Oil Price Solution: Write Congress

As someone who advises organizations on image, crisis and reputation management issues, I have been continually distressed at witnessing the reputation of our great nation be reduced to shambles on the world stage.  And, it would seem all self-inflicted by people in leadership who don’t know any better, I’m afraid.

So, it was in that context that I saw this troublesome story in today’s New York Times under the headline, “U.S. Is in No Shape to Give Advice, Medvedev Says.”  Regardless of what you or I might think of him, Russia’s new president, Dmitri Medvedev, pulled no punches when he told reporters, “that an America in ‘essentially a depression’ was in no position to lecture other countries.”

His comments were made on the same day that our President told the American people that if they had a problem with the price of gasoline, write their congressmen to open up new oil exploration … a suggestion that would take years before the first drop of oil was produced.

There is growing talk here in Washington, too, about the “D” word that no one wants to say aloud.