Our fearless leader, apparently bending to pressure to show a little anger, did so yesterday during an Oval Office address in which he said he was going to demand that the powers that be at BP Global set aside trillions of dollars to pay for cleanup and compensate folks along the Gulf Coast whose livelihoods have been disrupted or destroyed.

First, I couldn’t care less how much anger Barack Obama shows about the Deepwater Horizon disaster because, frankly, temper tantrums are not going to clean up the mess. As Steven Pearlstein writes, this mess will get fixed with cooperation, not hissy fits. (Best line of his column, referring to the prez and BP’s CEO: “This needs to be the Barack and Tony Show, not the Barack and Tony Showdown.” Amen, brother Steve.)

Second, we all need to get a grip and realize this was not caused by BP alone. No, dear readers, this was caused by you and me and our consumption-driven, oil-fueled, low-prices-at-all-costs, unsustainable manner of living. We want to drive what we want, when we want, where we want. We want to live in giant homes far from our workplaces and we want to fly to vacation with family and friends. We want to eat fruit and veggies out of season, even if it takes 10,000 gas-and-oil fueled miles to bring those things to our table. Most importantly, perhaps, we want to lord our desires over Mother Nature and do such insane things as drill for oil beneath 5,000 feet of water and pressure – and then we’re shocked when a great big oops happens. Then we get angry (or demand that our leader does) and we point fingers and assign blame, but refuse to take any of the blame ourselves.

I’m just as guilty as the next guy. Well, maybe not: I grow some of our food, we drive Hondas for their gas mileage, I walk to the store and bike to the farmers market at least 20 percent of the time, we consolidate all our car trips and we try not to buy over-packaged, long-distance food. That said, we’re flying to France to see our daughter this summer and I just got back from a trip to Dallas to see my cancer-battling sister-in-law. Worst of all, we still own a very old, gas-guzzling minivan because our college daughter needs it to get from where she lives at the university to her job on this side of town. (Public transportation, you say? Ha! That’s another post.)

Point is, we should all be angry at ourselves for our inability to break our oil-addiction and move toward more sustainable lifestyle. And maybe we should stop blaming everyone else and look at how we can change things ourselves. I’m not the only person thinking this, of course, and I’m probably not the one best explaining it. That honor goes to Mark Mykleby, who wrote a letter to the editor of the Beaufort Gazette, taking responsibility for the oil spill – and apologizing for it. He identifies what is wrong, says he’s sorry and points the way forward, realizing this isn’t a liberal or conservative problem, but a human problem:

For those on the left, government regulation will not solve this problem. Government’s role should be to create an environment of opportunity that taps into the innovation and entrepreneurialism that define us as Americans.

For those on the right, if you want less government and taxes, then decide what you’ll give up and what you’ll contribute.

Here’s the bottom line: If we want to end our oil addiction, we, as citizens, need to pony up — bike to work, plant a garden, do something.

Remember how Pat “I call myself a Christian but just can’t act like one” Robertson blamed the tragedy in Haiti on a pact with the devil? Well, Lily Coyle took offense and decided to pen a response in the personal of Satan. She sent it to the Minneapolis Star Tribune and it’s starting to go viral on the Internet. You can read the whole thing here, but for myself, I’d like to say thanks to Ms. Coyle for using the letters to the editors page to correct Roberson’s really horrible theology. Here’s a tidbit from Satan’s screed:

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher.

Other thoughts this Monday: It was curious to read that Barack Obama said the following at a black Baptist Church over the weekend in celebration of Martin Luther King day:

“Sometimes I get a little frustrated “when folks just don’t want to see that even if we don’t get everything, we’re getting something.” (Full text of his speech here.)

Taken just as it is, it sounds like Obama – who is biracial but self-identifies as black and is accepted as so by most folks – is asking the black community to settle for baby steps instead of pushing hard for greater equality. That wasn’t the case of course, but he was emphasizing the need to celebrate (instead of bemoan) progress on our way to what we hope would be perfection.

It is true that some black advocacy groups deny any progress has been made among blacks simply because there is still inequity. And it is even truer still that some individuals use the lack of complete equality as an excuse to join gangs, drop out of school, and blame white society for their own poor choices. So, I agree with Obama that the excuse-making has to stop – among people of every color, every race, every age. We are, in most ways, masters of our own destiny. (For a cinematic illustration of that point, go see Precious or Invictus.)

Still, the road is much harder for some due to little more than the circumstance of their birth, the color of their skin or what sex organs they possess, and I admit to wondering if there will ever be full equality for minorites in a society where power is primarily focused in the hands of white, middle-class males. Then again, every time I read the words “Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton,” I get chills. We are making progress … it just seems so slow if you are part of a minority. and speaking of minorities…

Two of my favorite newspaper columnists did what they do best last week when pointing out the truth. Leonard J. Pitts Jr. wrote a column saying that Sen. Harry Reid may have been impolitic and out-of-touch when he used the word “Negro” during the 2007-08 presidential campaign, but he was also right. Yes, you read correctly, a black man said that a white man saying Barack Obama could get elected because he was “light-skinned” and didn’t speak with a “Negro dialect” was absolutely right. Read more here.

Also tackling a minority issue, Kathleen Parker had a fabulous (although painfully sad in a way) discussion last week about how people (and the press) treat male candidates one way and female candidates another – more hostile, patronizing – way. Because of that treatment, Parker mused, we may be a lot further away from having a female president than some would hope. Everyone should read it, but especially if you are the parent of daughters.

You have to wait until minute 13 of this 18 minute video to hear it, but President Barack Obama, in a Dec. 21 visit to the Washington D.C. Boys and Girls Club, does a little evangelizing about the “reason we celebrate Christmas” after reading the Polar Express to the kids and listening to a litany of multimedia acronyms on their wish lists. He does a good job, and when one child talks about giving gifts instead of just receiving them, Obama delivers a little Three Wise Men theology. Anyone who still clings to the “he’s a Muslim in hiding” conspiracy theory would do well to check it out.

I love Christmas, and it isn’t because of the presents. It’s because of the story. (GodBlogging warning: If you’re not into Christmas, are a non-believer, or just Grinch, stop reading here.) Christmas is the theology of God loving us, nothing else. We didn’t (we don’t) have to do anything except accept that love and grace and love back. It is very hard to describe. I mean, I could tell you the story, connecting the verses in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, bringing the annunciation of Gabriel and the tax-registration in the City of David and the shepherds and the wise men and Joseph’s dream and the manger birth and the Wise Men’s visit as done in popular media, but I cannot express what happens deep within me when hearing the Biblical recitation or when setting up my family’s Nativity scene.

So, I offer you this article about having a Merry Christmas and, for clergy who might be wondering how they can make their Christmas eve and Christmas day sermons great, you could do far worse that take a page from this guy’s message.

In other news, the Vatican’s official paper gave props to The Simpsons on Tuesday, (more…)