Is BP Obama's new Max Baucus?

[radhika]

As we watch the Administration's response to the Gulf tragedy, it's deja-vu all over again. The Prez getting publicly jerked around and minimized by a player that hypothetically could be squashed and eliminated.

I recall Max Baucus - who insisted his Tribe of Six needed a free hand and more time. So Obama let Max drag HCR out for months, killing momentum and giving Dick Armey and Glenp Beck time to assemble the Town Hall Roadshow. Is BP Obama's New Baucus? A compromised and incompetent entity given all the time it needs to delay effective handling of a national crisis. On the other hand, maybe BP is Chuck Grassley, a saboteur. Or Olympia Snowe, just there killing time, to give lobbyists and lawyers more time.

Is BP the Big Banks and the Wall Street CEOs? Whoever is playing the villain, this storyline is tiresome and life-draining. It is not history, it is tragedy.