The unstoppable mess in the Gulf is exposing the powerlessness of America’s leadership – and the weakness of what was once “the indispensable nation.”

June 2, 2010 The Trumpet

This monster from the deep grows more horrifying by the day. All efforts to plug the leak in the Gulf of Mexico have failed. Scientists realize their official estimate of 5,000 barrels of oil per day billowing into the waters was far too low; last week they revised it to somewhere between 12,000 and 19,000. That’s as much as a million more gallons of silent, spreading, inky blackness penetrating, permeating and polluting the sea every 30 hours. Independent scientists have put the figure much higher. As the Gulf grows murkier, the fact that this nightmare represents a curse on America becomes more vividly clear. The cloud of oil that is costing billions in repairs, clean-up, lost jobs and economic ripple effects should be flowing into and enriching America’s economy. The fluid that is wiping out life, land and sea should be fueling America’s industry. As the nation bemoans its energy dependence on unstable and even enemy foreign states, its domestic energy production suffers this blow. It’s killing wildlife, it’s choking industries. And it’s ravaging a presidency. Anger is boiling because of the futility of the response, and no small measure of it is aimed squarely at the highest office in the land. As erstwhile Obama supporter Peggy Noonan wrote, “The disaster in the Gulf may well spell the political end of the president and his administration, and that is no cause for joy. It’s not good to have a president in this position—weakened, polarizing and lacking broad public support—less than halfway through his term. That it is his fault is no comfort. It is not good for the stability of the world, or its safety, that the leader of ‘the indispensable nation’ be so weakened.” Very true. This monstrosity is advertising the weakness of America’s leadership not only to Americans but also to the world. To an international community already deeply disenchanted with overindulgent America because of its culpability in creating the global economic crisis, the unstoppable mess in the Gulf makes “the indispensible nation” look all the more like “the diseased nation.” It is deeply ironic how this mushrooming tragedy is exposing Washington’s powerlessness. As Charles Krauthammer brought out, “Obama is no more responsible for the damage caused by this than Bush was for the damage caused by Katrina. But that’s the nature of American politics and its presidential cult of personality: We expect our presidents to play Superman.” That is a more serious error than most people realize. It is catching up with us. Last Thursday the president gave a press conference that Washington Post writer Dana Milbank—hardly a stern critic of this administration—described as perhaps “the weakest hour of his presidency.” “He decorated the East Room with wuddas, cuddas and shuddas: ‘We should have busted through those constraints … pre-deploying boom would have been the right thing to do … I do think our efforts fell short. … They should have pushed them sooner. … I think that it took too long. … Where I was wrong was in my belief that the oil companies had their act together.’ … As I sat in the fourth row on Thursday, I was struck by the weirdly passive figure before me.” Much of the press—which at one time carried the torch for this man—is piling on. To many, the diminished presidency is all the more disillusioning because it further punctures the myth of invincibility he had once sold them on. “[President] Obama has never been overly modest about his own powers,” Krauthammer wrote. “Two years ago next week, he declared that history will mark his ascent to the presidency as the moment when ‘our planet began to heal’ and ‘the rise of the oceans began to slow.’ “Well, when you anoint yourself King Canute, you mustn’t be surprised when your subjects expect you to command the tides.” This hubristic administration has ceaselessly promoted the notion that the solution to every problem is more government. It has taken over the mortgage and insurance industries; it is swallowing the automotive and banking industries; it is federalizing the health-care industry. All told, government spending now accounts for almost 30 percent of the total U.S. economy. Do people really expect this all to turn out good? A government that tries to do everything will eventually be unable to do anything. Look at Greece. Now, this fallacy that the federal government can solve it all, that the president is Superman, is being torn to shreds by the Gulf oil monster. When Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, voicing his outrage over BP’s failure to plug the leak, threatened to “push them out of the way,” Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen responded, “To replace them with what?” Good question. Washington has no answer. The president has little to offer but bluster—and his bluff has been called. This regrettable state of affairs was inevitable. Remember what we wrote the night President Obama was elected: Many people are looking to the new president-elect as a kind of messiah. Their credulity shows just how great the need for a true messiah is! People do recognize many of the pressing problems and crushing concerns of our age. They can see that the present government does not have the answers. But what they do not yet see—as has become plain in this election—is that by seeking those answers simply in another political candidate, they are misplacing their hope. This nation has yet to realize that there is no hope in man. Soon it will be this new government trying desperately to keep the economy from tanking, grappling with international security concerns that exceed the military’s capabilities, being mistreated by foreign governments, sinking deeper into debt and so on. It will be this government letting the people down. … As the Prophet Jeremiah once wrote, “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man.” Yes, cursed. So says God. That is the biggest lesson we need to grasp, as we witness this spreading, toxic, sticky blackness defy all efforts to contain it. America is being cursed. God has given this nation unique, unprecedented blessings of land, resources and protection. Yet, as the unapologetic addiction to governmental intervention aptly shows, it has turned its back on Him and placed its trust in man. It has denied Him, defied Him, and grossly sinned against His laws. Now He is simply taking those blessings away. Truly, it is not good to have this president, and this nation, in this position. It is not good for the stability of the world that America be so weakened. http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=7238.5787.0.0