B.O. ~ He said, “Yes we can…”

Like most Americans who proudly watched our nation’s man of hope and change deliver his election winning speech in Chicago back in November 2008—I’m disappointed.

We all remember the tear streaked faces of his most ardent supporters who braved the chilly November night in Grant Park.

They stood shoulder to shoulder to hear a newly elected Mr. Obama give the first of his now famous 10th-grade level speeches—a speech that he punctuated with his trademarked line, “Yes, we can.”

A “line” the crowd repeated like hypnotized drones for the entire seventeen minute speech.

While Americans have reluctantly had to accept the excuses for his failures over the last eighteen months--the BP blowout has been Mr. Obama’s first real world test at leading this nation out of a disaster occurring on his watch.

This catastrophe and lack of response has proven there’s no leadership at the top, no leadership in the middle and no substance in the agency staffing at the bottom of the Obama administration.

The administration’s critical failure has been “since day one” when it was discovered that a mandated piece of equipment—an oil fire boom—was not owned by the government agency responsible for a quick response.

When the leadership of the responsible agencies finally surfaced eight days after the deaths of eleven men—they made the rounds on the Sunday morning news shows in a media mop up of their mess by reassuring the nation they’d been on top of the event “since day one.”

You’ll notice that since that weekend of them eating their feet on television--which was followed by a couple of brief appearances on the Gulf Coast—the DHS, DOI and EPA heads have been relatively unseen—swept into the closet to allow the President to appear and “take control.”

That control, or lack of it, was readily apparent in the speech delivered from the Oval Office last Tuesday night.

In using the Oval Office, a setting reserved to deliver only the most important of messages to the American people—Obama chose to redeliver his politically motivated eco-agenda and eliminated any leadership or solutions in his message to those in peril along the Gulf Coast.

His words were as empty as his suit.

In the weeks prior to the BP blowout, Mr. Obama admitted to our nation that the responsible agencies under his leadership, were incapable of responding to a terrorist driven nuclear attack of any size—and the BP oil spill reaffirmed our national level of preparedness to be weak at best.

What Obama’s proven good at is convening divisive committees who argue party lines, filing lawsuits, and layering bureaucracy so thick that nothing—I repeat NOTHING--can be done without pain to save our Gulf Coast.

In my opinion—it’s by design—to allow him to push his Obama “green economy” and his unaffordable cap-and-trade bill—-in other words, his agenda.

What better way to win the hearts and minds of the Grant Park “Yes-we-can” Club, than with pictures of oily beaches, oily dead birds and the oil-broken lives of ruined people?

The real leadership in the Gulf has proven to be the locals—just watch Governor Bobby Jindal or Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nunguesser during their interviews—they have a plan, they want to act and instead of helping lead—the President and his henchmen and women are in the way, purposely.

I wonder if those same tear streaked faces of the Grant Park group are watching the heartbreak along the Gulf Coast from their air conditioned living rooms—where are the Hollywood stars, the Jesse’s, the Al’s, the Oprah’s—they’ve been incredibly silent since April 20th.

Perhaps the multitudes who stood there in Grant Park and were so moved to mimic the chant, have realized what many of us knew before they voted for him—when it comes to leading us and our nation, through this or any other major disaster—“No, he can’t.”

Time for British Petroleum to step up and perform

In an exploration plan and environmental impact analysis filed with the federal government in February 2009, BP claimed it had the capability to handle a "worst-case scenario" at the Deepwater Horizon site, which the document described as a leak of 162,000 barrels per day from an uncontrolled blowout - 6.8 million gallons each day.

Unfortunately, we may have been “misled”.

A little over estimated--considering the Deepwater Horizon site is now said to be pumping up to “25,000 barrels per day” and could very well increase to an “unchecked gusher” should the seabed or well pipes deteriorate further. The well is considered to be “out of control”, according to the British online news source, Times Online UK.

British Petroleum’s responsibility for the spill

As the oil slick spreads so does BP’s responsibility to those in the affected areas. The looming coastal nightmare is hours away for some, and days away for others.

BP has gone so far as to say they will pay claims to businesses in the affected areas and set a precedent by hiring some of Louisiana’s soon to be displaced fishermen to help deploy oil booms at an estimated $38 to $48 per hour.

Oil industry experts and officials are reluctant to describe what, exactly, a worst-case scenario would look like - but if the oil gets into the Gulf Loop Current and the Gulf Stream and it carries to the beaches of Florida, the BP oil spill stands to be an environmental and economic disaster of epic proportions.

With that said, potential victims need to prepare for the “coming storm”.

BP had a flawed preparedness plan, that doesn’t mean you should

You can bet BP has their legal teams and insurance experts working to minimize their losses and you should too!

If your business has the potential to being affected by losses due to the BP oil spill, now’s the time to check your insurance coverage for “man-made disasters” or the loss of business due to the negligence of others—verify now, exactly what your policy covers—or not.

Seek legal advice as to your rights to file a claim and do so.

Everyone from retail wholesalers to food brokers to restaurants to water based businesses and real estate agents servicing these destination towns will feel the effects of big oil for years to come, and residents may well too—as they are pushed into paying higher taxes to make up for the loss in tourist/bed tax revenues as vacationers disappear seeking “cleaner destinations”.

Unemployment in the Southeast is about to jump…but there’s options

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s statistics website, unemployment the affected states is already high: Alabama -11%, Florida -12.6%, Louisiana - 6.9% and Mississippi at 11.5%.

Of course the numbers don’t reflect the under-employed, those who have never filed for unemployment compensation or those who have given up looking for work.

Instead of seeking volunteers, BP should consider training and hiring oil spill mop-up and wildlife rehabilitation responders in each of the affected areas.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve volunteered many times in my past. I’ve worked multiple whale and dolphin strandings in the Florida Keys, and flew search and rescue mission as a volunteer in the early 1990’s.

This time it’s different.

BP has stated that untrained volunteers risk injury should they try to clean-up the company’s oil without proper training.

Quoting an article from Sunday’s News-Press, the Fort Myers area daily newspaper, "OSHAA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requires that anyone who responds must be certified".

According to that News-Press article, Joanne Semmer, president of Ostego Bay Oil Spill Cooperative at Fort Myers Beach, has provided a 24-hour training classes to people since the early 1990s for such an emergency.

Her class is said to include many of the problems responders would face if the oil slick invades Southwest Florida waters, marshes and beaches.

By BP assuming the liability for uniformly training and hiring unemployed Americans in the communities their oil spill will affect, British Petroleum will help offset a portion of the job losses, new foreclosures and economic declines caused by their inability to handle a situation they said they could in their 2009 analysis.

BP’s responsibility—“Beyond Petroleum”?

This oil spill is BP’s baby, and their responsibility. It’s their choice as to how they handle the oil spill and clean-up.

Should BP choose to do the right thing and employ BP trained Americans whose backyard they’ve destroyed, as part of their “Disaster Recovery Team”--bravo to BP.

Should they choose not to, let BP provide personnel from within their global ranks of employees and import them to the communities their oil spill has destroyed.

I’m sure the local businesses will welcome British Petroleum’s employees—with their corporate credit cards--into their communities with open arms; and provide them with all their necessities for the years--and possible decades--it will take for BP employees to clean up their company’s gooey mess.

British Petroleum’s disaster is now America’s disaster and it’s time for BP to step up, beginning with a new corporate philosophy--“Benefiting People, Before Profits”--.

Matt Lawrence is owner of Paratus International LLC and author of What To Do til the Cavalry Comes: A Family Guide to Preparedness in 21st Century America