On Monday we talked about the new Rolling Stone magazine and the piece by Tim Dickinson titled “The Spill, the Scandal, and the President."  Into that article in the actual magazine (not a web feature) was a little feature box with an interview with Louisiana native and Clinton strategist James Carville and he didn't hold much back.  Below are some excerpts.

RS: First Katrina, now BP.  Do you have any theories about why the Gulf region keeps having such bad luck?

JC: I don't have a theory, I have an ironclad fact - and the fact is s***ty engineering.  If you put shoddy, half-a**ed engineers in a volatile place, the results are going to be disastrous. 

RS: So [Obama] should have gone after BP more aggressively?

JC: I want this coast rebuilt, and if it bankrupts BP, fine.  Frankly, I would also consider firing Ken Salazar.  Take some responsibility.  Say, 'Enough wasn't done.  This is a new day.'

RS: How do you make drilling safe, given the oil industry's influence over regulators?

JC: Criminal prosecution.  There's nothing that will make a company safer than watching another CEO in handcuffs.

RS: Is this Obama's Katrina, as some critics have charged?

JC: There's nothing that Obama's done that's close to what Bush did after Katrina, in terms of detachment and negligence.  But I'm still not happy with the response. 'Better than Bush' is not a sufficeint answer to me.

 

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