As the oil disaster has continued to grow, President Obama has suffered in the eyes of the nation and the press for not "doing enough". Primarily I think this is from lack of exposure to what he is doing.
This is where Obama should take a lesson from Karl Rove and the republicans.
When Rove wanted to get America on the his side during the opening days of the Iraq War, what did he do?
Embedded reporters in with the soldiers.
Obama should follow his example.
Put a reporter with every cleanup crew.
Give every person with a solution, a plot of oil to try it on, and his own reporter.
Let them report breathlessly, what is and isn't working.
Check back daily to see who is doing the best at cleaning up the spill.
All the news media need filler 24/7. When they don't have enough to report, they "create drama" by starting to ruminate and postulate about what is going on.
Obama should give them something "positive" to report on.
He should start the WAR ON THE OILSPILL.
It seems the government doesn't have it's own technology to plug the hole.
Perhaps, that should be left to BP, with massive oversight.
But Obama should take over containment and cleanup of the spill, at least from a media perspective.
The American people will be given the sense that everything is being tried.
At the same time, we will have a real chance to learn what does and does not work.
Sometimes the simple solutions, look they should work. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Maybe they need some tweaking.
In the end we have a chance to gather some valuable data, at BP's expense.
Obama gives the media something to do.
Hopefully, the spill is contained, and the marshland is restored.
Obama is hailed a great leader.
Now is the time to put all the plans of America's thinkers, great and small, into action. Ask America for it's ideas. Give them a spot to try it out on.
Give the media something to report on besides failure to cap the well.
I guarantee America will pitch in and pull together.
The TV will be enthralling.
We just might learn something.
It just might be the thing that unites us.