Oil Spill Exposes Executive Inexperience

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann authored Dems Turn On Obama at the Townhall website. In his usual analytical style Morris makes some insightful observations. One being that the environmental damage caused by the continuous leakage of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is particularly galling to leftists. Obama's attempts to deflect the criticism with attacks on BP and a renewed push on cap and trade legislation cannot overcome the problem which will abate only when the flow is stopped.

Morris poses the central question which he then seeks to answer namely, why can't Obama plug the gusher? The answer is said to be Obama's lack of administrative experience. The President's background does not include experience managing or directing large organizations. Morris contrasted Obama's history with former President Clinton's experience as Governor of Arkansas. Reacting to unexpected disasters is a part of governing. Morris explained that Clinton would consult with experts and get answers to probing questions. In this way Clinton could acquire the expertise needed to make effective decisions. Obama's academic and legislative experience did not expose him to the kind of challenge he now faces in the Gulf.

Morris also makes a very cogent observation relating to the handling of bureaucracies. A good executive knows that intervention in the usual bureaucratic processes is necessary during a crisis. Bureaucrats function according to rules some of which must be set aside to deal with an emergency. Experience dealing with prior emergencies would have conveyed this message. Obama's experience is coming with on the job training.

As a specific example Morris points to an offer by the Netherlands to dredge the Gulf. There is much expertise from that country on the matter of dredging. The country is largely below sea level. The dredging capacity of the USA needed augmenting. The Dutch were not taken up on their offer. Morris believes Obama never asked the questions needed to familiarize himself with the dredging issue and therefore caught unprepared.

The most revealing part of the article may have been the observation that Obama's mishandling of the crisis indicated to conservatives and centrists that Obama was in over his head. Yet to those on the left the same ineptitude was viewed as an unpardonable sin. Therein lies the difference between the ideological camps. The left has great faith in the ability of the government to effect desired outcomes. In this case that means capping a leaking oil well. That faith is not shared by the left's more conservative counterparts who view government as limited with respect to its capacity to solve problems.

There are immense technical difficulties involved in fixing a leak in a pipeline drilled 5,000 feet below the surface of the water. Conservatives and centrists have an instinctive feel that the President's failures are related, not as much to stopping the leakage, as to a failure to respond adequately to the effects of the spillage. Therefore while the left is viewing a moral failure the right is seeing incompetence. President Obama is being hammered from both sides.