I’m in Mobile, Alabama, and so are some tar balls. I’m not up on my ecological technical terms, but if there’s anything more out of place in Mobile than a Yankee longing for Colorado, it’s a tar ball.
Tarballs Gone Wild Image from: piersystem.com
The tar balls appeared on Gulf Shores, signaling the spread of the BP oil spill which has not only taken over the Gulf of Mexico, but the summer’s media coverage. Headline News (DISH 202) has taken to placing a daily count next to banners discussing the Gulf spill, an ominous PR sign for the Obama administration. When the media begins fashioning its own tear-off daily calendar, public perception almost inevitably turns against the man in charge. Ask Jimmy Carter about this some time.
Coverage has largely focused on a “Spill Cam,” an underwater camera which shows oil gushing cheerfully from the well on the ocean floor. Reminiscent of the “Smoke Cam,” which tracked the voting results of the College of Cardinals prior to the election of Pope Benedict XVI, Americans are seeing a lot of mess and not a whole lot of relief.
Interviews with devastated local business owners are on the rise, and here in Alabama, local officials are planning a “last stand” at the causeway over Mobile Bay in the event that the tar balls become a slick. But while public perception sees pelicans coated with oil and an uncapped well bleeding pollution, the beaches in the area remain relatively untouched– small comfort, however, to Gulfport innkeepers with plenty of good rooms still available.
Watch the coverage carefully: President Obama didn’t come under much mainstream criticism for his response to the spill until the daily counts started showing up. Who’s getting the blame? Who’s winning the PR war? Judging by the President’s diving poll numbers, even in the wake of a special prime time speech from the Oval Office, it ain’t the White House. And it isn’t BP, either: Best wishes cashing in that stock any time soon.
What’s developing here is a tale of control– not just of the ooze in the Gulf, but the landing pad for public furor regarding it. Tar balls aren’t pretty to look at, but then again, neither is a living, breathing PR nightmare.
