Carol Browner Just “Should” All Over Me!

I asked a question to Carol Browner today on a live White House discussion about the Gulf Oil Spill. Very specifically I asked: “Why don’t we federalize the clean up process?” Carol responded that we should not use taxpayer dollars to pay for cleaning up a mess that BP should be paying for.

Could someone please pass me a towel? Carol, you totally just “should” all over me! We are not in a situation with the luxury of waiting for people who SHOULD do the right thing. We are in full crisis mode. Fifty-three days into crisis mode, to be exact.

Here’s the best analogy I’ve heard. Suppose your house is on fire. The fire department shows up and the firemen get out of their trucks. But they don’t take out their hoses or turn on the water. Rather, they stand in your front yard discussing who is responsible for your house being on fire, and how they can prevent future house fires. Listen, you don’t care how or why it happened right this moment – your house is on fire and the fire needs to be put out… NOW.

I don’t care how, when or where you settle up with BP. We already know they owe us BILLIONS in fines alone. Order them to write a check today, order them to write it next week – I don’t give a rat’s a$$ – but now is not the time to figure that out.  There are two times for doing that: 1. Uhh BEFORE this happened, when government oversight could have prevented it and 2. AFTER you protect the US Gulf Coast.

I don’t want to hear about policies or regulations. If we can spend TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars rebuilding other countries, we can certainly set red tape aside to save our own shores, our own Gulf, our own people from this massive attack. It’s time the White House stop talking about kicking asses and start protecting its people.

You need funds? Why don’t you pull some of the $9 BILLION in DoD contracts awarded to BP? Why don’t you use some of the $3.5 MILLION BP has spent on campaign contributions in last 20 years, or tap into the $15.9 MILLION BP spent lobbying last year alone — as it tried to influence energy policy. People in our government have spent years taking money from oil industry… and never once thought perhaps that money should be invested on behalf of the people, those citizens they sold out in the process.

Now I know this is not fair. Many in the administration inherited the legacy left by those that came before, and are left today trying to figure out how to clean up a mess that they did not cause. Not many of us are interested in blame right now. Fair or not, you are our current elected officials, and we are counting on you to do the right thing based on the information we have at this moment.

Carol and all other federal officials: stop “shoulding” on us and deliver a tactical, coordinated plan to protect the Gulf Coast. This is a beautiful opportunity for you all to shine. Please, shine for us.