Obama's BP (NYSE:BP) Oil Spill Mistakes

Obama should have consulted with Ron Paul before attempting to do too much in the Gulf of Mexico, as then he would have kept himself from making too many mistakes.

It's too bad Obama didn't heed his initial thoughts and keep clear of the BP (NYSE:BP) oil spill than he has, as the pressure from the wacky progressive base he has, resulted in one mistake after another in handling the Gulf disaster.

The first mistake was one of omission, where he refused to waive the Jones Act, which forbids foreign vessels from working in U.S. waters. This was an incredibly foolish thing to do, and it was done just to cater to his union base.

If he had allowed the foreign skimmers in, the amount of oil that could have been removed from the Gulf of Mexico would have been enormous, and we may not even be close to having the problems we are having today as a consequence of that inaction.

At the beginning I believe Obama was doing the right thing in calmly watching the situation. But that wasn't enough for his supporters, who pressured him to show some anger, and once he started that, he generated a diplomatic row with Britain that still hasn't been resolved, and left a bad taste in the majority of Americans' mouths for acting the bully.

The decision to keep berms from being built to protect the Louisiana coastline was another enormous error, although it was obviously retracted and the berms were started to be built.

But as of Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife division halted some of that in the name of some environmental nonsense, as if the oil filling the coastlines of Louisiana aren't an environmental crisis. This is the same type of idiocy that kept the berms from being built in the first place.

And the shutting down of barges being used to siphon oil from near the coast of Louisiana in order to check for fire extinguishers and life jackets for over 24 hours was another look into Obama not having a handle on things.

The worst of it all though was the imposition of a moratorium which is doing more to harm the Gulf region in relationship to jobs than the oil spill itself.

Ron Paul said about that, "Many have criticized the federal government in the past weeks for not doing enough. The reality is there is only so much government can do to help, yet a lot they can do to prolong the problem and misdirect the pain. For example, in the interest of 'doing something' the administration has enacted a unilateral ban on offshore drilling. This is counterproductive. I am proud to cosponsor legislation to lift that ban. Why punish other oil companies and their hard-working employees who had nothing to do with this disaster, and who have better safety records?."

As Ron Paul says, the best thing in times like these is for government to get out of the way and let those who know what to do - do it.