The Ditherer in Chief and the 'Underseas Contingency Operation' in the Gulf

In his Oval Office address to the nation Tuesday, President Obama likened the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to a war.

"Abroad, our brave men and women in uniform are taking the fight to al Qaeda wherever it exists," the President said. "And tonight, I've returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast to speak with you about the battle we're waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens."

It goes without saying that members of the distinguished Oil Community - namely, the myriad of gallons of oil living beneath the Earth's surface - were quite taken aback when the President - crudely and crassly - stitched together the words "battle" and "oil" to describe the latest cleanup efforts. The President would have been better served had he referred to the oil spill cleanup as an "Underseas Contingency Operation", as he has done with "The War Against Te- - or, [shhh], discarding the now-obsolete moniker in favor of the new moniker, "Overseas Contingency Operation".

Nevertheless, Obama continued with his address to the nation, saying that "I'd like to lay out for you what our battle plan is going forward' - although he never really did lay out a concrete battle plan. He then proceeded to give an open ended commitment to the "Oil War", vowing that "we will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long as it takes".

However, it should be noted that the President, in March of 2009, had also given an open-ended commitment to the war in Afghanistan and the Afghani people when he said that "the United States has made a lasting commitment to defeat Al Qaeda and to support the democratically elected, sovereign governments of both Pakistan and Afghanistan," adding, "that commitment will not waver, and that support will be sustained." And yet, several months later, the President reversed himself and said that the US commitment to Afghanistan was "not open-ended'' and that "we need to make clear to the Afghan government that our commitment is not open-ended." Consequently, the President, in December of 2009 - in his address to the cadets at West Point - said that US troops would begin to return home from Afgahnistan 18 months after deployment.

Hence, the question arises, can we really take Obama at his word when he vows to "fight this spill... for as long as it takes"?

Furthermore, the President has been conspicuously slow in responding to the Oil Spill. Just as he had dithered on whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, he has also dithered with regards to the country's newest so-called war - the 'The Oil War'.

And thus, the question arises once again, can we really trust Obama?

Does the "Ditherer in Chief" possess both the necessary courage and the fortitude to fight this "Oil War" to the end?

Only time will tell........