Backbone Radio Preview, June 6By Ross Kaminsky
The continuing devastating tragedy of the BP Deepwater Horizon leak is having political consequences nearly as large as its environmental consequences. To be clear, I’m in no way trying to minimize the importance of the damage being done to the Gulf coast. But on our mostly-political show and given that the Backbone Radio crew know a lot more about politics than about environmental science, our focus will be on the former.
The Administration’s response to the disaster has shredded Obama’s reputation for competency. Perhaps more interesting than the outcome is what preceded it: Namely, why did Obama have such a reputation to begin with? And why is his reputation being damaged by events which are essentially out of his control? (Hint: Maybe he didn’t make it sound so out of his control.)
The broad impact on Obama’s political clout is one issue, as is the more specific subject of how the BP disaster is likely to impact American energy policy.
Also weighing on the Administration’s perceived competence (among other things) is the news, finally being covered by the “mainstream” liberal media, that the White House tried to bribe Andrew Romanoff out of the Democratic senate primary race. They seem not to have learned the lessons of Watergate that the cover-up is often worse than the crime. Furthermore, what is implied by their move? Is it that they thought Romanoff would be less of an Obama poodle than Michael “Who?” Bennet despite Romanoff’s running to Bennet’s left? Combined with a similar story from Pennsylvania, the Obama Administration is looking like anything but the “change” they promised.
We’ll discuss these things, as well as the ramifications of the mess made by Israel when they boarded boats in an “aid” flotilla from Turkey to the Gaza Strip. Is this galvanizing world opinion against Israel? And how much of the freedom to verbally attack which politicians and anti-Semites from Saudi Arabia to Brussels to the UN feel has been caused by Barack Obama’s embarrassingly poor treatment of Israel and its leaders?
Please join me by listening to (and calling in to) this week’s Backbone Radio program from 5 PM to 8 PM on 710 AM KNUS in Denver and 1460 AM KZNT in Colorado Springs.
If you’re not in range of the radio waves, you should be able to listen to the show online by clicking HERE. I hope you’ll actively participate in the conversation with me, via phone at 303 696 1971, e-mail at ross(at)710knus.com, or instant message from my site at http://rossputin.com.
During the seven o’clock hour, we’ll have this month’s installment of John Andrews’ Freedom University series. This month’s topic: Bad teachers beware! Colorado now has a law that ties teacher tenure to student performance -- finally. Parents, employers, citizens, and taxpayers can applaud the tenure reform on one hand, and ask on the other hand why it wasn’t done long ago. Public education is the most expensive item in our state and local budgets, and we’re not getting our money’s worth. Maybe this new approach is a step toward real value in the classroom at long last. John Andrews will explore what it means tonight at 7:00 pm on 710 KNUS in Denver with "Tough Love for Teachers," the latest in our monthly series of one-hour specials called Freedom University. Please be listening.
Again, contact info for the show: Call the studio at 303 696 1971, e-mail me at ross(at)710knus.com, or instant message from my site at http://rossputin.com.