First Joe Barton, a Republican congressman from Texas, put his foot in his mouth. He called President Obama's call for British Petroleum (BP) to pay for the gulf oil spill cleanup a "$20 billion shakedown."
Oops. The Democrats pounced. A video went up on the Internet. And his GOP brethren ran for cover. By day's end, Barton was issuing an apology.
He had said first, "I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown - in this case a $20 billion shakedown."
The GOP whip, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, told him to apologize or lose his seat on the energy committee. Of the Gulf states, Barton's Texas is the only one unaffected. Lawmakers from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida denounced his comments.
Sorry, sorry, he said in his retraction. The company "should bear the full financial responsibility for the accident on their lease in the Gulf of Mexico" on April 20 and "fully compensate those families and businesses that have been hurt," he said in a statement. The New York Times reported that the oil and gas industry has given Barton $1.4 million since the 1990 election cycle. Maybe he will not be so sorry if they keep giving.
Then BP chief executive Tony Hayward took a day off Saturday to see his 52-foot yacht "Bob" compete in a glitzy race off England's shore, His $700,000 ship placed high in the competition sailing in clean water on a perfect day.
"Man that ain't right. None of us can even go out fishing," remarked a tattoo shop owner in a small Louisiana town. This is the kind of guy Hayward had referred to as "small people" the week before in Congressional hearings while trying to express his sympathy for those hurt in the oil spill.
BP apologized for that comment too and defended its boss for his "day off" at the sailing races. Everyone needs a break, they said. Why, even President Obama goes golfing.
Does one sense that some of those close to and running big oil just do not get it? The BP spill may turn out to be the worst environmental disaster of the last 100 years, with the exception, perhaps, of the major World Wars. Nobody needs a day off . Or at least those responsible for this mess should do it quietly. And it is not a "shakedown" to ask the oil giant to pay for a cleanup. The days of the GOP running on "drill, baby drill" should be behind them.
All of us need to take a hard look at how we use oil and energy. It is time for our President to outline a major new effort to change how we power our country.
We were inspired by one Democratic president to catch up with the Russians in space. And we walked on the moon first. We were inspired in an earlier day by GOP President Teddy Roosevelt to save our public forests by creating national parks and the Forest Service.
Americans have proved in the past they are willing to sacrifice and act boldly for the good of all. It is time for our political leaders, both Republicans and Democrats, to stop posturing for votes and campaign dollars. It is time to change our energy future.
That future will include innovative new approaches to generating energy like wind, sun and new generations of nuclear plants. Perhaps, scientific work like that underway in Boardman on growing algae will make a difference.
Supporting this, a newsletter from Colorado State University recently reported, "A tiny, one-celled creature is reproducing like crazy behind the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory in north Fort Collins. But this organism isn't a threat, it's a special kind of algae - and Colorado State researchers are working on ways to extract its oil to help reduce the world's dependence on finite fossil fuels and volatile energy markets."
We need to change how we fuel cars and heat homes. Let's get going.
How about a bold plan from our President and creation of a bi-partisan steering committee of senators and congressman to turn this tragedy into something positive. The oil industry should join in too. Most all of us would vote for that kind of political action.
The economic stimulus of such a national call to arms might even help pull us out of this recession and put people to work. It is time to turn our concern about big oil into a big energy plan.
