I Know! Blame George Bush!

Today is May 28, 2010. It has been 493 days since George W. Bush left office and Barak Obama took over. That's why I almost fell off the bed as I heard a recap from the president's press conference yesterday. I was stunned as I heard him suggest that the BP oil spill may not have happened had the Bush administration been less cozy with big oil. Likewise, I was bewildered as he reassured a skeptical Washington Press Corp that he wakes up with the spill on his mind and goes to bed with the spill on his mind.

Huh?

Wasn't it President Obama who received $77,051 dollars from BP when he ran for office,the company's largest campaign donation? For that matter, wasn't it president Obama that we've seen on the golf course, at the White House Correspondents Dinner, welcoming the Yankees to the White House, playing basketball, and hosting a Cinco de Mayo party while Gulf coast residents and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal begged for some kind of assistance?

Of course the president has to multi-task and recreate even in the face of a crisis, but most of us learned as young adults that "appearances" do matter. We also learned that if you're in charge you don't try to put the blame on someone else. It's just not presidential. In this case it's just sad.

When the best the president could come up with was putting the blame on the former administration, it once again, became painfully obvious that he still doesn't have a definitive plan for bringing an end to the crisis. It also proves that the president needs to get a thicker skin when facing the criticism that in this case he deserves.

I have had many liberal friends of mine tell me and other conservatives to "get over it, Barak has won," each time we complain about this policy or that. I've had his call for change and his popular vote win, thrown out as the reason we conservatives should just shut up. I've even heard of conservatives being called racist for simply questioning the often poor judgement that the president has utilized, and yes, I've heard my liberal friends blame George Bush for the mess that we're currently in.

493 Days. It would seem that would be enough time for the president to start preaching the liberal mantra. He did win, and the conservatives lost. George Bush is gone Mr. President, and you have the Congressional majority that you need to save us from the prior administration's evils.

So now in the words of Nike, Just Do It! Stop blaming others for BP's mistake. Stop "thinking" about the problems in the Gulf and push forward to fix them. After all, in four years you don't want the next administration pointing the finger at you.