Steven Chu in Leadership and Crisis, by Gov. Bobby Jindal

On Environment: OpEd: Nobel Prize does not help keep BP oil spill away

A big part of the problem with the federal response was that the administration was overly optimistic and too willing to trust the so-called experts. They believed that the elite could fix everything. It struck me how often the president mentioned that his secretary of energy, Steven Chu, had won the Nobel Prize. Good for him. But just how exactly was this medal going to fix the problem, cap the well, and keep the oil off the coastline?

The press noticed that the White House was deferential to BP and their alleged expertise from the beginning. They basically believed what BP executives were telling them. I think President Obama figured that we just needed to get all the smart people in a room (that would be easy, since most reside in Washington) and then they would fix the problem. He trusted the bureaucrats--both corporate and federal. He hadn't been in government long enough to know that you have to be skeptical. It was a pattern evident from the beginning, one that was repeated again and again.

Source: Leadership and Crisis, by Bobby Jindal, p. 8 Nov 15, 2010

The above quotations are from Leadership and Crisis, by Bobby Jindal. Click here for other excerpts from Leadership and Crisis, by Bobby Jindal. Click here for other excerpts by Steven Chu. Click here for other excerpts by other Governors.
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