I hope he proposes a broad climate tax.  It will finish the Democrats in 
the fall and be his final swan song...

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870400980457530878210736453
8.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

By LAURA MECKLER And JONATHAN WEISMAN 

PENSACOLA, Fla.

President Barack Obama will use an Oval Office address Tuesday night to 
outline his plans for cleaning up the Gulf oil spill, compensating 
victims, getting tough on the offshore oil industry and enacting new 
policies to reduce U.S. oil dependence.

He also named a new leader to overhaul the agency that regulates oil 
drilling.

.Tonight's speech will be the first time Mr. Obama has delivered a 
speech from the Oval Office, the backdrop his predecessors used to 
address the nation in times of crisis. The address comes at what White 
House aides say is an "inflection point" in the disaster—although it 
could be another two months before a relief well can stop the undersea 
gusher.

Testing out themes he will use tonight, Mr. Obama spoke Tuesday in 
Florida of "an assault on our shores" and said he will make sure BP PLC, 
owner of the leaking well, "pays for the damage it has done" as his 
administration ensures "you have the resources you need."

In Florida, Mr. Obama unveiled a new command structure, under Coast 
Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the national incident commander. He appointed 
deputy incident commanders in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, as well 
as a new command center in Tallahassee.

"The sand is white and the water's blue, so folks who are looking for a 
good vacation, they can still come to Pensacola," he said. "But that 
doesn't mean people aren't still angry. …The plumes of oil are off the 
coast. Tar balls are coming on shore, and everybody's bracing for more."

"We're going to fight back with everything we've got, and that includes 
mobilizing the resources of the greatest militaries in the world," he 
told Marines and Naval aviators in Pensacola, Fla., who cheered and 
shouted the traditional Marine hooah.

The White House said Tuesday it was naming Michael Bromwich to overhaul 
the Minerals Management Service, the much-maligned agency that the 
president has promised to break up and reform. Mr. Bromwich is a former 
assistant U.S. attorney and Justice Department inspector general. The 
White House called him "a national leader in taking broken agencies, 
applying rigorous reforms and oversight and seeing positive results."

Critics say the White House has been too reactive in responding to the 
spill, and recent polls indicate the administration is getting poor 
marks from many voters for its response.

The White House hopes the combination of Mr. Obama's fourth trip to the 
region, the Oval Office address and a high-profile meeting with BP 
executives on Wednesday will turn the tide.

One big uncertainty underlying Mr. Obama's strategy is how far BP will 
go to meet his demands that the company fund an independently 
administered, multibillion-dollar escrow account to quickly pay off 
claims by Gulf residents for economic and environmental damages. 

 

.White House aides have said the administration and BP are in 
discussions on how the fund would be structured, but BP officials have 
also signaled they will resist demands to subsidize the wages of people 
put out of work by a drilling moratorium ordered by Mr. Obama.

The president will also press for the passage of legislation to move the 
nation away from fossil fuels, the one piece of his ambitious domestic 
agenda that has stalled, but it's unclear what that legislation will 
ultimately look like. 

The president said recently that he wants legislation that puts a price 
on carbon, and vowed to help round up the votes for it in the Senate. 

Democratic Senate aides said this week that there is little appetite for 
pursuing ambitious legislation to combat climate change this year, and 
predicted a smaller package that directly addresses the oil spill is 
more likely.

The legislation may also include incentives for alternative energy, they 
said. 


.The White House appears to be aiming higher. A senior administration 
official outlined an expansive set of goals that go well beyond a direct 
response to the BP oil spill, including efficiency improvements and a 
development of new energy sources, such as expansion of nuclear power as 
well as oil and gas drilling. 

The official said it was too early to know whether energy legislation 
would ultimately include a price on carbon or a cap-and-trade system 
like the form passed by the House. But he said the president wants 
comprehensive legislation that addresses a range of energy issues and 
pointed to a half-dozen bills now pending in the Senate that address 
various aspects of the energy problem. 


."The test for him is: Does it reduce America's carbon pollution? Does 
it set America off on a course of energy independence? Does it meet the 
objective to see that America is leading in the alternative energy 
field? Does it lead to the creation of economic growth and jobs? Does it 
lead to the United States being a leader on alternative energy? Does it 
help the country wean itself off dependence on foreign oil?" the 
official said. "Those are the questions the president will ask in 
evaluating any legislation."

Any effort to put a price on carbon— effectively raising the costs of 
gasoline at the pump or electricity— will face strong opposition from 
Republicans and some Democrats. 

After a meeting with Mr. Obama last week, the top congressional 
Republicans emerged to say they would support legislation specifically 
related to the oil spill but would not abide using the spill as an 
excuse for an "energy tax."

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Barak Obama thinks we can spend our way to prosperity .....

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