Serving the cacophony that is the American people

The Gulf of Mexico is not the only thing that is a mess when it comes to the BP oil spill. The American public’s thoughts are a mess and while they may be for good reason, their confusion should not be taken out on the president who is working to find a solution that not only solves this crisis but one that can gain approval of the American public. This is difficult to do when the people do not know what they want.

Sometimes the right thing to do and what the public would like are different, and less often they are the same, but what happens when a president knows what the right thing to do is, but the American people don’t know what they want?

That is the situation President Obama finds himself in. He may very well have a solution to this crisis (or not), but it has to meet the standards of the American public regardless of whether what they think is right or wrong. Since the oil leak cannot be plugged immediately, the meantime problem is compensating Americans affected by the spill.

Unfortunately, a large portion of the public is either apathetic or uninformed, and if they are informed too many are those who possess a political bias. This is why we cannot entirely blame presidents who make decisions we all may not agree with them on. We aren’t experts; most of us are having the worst environmental crisis in American history summed up for us by the media in video clips and sound bites, by talking heads and the most partisan politicians.

But the solution to the BP oil spill has created another mood among Americans: confusion. After a heated debate over health care where its fair to say the role of government received more coverage than the actual content of the law passed, the media have reignited the question of where federal government intervention begins.

The problem is that the public is confused, frustrated and simply want a solution to this crisis regardless of who can provide that. But they also contradict each other, which puts greater pressure on the president to make a wise decision.

According to Gallup polling conducted during June, 48-44 percent of Americans disapprove of how Obama is handling the spill. 81 percent rate BP’s handling of the spill either “poor” or “very poor”. 71 percent believe Obama has not done enough about the spill. 49 percent of Americans believe BP should be in charge of the spill, 44 percent believe the federal government should.

So, while people believe BP should be responsible for their own mess, they disapprove of the job they are doing taking responsible for the mess. And while they believe this, they also think President Obama has not done enough. Uh, okay?

Throughout the health care debate, the percentage of Americans in support or opposition to the bill were about the same compared to the figures regarding the president’s job rating on the oil spill (more usually opposed the bill by a few points). The difference is that the Tea Party movement has been mum on the spill. Their silence perhaps a concession that government can and should lend a helping hand when a private corporation is either partially or entirely at fault for poisoning the Gulf of Mexico.

So until now, what has the president done? Given the public’s feelings towards this crisis, he has put forth as close to a hybrid plan one can make in terms to what extent government ought to intervene. After a meeting with BP executives and the White House, a $20 billion escrow account was created to pay back residents and businesses affected by the spill. Of course, before the account was set up cable news pundits questioned why the president wasn’t doing enough. Now, the question over government’s overbearing nature is suddenly an issue. Of course, this is likely a strategy to keep controversy in the spotlight and ratings afloat.

This escrow account is a plan so moderate and one that best satisfies the American public that Republicans have hopped on, even rejecting statements by Congressman Joe Barton of their own party who characterized the account as “a shakedown.” Even Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who suffers from a compulsive disorder branding anything she disagrees with as “unconstitutional,” made an abysmal attempt to correct herself after leading Republicans ended up shunning Barton’s much publicized words.

It’s all an effort to actually solve this problem, for Democrats to keep or in some cases regain the American people’s trust and votes. For Republicans, it is to not get on the American people’s bad side in an election year where they have a decent edge. Had BP’s approval rating been somewhat favorable, Congressman Barton’s words may not have been so poorly received by other members of his party.

Though like any crisis where there is not yet a solution, we will continue to place blame. So much blame, in fact, that we may just be able to create an alternative source of energy out of it.