I've got to say, as a PR guy, that the cynical strategy to pick 4th of July weekend to put the hammer down on news coverage of the effects of BP's catastrophic oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is worthy of the Bush Administration. Crisis communications strategy, timing category, at its finest. People will be traveling, partying, getting outdoors, not watching a lot of TV or reading newspapers or blogs, reveling in their patriotism. Nobody wants to knock their country and its freedoms during Independence Day! It's a celebration!
Wouldn't have caught this myself if somebody didn't put it up on Facebook this morning. There was nothing in my NYT today.
http://www.youtube.com/...
I've been following the argument(s) on Kos -- a community I love and that has helped me through some dark times -- about disillusioned Democrats, and why we should or shouldn't be.
To me, the way things are playing out in the Gulf go far beyond whether I'm a disillusioned Democrat. I'm a disillusioned AMERICAN. Obama as a PRESIDENT is letting me down. He and his administration say one thing and act one way in public, but they have not been straight with us about the oil leak from the beginning, and I've been tracking it every step of the way -- from the ridiculous low estimates of the leaks, to confirmation of underwater plumes, to allowing media access, on and on and on, we've been lied to and misled. Time and again, scientists and experts say one thing, BP and then the government say another, and slowly the truth leaks out, bit by bit, gradually raising the stakes of exactly how horrible this tragedy is, as if to manage Americans' responses, keep them from panicking.
Obviously I can't and won't vote Republican. They'd be much, much worse. But that's even part of their calculation -- I'm the base, I won't leave, I won't even not vote. And that's cynical, too.
But I've got to speak out: The guy I voted for isn't doing his job to my satisfaction. Yeah, he's done some good things, I appreciate some of the stuff he's accomplished in his bureaucratic victories. But when it comes to the things that really matter to me, he's failed me -- getting us out of the wars, prosecuting torturers, protecting whistleblowers, leading the country away from being an oil culture, etc. etc. I wanted him to restore a feeling that this was the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, not the CORPORATE STATE of AMERICA, and in that, he's completely failed me. What's going on in the Gulf right now is a sin against humanity, and to my eyes, this administration is doing all they can to cover it up.
So flame me, ignore me, whatever. I don't care. The President has got to know that the First Amendment has been all but suspended in the Gulf of Mexico, and it's being done to cover BP's ass. Shame on him.
