Somewhat disgruntled

"do you feel the same sense of defeat,

have you realized all the things that you'll never be,

I've got no judgment for you, come and ache with me"

Against Me!, "Ache With Me"

So there's this big oily disaster spewing unrefined goo into the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe you've heard.

I detest this fact. I think anyone with a modicum of intellect or a love of visiting the beach in the summertime detests it... not to mention seafood lovers, oceanside realtors and hotel chains....alot of folks. And it bears mentioning that, yet again, the citizens of Louisiana are on the short end of the stick.

Running around blaming the GI-NORMOUS business entity called BP is beside the point. Of course it's their fault. It was their rig, their property, they were entrusted with appropriate stewardship of the operation and they - and their subcontractors - blew it. Big Time.

Which leads me to Mr. President Barack Hussein Obama.

He campaigned as an agent of Hope and Change and set himself as the opposite of Bush 2 - who was in no way a good President (name something, after his immediate handling of the attacks of 9-11-2001). I was truly torn between casting a vote for McCain, but his VP candidate deep-sixed my support for the GOP candidate (where have you gone, Jack Kemp...RIP). Drill baby, drill, indeed.

DUH!!! FRIGGIN' ALASKA NITWIT.

Moving on, and getting back to making a real point...

Circumstances make the person. Mr. Obama was faced with a fairly well-united front of GOP adversaries within a year of taking office. White folks who lean right didn't like him, talking secessionism and asking for a birth certificate. Most of it was static.

Now. This is different.

When a private business blows it like this, and lives/livelihoods are endangered, something's gotta give. I realize no one likes Martial Law, but in this instance the US Government has the resources and wherewithal to assist the cleanup. And...what are people wagging their tongues about? Oh, our President is moving too slow and he's not expressing anger.

So he goes and does just that. Lots of photo ops. Who's ass should he kick. Whatever.

NO ONE's but your own, Prez.

BP's well is private property but hazards to homes and habitats must precede legalistic wrangling and finger-pointing. Clean it up, figure out who pays later. Just clean it. Now.

And, while I like the idea of alternative energies,.....not now. Clean it up. Dummies. Get your Jetsons car later. Jane, stop this crazy thing.

By the way, where the hell are our allies? An earthquake in Haiti - we send aid. A tsunami in Indonesia- we send aid. Disaster in China - we send aid. You know who your friends are when the chips are down. Thanks for nothing, a-holes. Guess we're on our own. That's gratitude for you. I believe I've read that the Saudis are well-versed in cleaning up large oil spills. And yet....WTF?

I guess the British aren't too interested in helping, either, despite the fact that their citizens are crapping oil all over our soil. Nice. No one screws up stuff like the British...Iran and Iraq; India; Afghanistan; the entire continent of Africa....brah-vo!

.....let's see...I'm ranting about, what?

So, playing politics with this issue is utter nonsense. I'm sure there are dummy Republicans are giddy over the President's lackluster response to this crisis -- which is absurd because if he fails people suffer.

But he's disappointed me, at least a little. The response to this Gulf crisis is one. The healthcare debacle was too long in the making, he was far too hands-off. The continued presence of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan (yoo-hoo! Anti-war folks??? Are you asleep? There's a war still going on and there's no protesting going on? WAS IT ALL JUST MOTIVATED BY YOUR DISLIKE OF GEORGE W. BUSH??).

I felt he was the candidate who might have a chance to break through the dysfunction and silly partisanship (there's a distinction between silly partisanship and reasonable partisanship...), this has not occurred, if anything it's worse. I think he's trying, but right now he's bogged down in some serious mud.

Not mud, I mean, that's oil. And it's a bummer, all around. Every President - as I grow older- seems smaller than the one before. Perhaps [though I don't like to entertain the thought] this is what the twilight of an empire looks like.