I'm from the Government and I'm here to help!

The Oil keeps spewing in the Gulf and the clean up seems to be dragging on and on with no sense of urgency.  The Christian Science Monitor identifies the top 5 bottlenecks.

1. Coast Guard red tape
2. The Jones Act
3. EPA
4. Lack of coordination between skippers and spotter plans
5. Lack of leadership from the Feds.

Looking at the list it's now common wisdom that Obama is over his head in dealing with this crises.  To me the most frustrating this has been the whole disaster could have been severely reduced it wasn't for the EPA.

"Three days after the accident, the Dutch government offered advanced skimming equipment capable of sucking up oiled water, separating out most of the oil, and returning the cleaner water to the Gulf. But citing discharge regulations that demand that 99.9985 percent of the returned water is oil-free, the EPA initially turned down the offer. A month into the crisis, the EPA backed off those regulations, and the Dutch equipment was airlifted to the Gulf."

This is insane! After a month, the damage has been done the wildlife has been destroyed. The EPA helped exacerbate the largest Environmental disaster in American history.

Respect and Leadership

Leaders are not born they are made. The private sector understands this lesson. Look at all emphasis companies place developing their people.

"If our country is going to get back on track, we need to redevelop confidence in and respect for our leaders and institutions. This means first and foremost electing and appointing people who command this respect by virtue of their bona fide achievements and not simply their paper credentials. In recent years, far too many people with prestigious degrees and titles have made far too many horrible decisions that have caused great harm to Americans everywhere. We need people who have shown through their actual performance in business, the military, government or academia (preferably in multiple areas that pertain to the problems we face) that they can and will handle pressure and act at all times with integrity and good judgment. "

Great credentials might get your foot in the door, but you have to produce. Those achievements help earn you the respect of your peers. It is this accrued respect you leverage when making the tough calls as a leader.
People who disagree with you still execute because they respect your judgment enough to give your plan a chance.

Contrast the private sector with Washington today:

• We currently see a Supreme Court nominee with virtually no experience in the law, outside academia and the White House, and none as a judge.

• We have the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee considering the Elena Kagan nomination focusing ad nauseam on her handling of the gays in the military issue years ago at Harvard Law School, and largely disregarding issues that are of real significance to Americans today -- such as her views on the implications of the Constitution's Commerce Clause for the new health care law.

• In House hearings on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, we have noted experts in petroleum engineering -- Reps. Henry Waxman and Edward Markey -- making determinations as to which well-drilling method was preferable.

• We have a treasury secretary with no private sector experience and who had trouble filing an accurate tax return.

• And last year we saw our president -- with no experience running a business -- deciding to oust the CEO of General Motors.