White House tacking?

Presidential reactions, especially response time, are big business in U.S. politics. Comparing Dubya's total and complete mismanagement of the Katrina disaster to Obama's slow response to the oil spill is like comparing a town house to the Empire State building. They both house people, but one defines the landscape, as did Bush's incompetence. The other, meanwhile, is but a blip on the 24-7 news radar and merits barely a comment.
However, as fits the bullying, fixated and right-wing-nut mentality, there they go again!
What is much more troubling is the announcement, from the Obama adminstration a mere weeks prior to the spill itself, that they were going to ramp up off-shore drilling because "oil drilling is much more technologically safe and sound now than previously."
Is this a sign that the Obama administration is recognizing their contributors, the oil companies, and moving to placate their profit interests?
Is it a sign of an administration seeking middle ground, and attempting the impossible, to build a bridge to nowhere to the Republicans?
Is consideration of Kagan, the current Solicitor General, another move to placate the "other party"?
Refusing to break up the "too big to fail" banks was clearly a sop to big money, when the White House drafted its Wall Street Reform package.
Stay tuned, as will we; watching this president and his team is like watching few others. Complexity and ambiguity and tacking as the sailors do seem to be becoming operative lenses through which to see things unfolding. Perhaps that is a hopeful sign.
Another hopeful sign would be to draw down in Afghanistan and start focussing on Pakistan! Soon!