Now that over 4 million gallons of oil have been allowed to spill into the waters of the Gulf, with no end in sight, as President Obama has remained silent on the issue, he finally came after...what I heard one newscaster call a 'slow burn' to finally say what after what? More than 3 weeks, of the greatest national disaster that no one has an answer to, no one is admitting to admit, no one is truly being accountable for, that President Obama finally gave, today, the speech I had been waiting for one week after this event begin to happen.
What I fail to understand is this: Why all of sudden did it take this long for President Obama to take such a long time to finally be as 'outraged' as the rest of America is?
I know, yes..I know............I'll get the same answers I always do here: Its not his 'style'...he he cool, calm and collected.....he takes his sweet time to gain all the 'facts' before he finally comes forward to tell the rest of the American people what we already know: This is the most fucked up disaster in the history our nation. Guess what President Obama, we already know that, you showed up as the 9th inning designated batter that no one cares about now. How does that feel?
If you want to call that 'Leadership' then go on...do it....please let me know how much President Obama 'inherited' and got on his plate and could not answer to these various problems:
Each President no matter how much we love them or hate them, has this responsibility:
The Bully Pulpit, is where they stand up specifically for the American people, for our environment, for our financial sectors, for the endless wars that are bleeding us dry....6.3 billion dollars a month....
But what I have always failed to understand about President Obama is his lack of real Leadership.
Many say on this site...............he is just cool, calm, collected and he waits, until 'everyone else weights in' and then, after they have, he finally comes in and 'So calls................Lead'...
That is the 'safe bet' out, that is not leadership at all......
I am sorry, I do not agree with the premise.
A Leader stays ahead of the game....a leader has a vision and an agenda, prior to emergencies....a leader does not wait until our entire Gulf Coast is in the throws of being completely destroyed.
A real 'Leader' comes out in front of the game, and is courageous enough to call those to 'blame and accountable' for what they have caused, and if that does not happen in 'Leadership' then please tell me, what do you think that is?
A Leader is 'proactive, not reactive'.....a leader does not follow the 'status quo to protect, above all, the many of Americans that have been killed or ended their lives over the Mining Industry disaster, or the Financial meltdown.
Tell, me please...........what kind of 'Leadership' that is?
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors said Friday they are investigating whether there was "willful criminal activity" by the company that operates the West Virginia coal mine where 29 workers died in an accident last month. The U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of West Virginia said in a letter that investigators are looking into possible criminal conduct by the mine's operator, Performance Coal, and its directors, officers and agents.
The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, asks the Labor Department to hold off pursuing dozens of civil cases against Performance for alleged mine safety violations. Performance is a subsidiary of Massey Energy Co., which owns the Upper Big Branch mine. Last month, federal law enforcement officials said the FBI had interviewed nearly two dozen current and former employees of Massey in the probe. But the Justice Department declined to publicly confirm there was a criminal investigation.
In the letter Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Booth Goodwin II said his office wants to make sure the pending civil cases don't interfere with the criminal probe. He asks Douglas White, a top lawyer for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, to delay 44 civil penalty cases against Performance that could form the basis of criminal penalties under federal mine laws. The cases involve about 500 citations issued between June 3, 2006, and April 5, 2010 – the day of the explosion, according to a federal official familiar with the records. The official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case. About 300 of the citations are for "significant and substantial" violations, which are among the most serious that can be alleged at a mine, the official said. More than 90 allege the mine operator's high negligence or reckless disregard for safety standards. The citations range from inadequate roof support and ventilation problems to improper accumulations of combustible dust, the official said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Fishgrease and other have been so amazing and kind to give us all the information on what is going on in the Gulf...and this is not any different from what President Obama, continually refuses to 'come out against and make statements against...
But the fact is it does not end there at all....
It goes right into our 'key financial markets' and the entire 'corruption of the entire government....'
Believe me, like all of you here, I wanted so desperately to believe that for the first time in 40 years, that we finally had a great, great, leader in our party, President Obama, or rather should I say, Candidate Obama, that would truly fight for the causes that mattered the most:
Rebuilding the Middle Class
Fighting for Environmental Concerns and a Real Green Energy Policy that would not 'sell' us off to the Oil Companies
Re-negotiating NAFTA and at least, stop, selling our jobs overseas.
Re-building and supporting the Unions that have always been the 'soul' of the Democratic Party.
Re-building the manufacturing base.
Ending the Endless Wars, that are sucking us dry, and are useless, as so many 'Generals have already said so'......the Military Industrial Complex' is why:
Peter Peterson and the 'Secret Commission' on Deficit Spending is Going after Social Security and Medicare'.....
Which is to 'Pay off the toxic off balance sheets' that Ben Bernanke' and the Federal Reserve' screwed us all to begin with...
The point I guess I am trying to make, is that all of these 'issues' are interconnected.
If we deny that, then I honestly believe we are lost. If we continue on this site, to do 'Pretty pictures' of Obama .................after the most horrifying oil spill in our nation come out finally, after 3 weeks of the event to believe that anything is different, from before, than I think we have lost our 'moral compass' as our true party....as our nation....
And we have....
For instance............you honestly think 'we' are going to get a real audit of the Federal Reserve.......then think again....you just do not really know what is going on.
Take a look so you will know what is really going on:
The Best Article You Will Ever Read on Auditing the FED
by Badabing
Thu May 13, 2010 at 03:28:47 PM PDT
Do I want to 'believe' more than anyone else on this site..you have no idea....I do....but actions always speak louder than words, and I cannot deny any longer what is going on....
I ask you this now, why does President Obama, not use the 'Bully Pulpit' and please stop telling me that he is play 11th dimensional chess...he is not..
Ok...can you at least admit that?
Let's go a step further ok...let's connect the dots, and stop being fooled....
Nowhere man, please listen, you don't know what you're missin', nowhere man, the world is at your command" (Beatles, Nowhere Man) Banks qualifying to borrow at the "Fed Window" are receiving money at virtually zero interest rates. They are then using that money to purchase government bonds, aka, Treasuries, (backed by the full faith and credit of the United States) that pay more than their cost of borrowing and are pocketing the difference as profits, purporting to be financial geniuses worthy of billions in bonuses. It would not be worth the effort for you or me to engage in that transaction for $100, as the "profit" would be about 6-12 cents. But, do that at the trillion dollar level, and the "profits" begin to pay for more than shoe-shines and massages.
To get a clear picture of what is going on here, ignore the intermediate steps (borrowing money from the fed, investing in Treasuries), as they are riskless, and it immediately becomes clear that this is merely a direct payment from the Fed to the banking executives...for nothing. No nifty new tech product has been created. No illness has been treated. No teacher has figured out how to get a third-grader to understand fractions. No singer's voice has entertained a packed stadium. No batter has hit a walk-off double. No "risk"has even been "managed", the current mantra for what big banks do that is so goddamned important that it is doing "god's work".
Nor has any credit been extended to allow the real value-producers to meet payroll, to reserve a stadium, to purchase capital equipment, to hire employees. Nothing. Congress should put an immediate halt to this practice. Banks should have to show that the money they are borrowing from the Fed is to provide credit to businesses, or consumers, or homeowners. Not a penny should be allowed to be used to purchase Treasuries. Otherwise, the Fed window should be slammed shut on their manicured fingers. And, stiff criminal penalties should be enacted for those banks that mislead the Fed about the destination of the money they are borrowing. Bernie Madoff needs company.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Yes, I think that some will get my 'connect the dots' of this diary...and some will not.
Believe me, I was one of the first to say that Obama was left the 'worst' situation in this history of our nation that the Bush/Reagan and 30 years of tearing down the 'Middle Class' was ever given..
But what I cannot and will not excuse is this: The BP destruction of our entire wealth of the seafood industry, when so many have come forward as the 'whistle blowers' the entire destruction of our Miners who have been killed, after so many 'whistle blowers'.....the entire destruction of our entire key financial sectors, which is, what I refuse to call, the 'Greatest Cover Up in Our National History' as does William Black, Eliot Spitzer, Elizabeth Warren, Simon Johnson, Joseph Sliglitz, and Brookley Born, and so many others, cannot be denied.
You may not agree with me, and you know what, I respect that thought...but please...
Consider this:
We were warned. You cannot deny that. We and all of Europe because of our own sub-prime, deregulation, led us down the road to Perdition.
And now, we are at that place, no matter, what we say and what we pretend that our President is doing or not doing...
I am a dyed in the wool, Democrat, Irish, Union girl from the get go, but what I do not understand is this...
Why are we not receiving any real Leadership from President Obama, until after the fact...?
Can you tell me, please what you consider real Leadership? Because with this President, God Bless Him, I do not understand where he really stands on anything.......
Let's not talk about 'personality, or style' or any of that shit....let's take about real leadership..
Ok.?
Thanks..
Just asking...and I really want to know your opinion......not excuses..
What does 'real Leadership' and the 'Bully Pulpit' mean to you?
I really am trying to find new answers..ok?