by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
BP and the mere humans that run it remain “in charge” of the scene of their crime, despite President Obama’s protestations to the contrary. “The Coast Guard only allows as much media access as BP will allow” – proof that the Obama regime treats the multinational corporation’s interests as paramount even to its own. BP has nothing to fear “because they know who is boss.”
Freedom Rider: BP Rules
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
“The dangers posed by the Obama triumph over progressive discourse is seen all too clearly.”
Of course Barack Obama has done nothing to force BP into faster action on closing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. If he really had any inclination to keep corporate evil doers in line, he would never have become president in the first place. Our system doesn’t allow that kind of independence on anyone’s part, least of all the person who signs up to be the head corporate protector, that is to say president of the United States.
It is a mistake to focus solely on whether or not a “top kill” procedure or the drilling of a relief well will stop the emission of 5,000 barrels (200,000 gallons) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day. It is a mistake to ask why Obama doesn’t show sufficient emotion at a press conference. These are not the important issues at hand.
The BPs of the world have nothing to fear from the politicians who putatively run the nations of the world. They will allow a president to hold a press conference and express his anger and frustration because they realize he has to put on a show from time to time. They never truly have anything to fear because they know who is boss. Obama sits behind the desk in the Oval Office precisely because he passed the casting call held in the corner offices of BP and other corporations. They chose him and raised money for his presidential campaign and in return he doesn’t say or do anything they might find discomfiting.
“It is a mistake to ask why Obama doesn’t show sufficient emotion at a press conference.”
In the latest Gulf coast oil spill we have the worst of all possible worlds. States like Louisiana and Mississippi are politically conservative, and have nothing but poverty to show for their obeisance. The petrochemical companies may hire a relative handful of people but their biggest rewards go to politicians whom they protect with full campaign coffers. As a result Gulf coast politicians are nothing but mealy mouthed supplicants even as their voters’ livelihoods and lives are in jeopardy.
BP and the rest of its corporate cohorts made sure their liability for any accident would be capped at $75 million, a veritable drop in the bucket for a multi-national oil company. They can live with bad press, a temporary public relations problem, but they can’t live with true accountability, which would cause them to actually spend money to make up for their incompetence and malfeasance.
The problems we citizens have with the Obama administration are no different from those we have had with other administrations. Our elected representatives don’t represent us. They only represent wealthy individuals and multi-national corporations and do their bidding. It doesn’t matter if those corporations poison our air and water, it doesn’t matter if they kill wildlife or human beings. They still tell presidents and members of Congress what to do and how to do it.
They all get away with this criminality and corruption in large part because citizens are insufficiently demanding. The dangers posed by the Obama triumph over progressive discourse is seen all too clearly in the lies told and the lack of action taken to save the Gulf coast. The administration at first claimed that a moratorium on drilling projects would be in effect. Perhaps the meaning of the word moratorium is in question because 19 permits for environmental waivers and 17 permits for new drilling were granted after the April 20th explosion that create this catastrophe.
“BP is still allowed to come up with solutions more than one month after the catastrophe occurred.”
The human, environmental and economic damage will continue for months and years to come. It is obvious that BP and its experts don’t know how to fix the mess they created. It is also obvious that the government that is supposed to protect us handed over our safety to this corporate giant which doesn‘t really know how to handle its own operations safely. BP is still allowed to come up with solutions more than one month after the catastrophe occurred. BP sends workers to do busy work when the president and the cameras show up. They use dispersants which accentuate the environmental damage. The Coast Guard only allows as much media access as BP will allow.
BP and its ilk run this country and a great deal of the rest of the world too. Many of our ills can be traced right back to corporate power and control. That is the issue, not the president’s demeanor while at the microphone. The other issue is our ongoing silence and passivity in the wake of the continued crimes committee around the world. We can expect little to change in our government or in the offices of BP if our actions don’t change either.
Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.com.
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Dr. Jemima Pierre is a Black Agenda Report editor and contributor.
