Reason.tv Replay: 3 Reasons Obama Should Kick His Own Ass

Note: As President Obama prepares to address the nation about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we thought it's worth rerunning this Reason.tv video, "3 Reasons Obama Should Kick His Own Ass." Original air date was June 10, 2010.

President Barack Obama made news on The Today Show when he talked about kicking some ass over the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

If he is interested in punishing those responsible for what is shaping up as one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, he should think about giving himself a boot.

While BP is ultimately responsible for the spill (and for cleaning it up), the federal government is a major player in the problem for at least three reasons:

1. It owns the property on which the oil well is located.

2. It regulates offshore drilling. And

3. In order to protect small players in the drilling industry, it capped economic damages from this sort of spill at just $75 million, a way-too-low cap that encourages risky behavior.

"3 Reason Why Obama Should Kick His Own Ass" is written and produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie, who also hosts.

Approximately 2:30 minutes.

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Comments

[Tman]

Don't worry! Obama is giving a speech tonight.

That will fix everything. His eloquent allocution will cause the seas to rise which will then allow us to sweep all this oil under the sea floor.

I DARE YOU TO DEFY HIS GODLIKE MASTERY OF NATURE!!!

[libertymike]

Two of my nephews are coming over to watch the Celtics capture title number 18 tonight. They are not interested in a pregame lineup which includes listening to a guy who can't name a single player on his self described favorite baseball team.

[Tman]

GO CELTICS!!! How bout that Rondo, eh? I love watching him give fits to Phil. Plus, I think Ray Allen finds his shot that he apparently left in LA after game 2, which is bad bad news for Fakers fans.

[Tulpa]

So far, it looks like the response is:

1. Threaten BP with unsaid consequences if it doesn't put billions in an escrow account to pay for damages;

2. Create a "long term Gulf Coast recovery plan".

3. Create a commission to study why the rig blew and don't allow drilling in deep water until it finishes its reports.

4. Green energy! Why can't we have more wind and solar energy? Why doesn't the energy industry spend as high a proportion of its profits on R&D as the software industry? How come Frito-Lay can make a potato chip in 0.6 seconds, while it takes BP months to shut down this oil leak? (OK, I made up that last one, but it's just as sensible a question.) 5. "There are those who say we can't afford to spend this money. But I say...we can't afford not to spend it [pause for the audience to appreciate profundity]...We refuse to recognize the limits of conventional wisdom."

[Tulpa]

Oh, I forgot 3a, clean up the Minerals Management Service, which "during the last decade" had become controlled by the oil industry, despite Secy. of Interior Salazar's herculean efforts to clean it up when Obama first took over from the previous administration.

[shrike]

Wow, Nick admits that regulators were absent when needed.

Small steps..

repeat

Small steps....

[libertymike]

Leave it be and focus on the Celtics taking the title tonight.

[bigbigslacker]

Because everyone knows libertarians don't believe the government should enforce any regulations or pass laws of any kind? Maybe Obama can help you kick that straw man's ass.

[shrike]

Cro-Magnon Libertarians hate ALL regs.

Give us free-market type liberals credit.

[Realist]

Give us free-market type liberals credit.

Hell no! They don't exist. Neither do I believe in unicorns or the Tooth Fairy.

[Tulpa]

Don't worry, now that Obama's donning his Kick-Ass jumpsuit, we won't have to worry about regulatory capture anymore.

The risk of regulatory capture suggests that regulatory agencies should be protected from outside influence as much as possible, or else not created at all. A captured regulatory agency that serves the interests of its invested patrons with the power of the government behind it is often worse than no regulation whatsoever.

[shrike]

Intended irony aside here - I give you kudos for a serious topic others avoid.

"Tulpa" - big ups.

[?]

"Stay tuned to hear Mr. Thompson's report on the world crisis at eight P.M.!" cried the martial voice of an announcer from the radio receiver?when the hand on the dial reached the hour of 7:45.

[DWPittelli]

What about rejecting the offer of help from the Dutch, made 3 days after the explosion, because we wouldn't want to offend anyone by waiving the Jones Act to allow foreign ships in?

[Bob H]

Another reason he should kick his own ass? Lets try his interior dept efusing to allow drilling in Alaska's Petroleum Reserve area!

[LS]

Nick's mug is okay, but just for the sake of variety, why can't someone else do ReasonTV segments once in a while?

[Bill C]

Like a cute pudgy chick.

[Patrick]

In addition to your entirely valid reasons, there are the reasons surrounding the US EPA's clearly stated and long-recognized responsibilities for spill response--starting at Day 1, in which they have totally failed. EPA's spill response charter says that if the responsible party can't, for any reason, contain the spill, EPA (assisted by the Coast Guard as needed) shall take over the spill response operations. FAIL! Not mentioned by the MSM! FAIL!

[COMMANDER]

TO THE WEAK-KNEED REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRAT----Wake up america!!!! This goverment is the most corrupt we have had in years. The good old boy network is very much in charge.Mr. obama and pelosi are the puppet masters.How many of their good friends benefited by the agreement " what a farce. All of the u.sSenators voted for this. I am ashamed to say I voted for the these corupted self serving politicians.With good reason they picked an out of towner to be president.All u.s departments need an overhaul. We need to rid ourselves of the puppet masters and the dept heads that bow down to obama and pelosi.I am sick of the lip service I have been getting from these dummies over violations, their friends are getting away with.in the goverment . Barack Hussein Obama , threatens friends and bows TO Mmslim.
INPEACH OBAMA ,GOD OPEN YOUR EYES.///For us there are only two possiblities: either we remain american or we come under the thumb of the communist Mmslim Barack Hussein OBAMA. This latter must not occur.THE COMMANDER.REPOST THIS