Yes, the latest Republican to throw his hat in the conspiracy ring in order to tar Obama (pun intended) with BP’s gross negligence in managing the Deep Horizon Well in the Gulf is Bill Randall, a candidate for Congress in north Carolina who wants a “thorough investigation” into the possibility Obama colluded with BP to create the spill. Seriously:
Bill Randall, a North Carolina Republican candidate for Congress, is calling for a “thorough investigation” into whether President Barack Obama’s administration colluded with BP to allow the Gulf oil spill. […]
Randall continued: “I’m not necessarily a conspiracy person, but I don’t think enough investigation has been done on this. Someone needs to be digging into that situation. Personally, and this is purely speculative on my part and not based on any fact, but personally I feel there is a possibility that there was some sort of collusion.”
Yes, because BP would have been happy to tank their stock price, ruin their international reputation, make themselves a target for a hostile takeover by another Oil Company, agree to place $20 BILLION DOLLARS in escrow to pay for claims to Gulf residents affected by the spill, and “ruin” Tony Hayward’s life (and perhaps likely end his career as BP’s CEO), all to go along with some nefarious scheme by the Obama administration to destroy the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr. Randall says he has no proof whatsoever that any collusion between BP and obama actually happened of course, and he has given no reason why Obama or anyone in his administration would want to do so. It’s just a feeling he has. And, of course, he’s not a “conspiracy person” necessarily. Nor would he state for the record why he believes that either Obama or BP would want to jointly create the worst environmental disaster in American history. But there should be an investigation. Just because.
Which brings me to Darrell Issa, Republican Congressman and the man most likely to assume the Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee should Republicans reclaim a majority in the House of Representatives. Issa has said his goal, should he become the Chairman of that committee is to bombard the White House with subpoenas to investigate what he views as the Obama administration’s wrong doing:
If he became chairman, Issa has said he would double his staff from 40 to between 70 and 80, Politico reports. As chairman, he would also have the power to subpoena White House officials to appear before the committee under oath.
“That will make all the difference in the world,” Issa said in a recent speech with respect to taking over the chairmanship, according to Politico. “I won’t use it to have corporate America live in fear that we’re going to subpoena everything. I will use it to get the very information that today the White House is either shredding or not producing.”
I don’t know if Issa would go along with an investigation into collusion between BP and the White House, but then again, based on what happened to President Clinton after Republicans regained control of the House in 1994, I don’t think you can rule anything out. Because it doesn’t matter that the Obama administration and BP would be the last people to get into bed to create an environmental disaster of this scope that has harmed both of them.
As we learned during the Clinton era Republicans can’t help themselves. They can’t govern the country when they control Congress and the White House because they are too damn corrupt and too anti-government to actually run the government competently. But they do know how to subpoena and pander to the cameras and make the most outrageous lies and claims to slander Democrats, particularly Democrats who sit in the Oval Office.
And if they were willing to hound the Clinton administration over Travelgate, Vince Foster’s suicide, Filegate, Whitewater, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, Nanny-gate (several iterations), Hilary Clinton’s billing practices at the Rose Law firm (i.e., Billinggate), and an Impeachment trial in the Senate for alleged perjury in a civil trial having nothing to do with President Clinton’s performance of his duties as President. Based on that record, reflect on what Republicans would consider fair game regarding our first African American President? I say let your imagination run wild and you still probably can’t imagine everything that a Republican like Darrell Issa and company would consider a worthy of an investigation.
And while the majority of Americans would likely see through this gambit as the cynical ploy that it is, not all would. Many on the right (primarily those white Americans who consider Rush Limbaugh and Fox News the only media outlets who broadcast the truth, or at least the “truth” they want to hear) already believe that Obama is out to destroy our country. And Republicans in Congress will play to that base, and to the Washington Establishment Media’s delight in controversy and conflict vs. substance, to cripple our government’s ability to get anything done to deal with the looming threats we face.
So, laugh if you will at Mr. Bill Randall, and mock him for his absurd remarks. Come this Fall, if Democrats don’t turn out enthusiastically to vote for Democrats, even Democrats we love to hate, this will be what the future will look like for the rest of the Obama Presidency: an endless array of hyped “scandals” in the media, even from supposedly “liberal” news sources like the NY Times, and the complete grinding to a halt of any government action to fend off the risk of another, much deeper recession or even depression.