President Obama is like President Bush to Big Oil

Dear Friends,
Here I am enjoying my vacation, starting the day with The New York Times and my espresso.  I glance at the headlines and become completely dejected "Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling" with the subtitle "Seeks Major Expansion".  The headline for the web version is even worse "Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Drilling for the First Time" (here).  President Obama is apparently hoping that by adopting some of President Bush's proposal that were dropped by President Bush later, that he will get some Republican support for a climate bill.  But as The New York Times concludes,

it is no sure thing that it will win support for a climate bill from undecided senators close to the oil industry, like Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, or Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana.

The New York Times article continues:

The Senate is expected to take up a climate bill in the next few weeks — the last chance to enact such legislation before midterm election concerns take over. Mr. Obama and his allies in the Senate have already made significant concessions on coal and nuclear power to try to win votes from Republicans and moderate Democrats. The new plan now grants one of the biggest items on the oil industry’s wish list — access to vast areas of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling.

I see a pattern here.  President Obama wants to get something passed Congress and instead of going to the American people to force Congress to act, he makes concession after concession so that the bill that emerges is really watered down and guess what still has no support from Republicans.  This pattern is a slap in the face to those of us that supported him from the start.  We need to let him know that we are not happy and that he should not continue to give things to the Republicans who will never support what he suggests even if it is what they said they wanted.

We need to make ourselves heard.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal