The Daily Show holds them accountable again.  Did you catch this segment last night? Say something one day, contradict yourself another and, in general, the media lets them get away with it. Not the Daily Show. Yay Jon!

So politicians flip-flop according to the political breeze from one day to another. No big surprise. But Joe Barton’s assertion that the administration should apologize for “shaking down” BP was only the most shocking moment in a charade during this completely absurd hearing.

Tony Hayward is an ass and ought to be taken out to the shed for a whipping, but the hearing wasn’t about holding him accountable and it wasn’t really about finding out anything. They knew neither of those things would happen in that room during those hearings. It was about giving Congress the chance to be seen chastising Tony Hayward. So much of what I see in the media depicting how politicians and pundits are responding to the crisis does not show anyone actually to the crisis, let alone doing something to address it. It shows them posturing, expressing indignation, positioning themselves to reap political gains and working to accomplish wider ideological goals. The BP crisis is used as an instrument to achieve their goals, and I can’t escape the feeling that the lives of those directly impacted don’t matter all that much.

In and of itself, this isn’t a problem. Such is the nature of politics. But our elected officials are not just politicians; they are public servants. So when the crisis is used to score political points and wage ideological warfare, but it accomplishes nothing, then it is wrong. It is also inexcusable! What is going on now is a major national crisis, the kind that ought to bring sides together to think out of the box.

I am thinking, for example, about the current moratorium on off-shore drilling. Recent Congressional hearings revealed that BP is not the only only oil company unprepared for a blow out like that on the DeepWater Horizon. It’s also clear that blowout prevention equipment like that on that rig is being used on lots of other rigs, including those not yet online, but scheduled to do so soon. One a broader scale, it’s also clear that we need to find better sources of energy, anyway. We, as a nation, have known that for decades. That said, there is a terrible economic crisis in the Gulf as a result of the spill, and the moratorium only compounds that by keeping people out of work. But does it have to be a drill or not drill choice? Maybe we can think out of the box.

I learned recently that some countries require the drilling of a relief well at the same time that a new well is drilled so that if something like this happens, the well is ready and it doesn’t take 2 months to drill it. Do all of the existing wells in the Gulf of Mexico that should have them have viable relief wells? If not, why not put workers back to work drilling those? Those wells exist and they are operational. Let’s make them safe.

I’m not an oil man, and this may not be a viable idea, but those are the things that need to be explored. Why not get people together in a room and lay out issues and see what solutions can achieve the greatest results right now. Maybe instead of calling boats out of the North Sea, the vessels of out of work shrimpers and fishermen can assist with cleanup! Maybe we can make sure new and existing wells are not dangerous for the environment and safe for workers, but not put the very people we are trying to protect out of work in order to do so!

Instead of constant lawsuits and allegations being traded in the media, get representatives of BP, other oil companies, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the local fishing, tourism and other industries, the Chambers of Commerce, the National Guard, the Coast Guard and any other relevant stake holders and see if you can balance their concerns and needs. It won’t be possible to balance everything, of course. Ultimately decisions will have to be made, setting certain priorities over others. But even then, we are seldom looking at winner-take-all scenarios.

What is needed is leadership, Presidential leadership, perhaps. It is bound to be more productive than what is happening now, which is simply everyone pursuing their own interests, largely in a competitive and conformational manner!