The Buck Stops on Obama’s Desk

Lewis Seiler & Dan Hamburg @ Common Dreams - One of the hopeful promises Barack Obama made to the country in 2008 was that if elected, his administration would reinstitute science-based decision making. We had all heard the stories of how, under George W. Bush, science was regularly compromised in the interests of big business. The BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, and events in the aftermath of this epic catastrophe, demonstrates how little has changed.

We had grave concerns about Barack Obama from the time he became a serious candidate for the presidency. Obama ran for and won the world's most powerful office with a very spotty resume. He got his initial big boost from outlaw enterprises like Goldman-Sachs (which gave nearly $1 million to candidate Obama) but the oil companies weren't far behind. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, BP and its employees have given more money to Obama than to any other candidate over the past 20 years!

This is, of course, legalized bribery. And with the recent Supreme Court travesty of Citizens United, it will only get worse. This is not the country we signed on for; instead, it is a country, in Ralph Nader's words, "of, by and for the corporations". Contrary to his rhetorical flourishes, President Obama is just another sycophant to corporate America. We are risking the future of the planet and our species by allowing this deadly ruse to go on. Read more.