After the Oval Office speech made by Barack Obama, the reactions of the people affected along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico were bound to be recorded. Many residents feel that the situation has turned „comical“ because of the confusion, doubt, and lingering problems with the clean up and it leaves many Gulf Coast citizens feeling helpless. The inaction many feared would occur is not happening; rather, the problem is all of the chaos that is occuring, hindering progress towards cleaning the coast. They also have some doubts about Obama's comments of making „BP pay“ and whether or not that is really and truly possible. There are also problems with the amount. Several people have filed claims for damages and have only been payed small amounts. The amount of economic depression caused in the region is massive, as tourism, shipping industries, fishing and other seafood gathering, and of course the oil industry itself have all halted. Regina Shipp, a small restaurant owner has lost over $57,000 herself from just several weeks of being closed. Other tourist attractions, such as those in Florida, depend on having a clean Gulf in order to make parasailing, swimming, and other aquatic options avaliable for tourist purposes. In another twist, ABC interviewed 3 individuals after Obama's speech and found that all three were critical of the president. This is in stark contrast to what happened after hurricane Katrina when the same reporter asked 6 individuals on where to appropriate blame: not one blamed then President Bush but instead bashed the local and state government for not being prepared and for mishandling the situation. A new poll showed that 50 percent said that Bush handled Katrina better than Obama handled the oil spill, while only 35 percent chose Obama's handling of the spill over Bush. Is this a result of the time factor in which Gulf residents are hangry now? Or is it about the Gulf states being traditionally red states, or is Obama's honeymoon period run out?
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-noyes/2010/06/16/double-shock-abc-shows-gulf-residents-panning-obama-s-oil-spill-speech-a
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/16/obamas-oil-spill-speech-g_n_613926.html
photo: http://www.limitstogrowth.org/WEB-Graphics/BayOilSpillSign.jpg
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