Obama's continued inability to lead the country

To this political analyst, it was no surprise that during his recent address to the nation from the Oval Office, President Obama did not seize on the oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico to lead the country. Instead of only trying to influence public opinion and perform some kind of public relations damage control for his administration , President Obama should have used the bully pulpit in his recent Oval Office speech to speak to the American public about how oil impacts America's national security, the environment and its economy. The failure of Obama political strategists to use the prime time speech as a means to present a serious multi faceted approach to the issue of petroleum, indicates to this political analyst that the members of Obama’s inner circle are more afraid about upsetting the members on K street, than they care about leading the country and helping the people living along Main Street.

More Americans should realize that the same lobbyist firms on K Street in Washington D.C. who helped out the bankers get generous tax payer funded bonuses in aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, also played a role in the Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe. The political power of these lobbyist firms and the thousands of lobbyists in Washington DC is the most caustic element eroding American democracy and makes a mockery of the democratic process in America. The failure of Obama political strategists to seize the moment and take the initiative to lead the country instead of merely only managing it, proves to this analyst that Obama and his inner circle of advisors are afraid of upsetting the status quo holders of power in America such as the lobbyist firms representing the defense, petro-chemical, and petroleum industries.

The inability to challenge the power of the corporate interests associated with the defense, petro-chemical, and petroleum industries was confirmed with the Machiavellian location of President Obama’s speech in Pensacola Florida. While most Americans know the names of chefs on the Food Network or the batting averages of their favorite baseball players, most Americans do not know that the US military is the largest consumer of petroleum in the entire world. If there is any serious commitment to lower the need for imported foreign oil, it would include a reduction in the size of the US military.

The unwillingness to speak frankly to the American people is one of the reasons why the political leaders in America are able to deflect attention away from themselves and continually allow corporations and the wealthy upper one percent of Americans control the political agenda through an army of lobbyists.