I just came across Bill McKibben's new column on Al Jazeera about how he was drawn to the Obama campaign's message of change, and how the Obama campaign that took on the aura of a movement. About how frequently Bill would send contributions to the Obama Campaign, with the thought that at least Barack Obama wouldn't be so indebted to his big donors. I remember thinking the same exact thing when I sent the Obama Campaign donations in 2008. My donations totaled over $500, far more than I've ever given to any political candidate. I also campaigned for Obama in 3 states and wrote a number a candidate diaries beginning in February of 2007.

Bill describes a fund raising come on offering a dinner with Obama to a few lucky donors, and fantasizing about his having dinner with Obama.

Then McKibben describes how he was disillusioned with the man he worked so hard to elect, asa the Peresident seemed to forget the people who had put him in office. A feeling shared by many here including myself.

Obama and the corruption of big oil Bill McKibben

14 Oct 201 What we completely missed was that Obama didn't want us at his back - that the minute the campaign was over he would cut us adrift, jettison the movement that had brought him to power. Instead of using all those millions of people to force through ambitious health-care proposals or serious climate legislation or (fill in the blank yourself here), he governed as the opposite of a movement candidate.

As the months of his administration rolled into years, he only seemed to grow less interested in movements of any sort. Before long, people like Tom Donahue, president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, were topping the list of the most frequent visitors to the White House.

Check this out as well: the State Department, at the recommendation of Keystone XL pipeline builder TransCanada, hired a second company to carry out the environmental review. That company already considered itself a "major client" of TransCanada. This is simply corrupt, potentially the biggest scandal of the Obama years. And here's the thing: it's a crime still in progress. Watching the president do nothing to stop it is endlessly depressing.

Obama had mojo when he knew it wasn't about him, that it was about change. But when you promise change, you have to deliver. His last best opportunity may come with that Keystone Pipeline decision, which he can make entirely by himself, without our inane Congress being able to get in the way. So on November 6th, exactly one year before the election, we're planning to circle the White House with people. And the signs we'll be carrying will simply be quotes from his last campaign - all that stuff about the tyranny of big oil and the healing of the planet. Our message will be simple: If you didn't mean it, you shouldn't have said it. If you did, here's the chance to prove it. Nix the pipeline. We don't want dinner. We want action.



Mr. President will you break another promise to the people who worked so hard to put you into office? Mr President will you a finally dance with those who brought you? Or will you dance with TransCanada and your political enemies the Koch Brothers?

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