Oil Spill, Day 70 -- Obama Asks For Help

Days after BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and began hemmoraghing thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, other countries offered assistance to deal with the spill. Until this day, day 70, after millions of barrels of crude have poisoned the Gulf, Team Obama has agreed to the helping hand.

The Dutch had offered massive oil skimming ships, the Saudis have supertankers that vacuum up oil from water, the Japanese have massive containment booms to spare -- all of which could have sped to the region to help combat the worst environmental disaster in American History.

Until today, Team Obama refused, hunkering behind a red tape maelstrom varying from EPA regulations to obscure union rules, and Coast Guard ship inspections that even sidelined Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal's jerry-rigged (and successful) oil-vacuuming barges.

On May 5th, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the United States received 21 aid offers from 17 countries and four international groups, but Team Obama didn't capitalize on them. On May 19th, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid told reporters, "We are keeping an eye on what supplies we do need. And as we see that our supplies are running low, it may be at that point in time to accept offers from particular governments."

Playing catch-up, 70 days and millions of gallons of oil later, The Obama Administration has just submitted a specialized equipment request from the European Union, and asking more than twenty countries for other gear.

The Obama Administration has yet to waive the Jones Act -- a protectionist measure meant to ensure that American Union members are the only ones working off our shores. Some critics say it's directly because of the Obama Administration's cozy relationship with unions and their mega-million dollar donations to his political campaign. For the record, President Bush temporarily waived the regulation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

In fact, the only decisive action the Obama Adminstration took after the explosion -- aside from securing a $20 billion payment plan from BP -- was to immediately ban all U.S. offshore drilling, jeopardizing tens of thousands of American jobs, yet bolstering nearby foreign drilling efforts such as those underway by Brazil.

Thanks to Obama, U.S. taxpayers fronted Brazil's Petrobas corporation $2 billion to explore its oil potential. One of Petrobas' major backers? Wait for it: Obama donor/Bond villian George Soros, who's invested to the tune of $900 million.

And for the record, the science used to give Obama political cover for the drilling moratorium was deliberately falsified by Team Obama to provide political cover for the prohibition.