Leave it to Charlie Pierce to reach the heart of the matter.
Don’t Let Trump’s Taco Bowl Distract You From Obama’s Speech on Flint, by Charles P. Pierce (Esquire)
The president went to Flint on Wednesday. He should have gone there long before this, and there was something unsettling about his conspicuously taking a drink of water, although I don’t think it was as bad as Michael Moore does. But what may have gone unnoticed—especially by Ron Fournier, who went to Flint and filtered what he learned through his special Both Sides Do It filtering mechanism—is that the president took a big old sledgehammer to the philosophical foundation of 40 years of conservative political vandalism.
Just this pull.
But volunteers don’t build county water systems and keep lead from leaching into our drinking glasses. We can’t rely on faith groups to reinforce bridges and repave runways at the airport. We can’t ask second-graders, even ones as patriotic as Isiah Britt who raised all that money, to raise enough money to keep our kids healthy. You hear a lot about government overreach, how Obama—he’s for big government. Listen, it’s not government overreach to say that our government is responsible for making sure you can wash your hands in your own sink, or shower in your own home, or cook for your family. These are the most basic services. There is no more basic element sustaining human life than water. It’s not too much to expect for all Americans that their water is going to be safe.
