Obama to establish commission on oil spill as blame game heats up

[The Straight Story]

Obama to establish commission on oil spill as blame game heats up
By Darren Goode CongressDaily May 18, 2010

President Obama will establish an independent commission to investigate the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico through an executive order, creating a panel that resembles those that probed the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. Current federal officials would be barred from serving on it.

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., who has pushed for such a commission, said in a statement it will "ensure that our scrutiny matches the depth and breadth of this human, economic and environmental disaster."

Also on Monday, Chris Oynes, the career executive in charge of offshore oil and gas drilling at the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, told officials he would resign at the end of the month. An Interior official told The Washington Post Oynes was not forced out but resigned of his own accord. Oynes had more than three decades of federal service.


Before news of the commission spread Monday, Senate Environment and Public Works Democrats requested a Justice Department inquiry into whether BP violated civil and criminal law, while federal and BP officials came under bipartisan fire from another Senate panel.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=45292&oref=todaysnews

[rocktivity]

1. "If you don't want to play the blame game

YOU'RE TO BLAME."
--Jon Stewart

:headbang:
rocktivity

[amborin]

2. Massive White House PR campaign re: the spill:

WASHINGTON — In the days after an oilrig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico , the White House faced not only a looming environmental catastrophe, but also a potential public relations disaster.

Aides feared that a story line would take hold that President Barack Obama had responded too slowly to the spreading oil slick, which could damage him politically much as the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 discredited former President George W. Bush .

So as the federal government began reacting to the spreading oil, the White House message machine swung into action, too.

Within hours, it was cranking out a sustained barrage across the broad spectrum of modern media — statements, reports, e-mails, tweets, photos and videos — all punctuated by a high-profile presidential visit to the Gulf followed by an incendiary speech at the White House and a video recap with exclusive behind-the-scenes views of Obama in "West Wing Week," the White House's new online program at www.whitehouse.gov.

Whether it's Obama sitting with one reporter or a statement sent via Twitter, nothing happens by accident. The White House message machinery is a crucial element of the ever-expanding presidency, and like his recent predecessors, Obama uses it to shape public opinion, drive the mainstream media's agenda and minimize political blowback.

The White House bureaucracy devoted to managing public imagery has been growing since President Richard Nixon created the first office devoted to broad communications strategy in 1969. Obama's version uses a blend of old and new techniques and technology in an effort to cut through a polarized partisan landscape and a dizzying array of modern mass media that abbreviate attention spans and fracture public attention.

Obama's White House message machine employs more than 60 people directly, at a cost to taxpayers of at least at least $4.3 million a year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100514/pl_mcclatchy/3505573

[NJmaverick]

3. A commission should be formed