Bob Herbert's column Friday hit the nail on the head as to both the problem of the administration's tepid response to the BP oil disaster and why the response has been so lackadaisical.
"The response of the Obama administration and the general public to (the BP oil spill) at the hands of a giant, politically connected corporation has been embarrassingly tepid. ... This is the bitter reality of the American present, a period in which big business has cemented an unholy alliance with big government against the interests of ordinary Americans, who, of course, are the great majority of Americans. The great majority of Americans no longer matter. America is selling its soul for oil."(emphasis supplied).
It is this "unholy alliance" which has its' boot on the neck of the American people, and it will stay there until we can break this alliance by eliminating the legalized bribery that passes for campaign finance.
Herbert is spot on with his analyses of the oil disaster, but he fails to connect that last dot. The root problem comes down to the corrupting influence of money in political campaigns.
If we really want to take back control of our government from the special interests, there is no other way than to get rid of the corrupting influence of big money in political campaigns.
The choice is ours: Force the government to pass public financing of campaigns or continue to watch the big corporations use the government to generate limitless profits at the expense of the lives, safety, and general well-being of the American people and the planet on which we live.
The American public will continue to put off doing anything about a particular problem unless we have a disaster right in front of us, even when we KNOW that the problem will eventually make this planet uninhabitable for all life. Out of sight, out of mind.
Well now it appears that even when the consequences of our addiction to oil hits us smack in the face, the government will continue to deny the problem. And we will let them get away with it because we dont have to see it on a daily basis, other than on the news.
Obama said he would hold both the government and BP accountable. But he did not retreat from his plan to expand offshore oil drilling and in fact portrayed the commission as a means to make that possible
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Scheduling angry press conferences is not what we need from the President right now. What we need is bold leadership. No more lame analogies about how progress is like an ocean liner that needs to turn around slowly. No more of this "Don't rock the corporate boat" too much phillosophy. No more paying lip service to ending corporate abuse, while slapping them on the wrist in reality.
Obama needs to make the message loud and clear that the corporate stranglehold on government is over and that legislation and regulation will no longer be for sale to the highest bidder.