A Man For All Seasons

Today on Morning Joe, Marco Rubio made an statement about the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf.  His opening statement, paraphrased, was "This was a sign about the current administration's inability to deal with a crisis." You can see the video clip here, and be your own judge.  It appears to be post-Katrina partisan politics to me.

This political rhetoric is becoming cliche.  First, we do not want "big government" stepping into our business.  In the case of British Petroleum (BP) and companies like them, it is not the business of the government to regulate.  This would include regulation and oversight of risky ventures like deep underwater drilling for oil. If there is an blowout, the government is supposed to "mop up", but not be so instrusive to preempt a disaster in the first place with targeted regulation. 

It is a delicate matter to strike a balance for what kind of oversight is needed.  Unfortunately, the polarity of the ideological landscape in American politics is challenged to show aptitude for this nuance. The real failure to communicate happened on the front end, not in the aftermath. The end result is taxpayers are on the hook for the bill.  Does this sound familiar to credit default swaps going south?

Goverment could have done something about this crisis: it could have insisted on standards and verifiable oversight of implementing those standards in the first place.  Instead, we are faced with an unprecedented ecological catastrophe.  It is a bit offensive in these circumstance to listen to a politician preeminently concerned with election politics.  This preoccupation with image is a side effect of the electoral season growing longer.  What happened to the season to govern? What happened to a time to lead?