democracy, take 44
(As in, ‘take one’ yielded George Washington, ‘take two’ yielded John Adams…)
Q: What’s the difference between candidates Clinton and Obama?
A: Obama is Clinton without the baggage.
New York Times reporter Mike McIntire has a nice story this morning on senator Obama taking credit for passing a bill which never actually passed. The bill he introduced would have required nuclear energy plants to notify local authorities if and when radiation leaks occurred — sounds like a good idea. But not only did the bill fail to pass, the final version was weakened by the nuclear industry, who successfully lobbied Obama to change the notifications from mandatory to voluntary. So even had it passed, the bill would have been toothless and essentially useless.
Oh yes: Exelon Corporation, the owner of the Illinois nuclear plant which kept its radiation leaks secret, spawning the public outrage which inspired this legislation, is one of Obama’s biggest campaign contributors.