A Tale of Two Gulf Disaster Responses

Look what I found buried at the end of this ABC article entitled BP Oil Spill: As Pay Czar Promises Money, Workers Turned Away From BP Claims Center

Regulations Hold Up Needed Supplies

But why aren't those larger skimmers already here, eight weeks into the disaster?

"One of the challenges we have is the regulatory scheme," said Laferriere.

A law from the 1920s called the Jones Act stands in the way, declaring that the Coast Guard has to use only American vessels.
The Coast Guard ran into the same problem after Hurricane Katrina, but it took just a week to get around it.

"We had to work with the president and Adm. Allen to get the Jones Act waived," said Laferriere.

The international skimmers are now expected to arrive on the Gulf Coast in July.

Hmm, so it took President Bush a week to wave the law to help Katrina victims; the BP spill happened April 20, and the needed supplies won't arrive until July.  Bush - 1 week; Obama - 2+ months.  'Nuf said.