Sarah Palin is out with a Facebook post today, and she's offering her services to the President in dealing with the BP oil spill:
Please, sir, for the sake of the Gulf residents, reach out to experts who have experience holding oil companies accountable. I suggested a few weeks ago that you start with Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, led by Commissioner Tom Irwin. Having worked with Tom and his DNR and AGIA team led by Marty Rutherford, I can vouch for their integrity and expertise in dealing with Big Oil and overseeing its developments. We’ve all lived and worked through the Exxon-Valdez spill. They can help you. Give them a call. Or, what the heck, give me a call. [emphasis added]
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Gov. Palin tries in her post to portray herself not so much as the "drill, baby, drill" queen that we saw during the 2008 Presidential campaign, but as a solemn servant of the public trust who's willing and able to hold oil companies accountable:
As Governor of Alaska, I did everything in my power to hold oil companies accountable in order to prove to the federal government and to the nation that Alaska could be trusted to further develop energy rich land like ANWR and NPR-A. I hired conscientious Democrats and Republicans (because this sure shouldn’t be a partisan issue) to provide me with the best advice on how we could deal with what was a corrupt system of some lawmakers and administrators who were hesitant to play hardball with some in the oil field business. (Remember the Alaska lawmakers, public decision-makers, and business executives who ended up going to jail as a result of the FBI’s investigations of oily corruption.)
. . .
That’s why my administration created the Petroleum Systems Integrity Office (PSIO) when we saw proof of improper maintenance of oil infrastructure in our state. We had to verify. And that’s why we instituted new oversight and held BP and other oil companies financially accountable for poor maintenance practices. We knew we could partner with them to develop resources without pussyfooting around with them. As a CEO, it was my job to look out for the interests of Alaskans with the same intensity and action as the oil company CEOs looked out for the interests of their shareholders.
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This post would appear to resolve most of any remaining doubts about Sarah Palin's intentions vis-a-vis the 2012 Presidential campaign. She's thrown down the gauntlet, basically calling out Obama on his response to the oil spill, and making the case that she could do better.
Her post gives some credence to those here at Daily Kos who have been arguing that criticizing Obama for his response to the spill just gives ammo to his enemies -- it will apparently be an issue in the 2012 Presidential campaign, at least if Sarah Palin has anything to say about it.
On the other hand, if such criticism helps to spur the kind of action (and results) that we'd all like to see, then it will have helped to inoculate him against this line of attack.
In any event, IMHO, at this point, all politics should be on the sidelines, and the priority should be the protection of the natural resources and beauty of the Gulf of Mexico.