This will be a brief one, again. Hands full, head empty. Kind of sleepy, actually, so watch the prose – it may falter badly. No guarantees.
Obama’s plan to open up off-shore drilling along much of our national coastline resembles some of the graphics I’ve been seeing in BP commercials lately. I guess all it takes is a little public diplomacy by the enormous oil and gas industry groups, and this administration will bend back at the knees. No, it’s not the worst possible plan for extraction of fossil fuels, but it is a major wedge in the door towards the same “drill, baby, drill” Obama’s presidential campaign opponent advocated. Can’t believe they won’t pry that door even further open in the near future.
Where are people at on this issue? As mentioned above, they have been bombarded with television ads 
like no other time I can recall. America’s Oil and Gas Industry, Chevron, BP, and others, all trying to outdo one another with how dedicated they are to creating jobs, saving the environment, finding “solutions”, raising families, promoting public investment …. everything except generating massive profits, which is what they are ACTUALLY doing. I can’t imagine that, with all this promotional bullshit running on every channel, people aren’t getting more cozy with the idea of “drill, baby, drill”. (Sure, they always mention a full menu of energy options, including renewables, conservation, and others. But you and I both know they’re talking oil and gas.)
The energy sector is putting its unprecedented amounts of cash to good use, I can see. So are many other corporate players – many I’ve never seen do advertising before. The banks, of course, are saving the world, according to their ads. Then you’ve got the defense contractors, like Boeing, waxing poetic on the air. And, strangely, companies like Siemen’s, Cisco, etc., vying for position in the new “clean” energy bonanza, the new network technology frontier. So why is Obama unilaterally disarming on fossil fuels? He doesn’t think he is, that’s why. But in effect, that’s what’s happening.
I don’t know – it’s a zig-zag path between moderate and conservative, as far as I can see, just like Clinton. Just wish the zigs went a little farther. (Wishing won’t do, of course.)
luv u,
jp
comprehensive health insurance reform? Never. Rebuild the entire thing to suit them, and they’ll still vote against it purely for spite. The problem here is, of course, the democrats themselves, who can’t seem to recognize when they’ve got something that’s both popular and worth defending. I’m referring to the public option, Medicare expansion, and other measures denounced as “socialism” by the other side (and conservative dems) but which the general public is strongly in favor of. The reason why people aren’t fired up about the current plan is that they stripped those measures out to please conservatives. Obama – congress – get a clue! Pass something that will make a real positive difference in people’s lives quickly, and they will support you.
The latest Afghan campaign continues unabated. I’ve heard the Taliban being accused of using civilians as human shields. Just a couple of weeks ago, though, the U.S. and local Afghan government leaders were encouraging people to stay in Marjah so that there would be someone to govern when they had taken over; and there have been reports of refugees being blocked from exiting by our military. Numerous civilians have been killed in what quickly became a war zone. How is this different?
enough. But whatever his motivations or limitations may be, we simply cannot allow ourselves to be confined by them. What America needs is a healthy dose of movement politics – the kind that brought us the five day work week, earned black people the vote, and brought the Vietnam war to an end. It’s the only way fundamental change happens, and we had best start facing that fact.
Whether or not Obama is serious about making positive change, he should understand one thing: the Republican party, particularly those in Congress, will not support him no matter what he does. He could adopt all of their positions (instead of just many of them) and they will still work to destroy him politically. That is their clear objective, whatever noises they make for the cameras and microphones. From a political standpoint, I don’t blame Obama for addressing the G.O.P. retreat this week and taking their questions. I think he should call them out, and we did see a little bit of that today. But if he seriously thinks that they are going to work with him on anything substantive, he is smoking crack. He would be well-advised to start appealing to his base, a.k.a. the people who got him elected, and use his considerable rhetorical gifts to articulate a more progressive vision of governance.