More Americans are frustrated that President Barack Obama has not made heads roll like bowling balls regarding the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that has turned into the worst such disaster in American history.
First, comedian-cultural commentator Bill Maher pleaded on his “Real Time with Bill Maher” that Obama needs to get gangsta with BP oil executives whose accident and subsequent oil leak have threatened millions of people’s way of life.
Now, director Spike Lee has joined the fray. While he did not recommend that Obama unholster a gun on the oil execs, like comedian Maher jokingly suggested, he is calling for President Obama to finally lose his temper and peel someone’s hide to show the frustration that many Americans are feeling.
“One time, go off!” the director of Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X tells Anderson Cooper on CNN. “If there’s any one time to go off, this is it, because this is a disaster.”
Obama’s trademark cool temper has had unintended consequences. His reluctance to “lose it” has unexpectedly engendered comparisons to former President Jimmy Carter, which is considered an insult in a way. Carter was not seen as a strong leader, which is why he was a one-term commander in chief. Carter’s understated disposition during the Iran Hostage situation, during which Americans were held captive for 444 days, is what many political pundits say is the reason he lost his bid for re-election to California Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1980.
It remains to be seen what Obama’s fate will be — and how long he swallow his temper — as this oil spill catastrophe widens exponentially. –terry shropshire
