海角大神

The man who electrified the nation with his speech at the Democratic National Convention of 2004 put it to sleep tonight. President Obama鈥檚 address to the nation from the Oval Office was, to be frank, vapid. If you watched with the sound off you might have thought he was giving a lecture on the history of the Interstate Highway System. He didn鈥檛 have to be angry but he had at least to show passion and conviction. It is, after all, the worst environmental crisis in the history of the nation.

With the sound on, his words hung in the air with all the force of a fundraiser for your local public access TV station. Everything seemed to be in the passive tense. He had authorized deepwater drilling because he 鈥渨as assured鈥� it was safe. But who assured him? How does he feel about being so brazenly misled? He said he wanted to 鈥渦nderstand鈥� why that was mistaken. Understand? He鈥檚 the President of the United States and it was a major decision. Isn鈥檛 he determined to find out how his advisors could have been so terribly wrong?

Tomorrow he鈥檚 鈥渋nforming鈥� the president of BP of BP鈥檚 financial obligations. 鈥淚nforming鈥� is what you do when you phone the newspaper to tell them it wasn鈥檛 delivered today. Why not 鈥渄irecting鈥� or 鈥渙rdering?鈥�

The President distinguished what has happened in the Gulf of Mexico from a tornado or hurricane because they are over quickly while the leak is an ongoing crisis, lasting many weeks and perhaps months more. He likened it to an 鈥渆pidemic.鈥� But the real difference has nothing to do with time. Tornadoes and hurricanes are natural disasters. Epidemics occur because germs mutate and spread. The spill occurred because of the recklessness and ruthlessness of a giant oil company in pursuit of profit.

And what has the nation learned from all this? The same lesson we鈥檝e known for decades, according to the President. We must end our dependence on oil. But if we鈥檝e known this for decades, why haven鈥檛 we done anything about it? The President endorsed the cap-and-trade bill that emerged from the House (without calling it cap-and-trade) but didn鈥檛 call for the only thing that may actually work: a tax on carbon.

I鈥檓 a fan of Barack Obama. I campaigned for him and I believe in him. I think he has a first-class temperament. I have been deeply moved and startled by his ability to speak about the nation鈥檚 most intractable problems. But he failed tonight to rise to the occasion. Is it because he鈥檚 not getting good advice, or because he鈥檚 psychologically incapable of expressing the moral outrage the nation feels?

Or is it something deeper? Whether it鈥檚 Wall Street or health insurers or oil companies, we are approaching a turning point. The top executives of powerful corporations are pursuing profits in ways that menace the nation. We have not seen the likes not since the late nineteenth century when the 鈥渞obber barons鈥� of finance, oil, and the giant trusts ran roughshod over America. Now, as then, they are using their wealth and influence to buy off legislators and intimidate the regions that depend on them for jobs. Now, as then, they are threatening the safety and security of our people.

This is not to impugn the integrity of all business leaders or to suggest that private enterprise is inherently evil or dangerous. It is merely to state a fact that more and more Americans are beginning to know in their bones.

Our President must tell is like it is 鈥� not with rancor but with the passion and conviction of a leader who recognizes what is happening and rallies the nation behind him.

------------------------------

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. This post originally ran on .