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Vitter Accuses The Obama Administration Of Trying To Move The Oil Spill Off The Front Page By Not Visiting Louisiana

I've just got to wonder if it's possible to find a bigger political hack than Louisiana Senator David Vitter. Mr. Drill-baby-drill Diaper-boy apparent

I've just got to wonder if it's possible to find a bigger political hack than Louisiana Senator David Vitter. Mr. Drill-baby-drill Diaper-boy apparently thinks that unless the President just did a few more photo ops down in Louisiana and caused who knows what kind of problems for anyone within ten miles or more of him with the security involved when a President of the United States goes anywhere, the media isn't going to cover what's going on.

That or the more likely scenario which is that he's just taking a cheap shot for political purposes and trying to put President Obama in the same box as George Bush who couldn't be interrupted from his vacation to even bother watching news coverage during Hurricane Katrina.

I've got a ton of criticisms for how this disaster has been managed. How many photo ops the President has done in Louisiana isn't one of them. If David Vitter is worried about this story being moved off of the front page, he's got ample opportunity to make sure it doesn't himself as he did here.

I'd prefer Vitter be asked if he thinks the industry that's he's taking that campaign cash from was regulated properly so something like this doesn't happen again rather than listening to Chris Wallace give him a chance to just play politics with this disaster.

WALLACE: Senator Vitter, let's get to this question of the cleanup, because both of you are exactly right.


WALLACE: Even if not a drop more oil is spilled into the gulf, according to some estimates...

VITTER: Right.

WALLACE: ... as much as 200 million gallons of oil are already in the water.

Senator Vitter, how long will it...

VITTER: Right.

WALLACE: ... take to clean that up? And how long will it take to restore your state's coastline and especially, as we're seeing here on the screen, that very fragile marsh land?

VITTER: Well, ultimately, it will take years, Chris, and I hope everyone in the nation realizes that so we just don't forget about this story once the flow is stopped.

I also hope President Obama realizes that. He hasn't been to Louisiana since June 4th. I'm afraid he's decided to deal with this issue at least politically by not coming back here and trying to move it off of the front page rather than dealing with the situation forcefully.

Again, even if this flow is stopped permanently, we have major challenges ahead, number one in terms of cleanup, number two in terms of economic devastation, including the drilling moratorium.

WALLACE: But let me just follow up with you there, Senator Vitter.


WALLACE: Why do you -- why do you say that he's moving it off? I know you were very critical -- and we'll get to Mr. Nungesser in a second -- initially in how the Obama administration is handling this. Are you saying they're trying to sweep it under the rug now?

VITTER: I get the impression that is the president's political motivation, his way of dealing with this. He was coming here on a pretty regular basis trying to deal with the issues personally. He hasn't done that in Louisiana since June 4th. That's personally disappointing to me.

Can you help us out?


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