If you’ve been watching the news or reading The New York Times lately, you’ve been hearing quite a bit about Republicans and their intimate relations with big oil companies.
Throughout the disaster in the Gulf, the current administration (and mainstream media) have taken great pains to point out the relationship. But then, it’s always more fun to focus on Republican cliché’s than the dismal handling of an unprecedented disaster on behalf of your golden boy. Or is it a golden calf? At this point, who’s to say?
Of course it should be no secret that President Obama himself has had a cozy relationship with the folks in “big oil” for a while now. Sadly, it is.
From the massive contributions that President Obama received throughout his campaign, to the recent colossal no-bid contracts given out to Haliburton, Obama’s fostered a relationship with big oil that would make Captain Planet shave his mullet in mourning.
You see, Hollywood and the media rarely pay much attention to those stories because it disrupts the narrative that they set in place long before Obama screwed up in the Gulf.
When you think of big oil, they want you to think of Dick Cheney, evil Texans and yachting enthusiasts with Meerschaum pipes. When Obama does the same thing, it makes it confusing for the masses to identify the bad guys.
It’s also easy to vilify oil companies because everybody hates them. Well, except for when people need to fill their cars with gasoline, keep their homes cool in the summer (or warm in the winter), use deodorant, lipstick or any other sort of plastic product… all brought to you courtesy of petroleum. -- Not to mention all of the other things we consume on a daily basis.
People often forget that those products have to be transported halfway around the globe on ships and trucks that don’t exactly run on flatulence. Though that would be convenient… and renewable.
Granted, these evil oil companies tend to donate more generously to conservative candidates, but they do give substantially to both parties.
If we want to observe politicians who’ve been bought and sold by special interest groups, why not take a look at the unions? Many of whom give virtually 100% of contributions to Democrats every year without fail.
One needs look no further than the auto bailout (i.e. union bailout) and the current state of our public education system to see the kind of favors that have come into play there. In their defense, they did promise to still love Obama in the morning.
The point that I’m trying to make is this -- now is not the time to be playing the political blame game. Even if it were, the big oil/Republican version isn’t even a legitimate game to play.
Instead of drawing attention away from the spill and onto Republicans, the president should be focusing on fixing the leak and getting the necessary resources to local representatives in order to mitigate the damage.
At least, that’s what an overwhelming majority of Americans think. And if you disagree with us, you’re probably a racist Texas oilman, who drives a creepy wood-paneled van. … I hear it’s carpeted.
Steven Crowder is a writer, comedian and Fox News contributor.
Fox Forum is on Twitter. Follow us @fxnopinion.
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