeared all over my facebook, demanding BP’s assets be seized (okay, how do we do that? Maybe Ronnie has already discussed this problem with Maggie, no wait, we have a guy named Barry now…). Seriously, how does bankrupting BP help us? Girlfriend, it’s like when you throw your ex in jail for paying his child support late and then he can’t work and pay your child support at all…maybe we can garnish their paychecks before they buy that new car, er I mean $50 million TV PR campaign…oh, damn, too late.

Actually, the people’s outrage is the only honest thing I’ve seen in the whole scenario, and it is exactly what is supposed to happen in a free market. They choose to boycott BP, if we can figure out exactly where all their oil ends up and good luck with that. I love the idea of boycotting plastic Wal-Mart bags. I’m okay with BP going bankrupt to be replaced with other far more conscientious oil companies. Live and die by the sword. That’s all long-term, though, kind of down-the-road and we have an immediate fire burning in our face. Oil spewing. Who knows how many gallons a day.

Throughout the speech, I did NOT hear HOW the oil gush will be stopped or how we will deal with the spill. I heard: “NOW IS THE MOMENT” and “SEIZE THE MOMENT.” Huh? Is NOW finally a good time for you, B, to contain the leak and minimize damage or is NOW a good time for you to further push along your anti-business agenda? Others heard: “Your taxes on energy use are going to go through the roof in the near future.” But, I did definitely hear that millions will be spent on creating new bureaucracy and more millions spent discussing and litigating to pin blame in an awesome PR war of which we’ve not seen the likes before. All pretty damn irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Alright, I’ll tell you what I’m really thinking and quit tip-toeing around. I’m thinking Obama is not just a “dreamer,” a stoopid idiot, clueless in managing situations and solving problems. I’m beginning to see something far uglier and even sinister. Nothing significant was done for two months to minimize the leak’s impact in order TO CREATE A BIGGER CRISIS, an environment where he can push his short-sighted policies.

He made a choice a long time ago as a new graduate of Harvard law school. He could follow the path of corporate riches and make a ton of money with his fancy law degree. Or reach for a “nobler” path and use his abilities and education to create public policy and fight for the little guy. What he did not understand and still does not understand is WHO PAYS for that public policy is Corporate America. Business. Trade. Commerce. Nothing happens without money. All that public policy is supported by TAXES.

There is a yin-yang relationship between Corporate America and Public Policy and when one becomes stronger than the other, we are thrown into a frightening imbalance. And that’s where we are now.

Public Policy and Corporate America – neither is all evil or all good. They cannot exist without each other, and right now Public Policy is killing Corporate America, with the people squeezed in the middle.

The Squeezing sounds like this: Wow, now it costs $300 to fill my gas tank so I can get to work. I didn’t have time to find a job closer to home so I can ride my bike or walk. Well, my employer just dropped my health insurance. My heating/ cooling bill was what this month?!! The base cost of my groceries just went up again (due to transportation costs of moving goods).

Who is strong enough to become the Corporate Champion? Better yet, who is smart enough to be both Corporate Champion and Public Policy Enforcer? Who indeed.

SIDE NOTE: I’ll just bet Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida LOVED being referred to as our NEIGHBORS. Hmmm. We definitely have a POTUS who has NO idea who the hell he is. I hate being a nit-picker playing “Gotcha” but come on! The president is supposed to BE Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. Don’t worry, he’ll have all this figured out by the time he presents us taxpayers with the bill for fixing the coastal shore and preserving “our” way of life (after BP has gone under and can’t contribute anything).