python easy_install or pip errors about sysconfig

somehow the installation of python is broken in my linux OEL 6.9. pip or easy_install are broken and I cannot do anything. i get the same error on both sides: # easy_install Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/bin/easy_install", line 5, in from pkg_resources import load_entry_point File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/setuptools-39.2.0-py2.6.egg/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 947, in class Environment(object): File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/setuptools-39.2.0-py2.6.egg/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 951, in Environment self, search_path=None, platform=get_supported_platform(), File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/setuptools-39.2.0-py2.6.egg/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 180, in get_supported_platform plat = get_build_platform() File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/setuptools-39.2.0-py2.6.egg/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 380, in get_build_platform from sysconfig import get_platform ImportError: No module named sysconfig I removed python-setuptools to no avail. I think i was trying to update latest version of pyOpenSSL and it crashed and cannot fix. we are running Oracle enterprise Linux 6.6 in a VM. how to fix it without resorting to installing python 2.7 which is not included in the official repos thank you