As you may know Mary Landrieu is blocking the appointment of Jack Lew to be director of OMB because she wants the Obama administration to prematurely end the deepwater drilling moratorium it put in place after the BP disaster. Today, Robert Gibbs was asked to comment on Landrieu's actions and his response is a must-read:
Q Mary Landrieu has got the hold on Jack Lew over this issue. First, what is the President doing to get her to lift her hold on Jack Lew? And --
MR. GIBBS: Well, I will say this --
Q And what kind of problems is it causing in preparing a fiscal 2012 budget?
MR. GIBBS: The budget planning process is underway and should be underway with a director with the type of bipartisan support that Jack has gotten through two committees. I think it is a sad day when somebody is held up with such bipartisan support with the type of experience that’s necessary, in an environment where we have to improve our fiscal picture, that that person is held up for something that is completely unrelated to them.
I think it is sad, and I think it’s outrageous. The President -- well, Secretary Salazar met with Senator Landrieu to update her on where we are on this situation. But I want to be clear, Roger --
Q When was that?
MR. GIBBS: Yesterday.
Q Tuesday -- he did Tuesday.
MR. GIBBS: I think yesterday -- let me make sure. It was either -- I don’t know whether they -- I know they met on Tuesday. Maybe it was Tuesday and not Wednesday. But they’ve met in the last couple days to get an update on where we are. But, Roger, we’re not bargaining the safety of oil drilling away for an appointment that shouldn’t be the cause of the type of gridlock that we’re used to seeing in Washington.
And I would think people who are concerned about our fiscal picture, who are concerned about where we’re heading in this deficit at a time of crisis would not do the type of things that Senator Landrieu is doing.
At this point, I think it's relevant to offer this reminder that in late 2009, Mary Landrieu mocked offshore drilling concerns during a Senate hearing, claiming that the U.S. drilling industry was 100% safe.
She was as wrong then as she is today.