Why Obama turned down specialized foreign ships to clean up the Gulf

The Hockey Schtick
"President Obama has repeatedly said his Administration is doing everything in its power to expedite the oil clean-up and mitigate the damage. But in the two weeks immediately after the spill, 13 foreign governments reached out and offered their assistance. The U.S. response? Thanks, but no thanks. .....Presidents can suspend the Jones Act in emergencies, as George W. Bush did after Hurricane Katrina. But the Obama Administration continues to maintain that this isn't necessary and that there are "no pending requests" for waivers. But Florida Republican Senator George LeMieux disagrees and says his constituents want all the foreign help possible. We sympathize with the President's lament on Monday that "I can't dive down there and plug the hole. I can't suck it up with a straw." But there's no excuse for turning away ships that can clean up the oil merely because that might offend Mr. Obama's union friends."