Lest it slip by without fanfare amid the State of the Union and the static of ongoing BP spill issues, let’s note that Carol Browner, the president’s top energy and environmental adviser is “resigning.”
I predicted in a post here last fall that it was hard to see how she could remain in the Obama Administration after her wildly discredited spinning of a government report on what happened to the 200 million gallons of BP oil. Ms. Browner became a leading propagandist – a strong word, but accurate – for claims that the vast majority of the oil was gone and nature would take care of the rest.
Given that the BP spill didn’t even get a mention in the State of the Union speech, I’m guessing the White House has good polling numbers that suggest the Administration can ignore the nation’s worst environmental disaster without political risk. But I also guess that the Republicans were about to use Ms. Browner’s oil spill rantings and recantations, many of which were on-camera, to attack her credibility on climate change.
Amid the Browner coverage, and showing just exactly how little the inside-the-beltway media paid attention to her downfall in the Gulf, the Politico duo of Mike Allen and Darren Samuelsohn actually gushed in describing her thus: “…her calm, authoritative television presence during last year’s BP oil disaster made her one of the few government officials whose stature was enhanced in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.”
Really? That’s about as accurate as “the vast majority of the oil is gone” turned out to be.
But Fox News, perhaps not quite as gentle with the Administration as Politico, reports that “…recently Browner’s office had come under scrutiny for politicizing the response to the massive Gulf oil spill. The commission set up by Obama to investigate the disaster said Browner misconstrued on national television the findings of a federal scientific report by saying most of the oil was gone. The White House later said she misspoke.”
“Misspoke” is, of course. political-speak for “lied.” You have to wonder who’s “misspeaking” now.
Read more from Politico, which should know better, here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48098.html#ixzz1CI3IR9Dm
The Fox report is here: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/24/obamas-energy-advisor-step/#ixzz1CI82KCP4
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