I didn't mean to imply that the political process is purely transactional and that they can just throw money at the problem, but from all of the mainstream coverage I've read on Uber - and all of the quotes attributed to various politicians and regulators contained therein - it's clear that they are currently losing the political war. As you yourself stated, they are clearly in the right, but that's no guarantee of victory. Extensive PR and lobbying, while not a cure all, could go a long way towards rectifying that imbalance.

Regarding the land grab, I really disagree. They already have a handful of domestic competitors cropping up, and I wasn't even aware of that Hailo company that objclxt mentions above, which sounds pretty formidable.

If they sit around doing a bunch of navel gazing on the nature of the political process and civil discourse, they are toast.