This past week President Obama addressed the American people and confronted the oil industry, specifically focusing on the oil spill that occurred several weeks ago when a fire and explosion caused the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon well.
President Obama has promised a “relentless” effort to resolve the problem as he criticized the “cozy relationship” British Petroleum and other oil companies have with U.S. regulators in Washington. He also criticized the finger pointing that Haliburtion, BP and Transocean displayed at last week at the congressional hearings into the rig disaster. Recently, he even sent a team of nuclear physicists to help stop the oil from leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from the well, as the Obama administration becomes frustrated with the oil giant’s inability to control the situation.
However, while all of this has been occuring, there was one main fact that the Obama administration failed to state — that President Barack Obama and many members of Congress have accepted millions in campaign contributions from BP over the past few years. It is estimated that the oil magnate has given U.S. politicians more than $3.5 million in federal campaign contributions over the past 20 years. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, President Obama has received the largest amount of all federal officials over this period. While in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received $77,051 from BP.
Some oil plumes observed below the surface via satellite photography have been described as more than 10 miles long and 300 feet thick. Lobbyist have long been the single most pressing influence for all politicians — republican and democrat. In fact, Transocean, the Swiss-based company appearing before US Senate and House of Representatives oversight committees regarding the oi spill, has hired the Capitol Hill Consulting Group, chaired by former Representative Bill Brewster of Oklahoma, for advice on how to handle the oil spill fiasco.
If Obama is serious about the consideration of future off shore oil exploration, he needs to recant his incessant mantra of transperancy and come clean with the American public with full disclosure before the GOP faithful does. If not, he risk having this diaster serve as a future omen for other prospective policy efforts. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
For more with Dr. Stephens, visit twitter.com/rawdawgbuffalo and rawdawgb.blogspot.com.
