2010 Summer of Rage

Daniel L. Gardner

Guest Columnist

Times of crises call for cooler rather than hotter heads, and warmer rather than cooler hearts. Times of crises also reveal true character. Who you gonna trust when times get tough?

The summer of 2010 threatens to be a summer of rage. The Gulf is gushing oil and Washington is posturing, blaming, spending, and bribing, but not leading. The Obama administration IS becoming more transparent, but Americans don’t like what they’re seeing.

First, BP is not the enemy. Please Mr. Salazar, take your boot off BP’s neck. We need BP to help stop the flow and clean up the mess without your boot getting in the way. Also, we need you to tell the truth about what the experts recommended regarding a drilling moratorium, especially when you testify before Congress. Now is no time for silly political games. Real jobs and livelihoods are on the line.

Yes, Mr. President, someone does need a good whupping, but Americans don’t need a lot of elite academics to tell us whom to whup. Begin your looking closer to home.

On a brighter, more positive note, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee on one of his recent shows featured nine innovative methods for cleaning up oil in the Gulf. What a great idea! Why not ask Americans to develop ways to clean up the mess while it’s still in the Gulf?

Ideas ranged from using hay to absorb the oil, to a polymer that turns oil into a nontoxic malleable solid, or an organic biodegradable natural product that quickly soaks up the oil including benzenes and explosive vapors and prevents oil from clinging to wildlife.

Working together to battle the problem rather than battling each other is such a refreshing idea, especially as the summer heat exacerbates tempers and irrationalities. Huckabee is demonstrating leadership and solutions, not playing petty blame games.

America’s counting the days of the gusher is reminiscent of day-counting during previous national crises, a daily reminder Washington is not God, able to solve all our problems with somebody else’s money – not that Washington won’t try to tax and spin the crisis to its own political advantage regardless the cost of human or wildlife suffering.

Families, friends, volunteers, and communities around the Gulf are rallying together to support one another, stem the tide – literally and figuratively – and solve problems created by the crisis. Local heroes in all shapes, sizes, and colors are attacking the problems and defending homes, lives, and livelihoods. That’s the way life is. We always band together during times like these and don’t particularly want somebody from the government to get in the way telling us what we can and cannot do.

BP has said they’re going to pay for this mess. Washington, cursing and threatening, vows to make BP pay every last cent. Some nations have offered help, but Obama has said, ‘no thanks,’ something about the Jones Act and unions.

Americans are donating millions of dollars, time, and resources to those affected in the Gulf region. Thank God for men, women, and children who are working overtime to solve this crisis. And, God have mercy on all of life in the Gulf as the summer of 2010 rages on.

Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com
His column does not reflect the views of Starkville-Now.com.