Obama’s address fails to give a lead

Barack Obama’s prime-time broadcast on the Gulf of Mexico crisis – his first address from the Oval Office – was not a success. The president has faced mounting criticism over his handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and had hoped to regain the political initiative with this much-anticipated talk. He built up expectations but then failed to impress. As the US reflects on his performance, what he said and what he failed to say could weaken him further.

Having demanded the nation’s attention and decreed a moment of high drama, he was obliged, once and for all, to take command. He failed to. With oil still pouring from the leak – on the day of his address, the estimated flow was yet again revised sharply upwards – his audience wanted, at a minimum, details of what is being done, exactly what would be required of BP, and precisely who reports to whom. The president was vague on all counts. He would have found it easier to be specific if his words had come after his meeting with BP, not before.

Making matters worse, he also talked at length about the need for a new clean-energy policy. Desirable as this may be, his audience knows that he lacks the votes in Congress to pass such a measure. In any event, its connection to the emergency in the gulf is indirect.

There will be time to discuss long-term energy policy later, and more calmly, when this emergency is over. For now, the country has more immediate concerns. Mr Obama’s effort to widen the context smacked too much of “never letting a crisis go to waste”. It was the wrong moment for such unsubtle partisan politics, and left one wondering about the president’s political instincts.

Up to now, much of the criticism directed at the president has been unfair. First he was accused of being too calm, as though mere agitation would stop the flow of oil. Then the charge was that he was doing too little, though critics could not say what measures he ought to be taking. To judge from opinion polls, these early attacks from over-excited media failed to resonate with ordinary Americans. But the newest line of criticism has more truth to it, and may stick: nearly two months into this crisis, the chain of command still looks hopelessly muddled.

Numerous agencies and jurisdictions keep tripping over each other. Nobody knows who is in charge. It falls to the White House to sort this out. Far from correcting the impression of weak leadership with his address this week, Mr Obama reinforced it