That President Obama lacks governing instincts can be seen in his terrible selections of administration officials.  Tim Geithner and Larry Summers should never have been part of his economic team in the first place and been shown the door long ago given that they were part of the Rubinite/Clintonite culture that helped and exacerbated the financial industry caused economic debacle.  It sure says a lot about Obama.

More proof of his lack of governing instincts:  Obama should have been making sure that the Interior Department and the MMS and every federal agency were swept clean of Bushites and their damaging policies, something that should have been done within six months of his inauguration, but wasn't. 

Just another indication that the Obama administration is DINO corporatist and adheres more to the GOP philosophy of government of, by, and for the wealthy few than government of, by, and for all.

After the completely inadequate response to the BP/Transocean/Hailliburton oil spill catastrophe, the worst in US history, and a press conference yesterday to try and mitigate public anger at his perceived do nothing approach (his first formal press conference in almost a year....Kennedy he ain't), instead of attending a fund raiser at the Getty mansion in Pacific Heights, Obama at the very least should have been giving Ken Salazar his walking papers.

(Another individual who should have at least been demoted or retired was Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen who "affirmed his support for BP and its CEO in an interview with CNN. "I trust Tony Hayward," he said—a statement that did little to allay concerns that the administration has put too much faith in the oil giant."  Who the hell does Allen work for, the American people or BP and Tony Hayward?)

As Mark Hartsgaard writes at The Nation: "One wouldn't know it from his recent public statements, but Ken Salazar has long been one of the strongest advocates of offshore oil drilling in Washington. In 2008, as a Democratic Senator from Colorado, he criticized the Bush-Cheney administration for not doing enough to promote offshore drilling. In 2006, Sen. Salazar was the architect of the Gulf of Mexico Economic Security Act, which opened eight million acres of the Gulf to drilling. In 2009, as Interior Secretary, Salazar oversaw his department's lease of 55 million acres of the Gulf for oil and gas drilling. "The technology today is remarkable," he said, "and we are encouraged by new deep water plays in the Gulf.

"....the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the only environmental organizations to have opposed Salazar's nomination as interior secretary. Shortly after the April 20 explosion, the center unearthed Interior Department records showing that the department's MMS had approved—under Salazar's leadership and without the usual environmental review—the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling operation, as the Washington Post reported on May 5."

By the way, Democracy Now reports that: "The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit to halt forty-nine offshore drilling plans in the Gulf of Mexico that were approved without full environmental review."

Hartsgaard's article continues: "But Salazar's record both before and after the BP disaster raises serious questions about his fitness to "hold BP accountable," as Obama today pledged to do. In particular, the extension of the administration's existing moratorium may be more of a public relations maneuver than a genuine crackdown on irresponsible permitting.

"Obama also emphasized that the disaster underscores the need for the United States to transition to clean energy technologies. But he then balanced that assertion by acknowledging America will still be using oil ten years from now, and it's better for our national economy and security if we produce it domestically. Offshore drilling clearly remains part of his vision for the nation's energy future.

"We've seen this movie before with Obama. When Wall Street nearly crashed the global economy, Obama responded by listening to advisers—notably chief White House economic adviser Larry Summers and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner—whose sympathies lay with the megabanks that gamed the system rather than with the ordinary Americans who paid the price in the form of unemployment slips and foreclosure notices.

"Obama signaled today he wants to look tough on BP and demand exemplary behavior from the oil industry in general. But credibly standing up to Big Oil is difficult when your administration's point man on the issue has long been the industry's chief cheerleader and shows few signs of changing his views."

Given Obama's track record of terrible choices for senior administration officials, picking the proverbial foxes to guard the hen houses, and his and his administration's less than stellar response regarding this environmentally and economically catastrophic BP oil spill, can you really trust him to act effectively for the common good?