Opinion: Yes We Can, Maybe, If We Pray Hard Enough

(June 15) -- That was the speech?

That was the big fix, President Barack Obama's urgent address to the nation, his first from the Oval Office, quelling a nation's fears about arguably the biggest and most lasting crisis of his presidency? That was the answer to the critics saying that he wasn't doing enough, he wasn't angry enough, he wasn't changing enough? That was it?

Those who wanted a ringing moment of determined action -- a stand taken on energy dependence, a decisive goal for the future -- were sorely disappointed.

The president promised to restore the gulf region, yes (and have BP pay for it, natch) but stopped short of saying how. Even with no solution in sight (now that we've burned through Top Kill, Junk Shot and Funny Little Hat), the president still could have talked about what was being done, above and beyond the cleanup crews and National Guardsmen. However impressive the numbers are -- 30,000 workers across four states and more than 17,000 National Guard troops -- the sad truth is that they are working to clean up a mess that is still being made, like using a thimble to catch a waterfall.

There was no mention of next-level solutions -- oil companies being pressed into service with the aggregate resources of a billion-dollar industry; scientists working around the clock on tomorrow's next-level solution; the armies of fishing boats being redeployed to the cause; the innovative solutions from around the globe all converging on a region in distress.

Never mind addressing the root problem of the BP spill -- the nation's dependence on oil. "Make no mistake: We will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes," said the president, declaring that the time for clean energy had come. But he stopped short of defining what that actually meant. With everything we've got -- so with money and manpower over and above what BP would pay for? With the national demand, targeted for reform with new and stringent policies? With subsidies for electric and other energy alternatives? The president didn't say.

Instead, Obama announced the appointment of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, tasked with developing the plan to "restore the unique beauty and bounty of this region." Great, but ... for this you interrupted "The Biggest Loser" spin-off show, "Losing It With Jillian"? Tell her whose ass to kick, then you'll see some results.

Not so with tonight's iteration of the president. Not even the Professor In Chief -- confident in his facts, excited by attention to detail -- he was more like the Chief Teleprompter Reader, delivering lines that had him reading, not speaking, to the nation. Obama spoke with more ringing conviction when he declared that kids today should get off the darn Xbox.

It was the ringing conviction the country needed -- not only in proclaiming BP the villain, but in taking this moment and giving it purpose going forward.

Before the speech, people were calling for him to echo President John F. Kennedy in his vow to send a man to space before the decade was out, and to echo President Jimmy Carter in calling for a decisive reversal of oil consumption. But he was neither as inspiring as the former nor as decisive as the latter. Listening to the pundits chew over the speech -- short at 18 minutes -- someone said that Obama couldn't promise any real energy reform because he didn't have 60 votes. Really? That's the holdup? Did Kennedy say, "We go to the moon ... if we can cajole enough senators?" Sheesh.

Maybe we are being too hard on him. This is not an easy problem, like a hurricane or an earthquake (and yes, that's a paraphrase!). This is like a hurricane that you clean up while it rages on outside, or an earthquake that you fumble to steady against while the ground still shakes beneath you. But then why call the Oval Office address at all? Why but to set out a course of action and to reassure an anxious nation?

I don't know who could have been reassured by that speech. Especially following up the talk of earthquakes and hurricanes with this talk about faith -- faith in an amorphous, uncertain future; faith in the blessings of God, no matter what. That's all well and good ... but it was an Oval Office address. The people of the gulf were not tuning in for a prayer circle -- they were tuning in for results.

This is a huge crisis -- huge for the region, huge for the country, huge for the president. And a fist-shaking, emoting-on-cue commander in chief is not what anyone needs. What they do need, though, is for that commander to command -- and to be commanding.

"The one approach I will not accept is inaction," Obama said. Will that make a difference? Perhaps. Without deadlines, action plans or new directions, we can only have faith.

Until then, let us pray.


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