GOP SMELLS BLOOD – AT 11:19 A.M. ET:  The Gulf of Mexico oil slick is providing Republicans with an opportunity for revenge that comes once in a decade.  Let the salivating begin.  From The Politico:

Even before the spilled oil reaches shore, the political game of assigning credit and blame is in full swing.

The White House Saturday stepped up its efforts to respond to the Gulf Coast oil slick now within days of making landfall in Mississippi and Alabama – designating a new incident commander, introducing a new website detailing their efforts and announcing President Barack Obama himself would visit the Gulf Coast on Sunday.

But it's already too late.  As Ira Gershwin asked, "How long has this been going on?"  It went on for days before Washington took much notice.  Now, Bush-like, Obama will fly out...but attended the White House Correspondents Association dinner first.

Republicans have tried to brand the oil spill “Obama’s Katrina,” as talker Rush Limbaugh put it Friday – a label they also tried to attach to the U.S. rescue efforts after the Haiti earthquake – and the administration has stepped up its efforts in recent days to demonstrate its command of the situation.

“The way we play politics right now, anytime something like this comes up the opposition is going to run it up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes,” said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas, Austin. “And if they don’t, everyone moves on and if they do, well, then the administration has got a problem.”

A few Republicans did salute Friday. Fox News host Sean Hannity said the slow response to the spill came from “the very same people who were so fast to criticize George W. Bush.” Former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee, appearing on Hannity’s show, said that "If Katrina was George Bush's responsibility, this is Barack Obama's responsibility."

The White House pushed back hard on that line of attack Saturday, and so far anyway, the spill is far less serious than Katrina — not least because of the hurricane's massive death toll and its devastation of New Orleans. And the storm, unlike the leak, came with advance warning.

Gee, thanks for that last biased paragraph, filled with misinformation.  The deal toll in Katrina wasn't massive, but a tenth of that predicted.  There were a few days of warning about the storm, but the possibility of an oil spill is always with us, and so there is built-in advance warning.  And New Orleans wasn't devastated.  It was damaged, and is back in business.

What you're seeing here is MSM spin to protect the president.  Expect more as the campaign progresses.

May 2, 2010