Pres. Obama Unveils Southern Portion Of Keystone Pipeline Permit To Oklahoma Audience

Obama defends his policy on oil pipeline


President Barack Obama took on critics of his energy policies Thursday, saying in carefully coordinated speeches that they weren't paying attention to increased oil production at home and were misleading the public about the cause of rising gas prices.

"Anyone who says that we're somehow suppressing domestic oil production isn't paying attention," Obama said in Cushing, Oklahoma, on the second day of a four-state tour to tout his policies.

"And anyone who says that just drilling more will bring gas prices down just isn't playing it straight," the president continued. " We are drilling more.

We are producing more. But the fact is, producing more oil at home isn't enough to bring gas prices down overnight."

In Cushing and a later speech at The Ohio State University, Obama repeated his call for a diversified policy that increases production of traditional energy sources such as oil and natural gas while increasing investment in alternative sources such as solar, wind and hydrogen power to compete in growing global clean energy markets.

In particular, he rejected Republican claims that U.S. oil reserves alone offer a solution to higher gas prices and long-term supplies.

"Even if we drilled every little bit of this great country of ours, we'd still have to buy enough from the rest of the world to meet our needs," Obama said in Cushing.
He added that "the price of oil is set by the global market, and that means every time tensions rise in the Middle East, so will gas prices at home."

In particular, Obama said, rising tension involving Iran was causing the current spike in global oil prices.

At Ohio State, Obama emphasized to a cheering student crowd that since he took office in 2009, "America's dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year."

"Even as the economy was growing, we've made progress in reducing the amount of oil we have to import because we're being smarter, we're doing things better," the president said.

Romney turns up heat on Obama energy policies

The whirlwind trip over two days followed weeks of criticism of his approach to gas price increases by Republicans on Capitol Hill and the presidential campaign trail.

"He has an energy policy that is very simple," Rick Santorum said of the president during a campaign stop Monday in Illinois. "You can sum it up in two letters, N-O.

He is against everything that will create economic incentives to drill."

Newt Gingrich has made reducing prices at the pump a central promise of his campaign, telling voters at a recent event in Birmingham, Alabama, that "an American president who believed in energy and an American president who believed in science and technology would drive the price of gasoline below $2."

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl sounded a similar refrain after a Republican caucus meeting in early March, agreeing with the president's all-of-the-above approach, but adding, "We need it in action, not just words."

A focus of Republican attacks has been the delay in administration approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada's tar sands production in northern Alberta to the Gulf Coast.

Keystone pipeline: Separating rhetoric from reality

Last year, the administration put off a decision until 2013 after protests by environmentalists concerned about high carbon emissions from tar sands oil production and objections by Nebraska officials to a route near a vital aquifer.

Republicans in Congress, accusing Obama of avoiding the issue until after the November election, tried to speed the process by tacking a measure requiring an immediate decision to the temporary payroll tax cut bill last December.

The Obama administration then rejected the pipeline permit in January, saying an alternate route from Nebraska had yet to be decided. Since then, Republicans have persisted in attacking Obama for rejecting the permit.

The president announced Thursday in Cushing that he was using his executive authority to order federal agencies to expedite the approval process for large-scale infrastructure projects like oil pipelines.

More specifically, he ordered the portion of the Keystone XL pipeline running from Cushing to the Gulf to be placed at the top of the list.

"We're making this new pipeline from Cushing to the Gulf a priority," Obama said to cheers, later adding that "as long as I'm president, we're going to keep encouraging oil development and infrastructure and we're going to do it in a way that protects the health and safety of the American people.

We don't have to choose between one or the other. We can do both."

Many private companies -- including TransCanada, the Canadian company behind the Keystone XL project -- are working to build pipelines that relieve the bottleneck of oil in Cushing, a major hub for crude oil storage and trade.

While federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior have some involvement in the approval process for the domestic portion of the pipeline, the federal government has relatively little control when compared to the absolute say it holds over the portion that crosses the international border with Canada.

The ultimate decision-making authority for the pipeline's domestic route lies mainly with the states it crosses, prompting Republicans to question whether the president can actually claim any credit for speeding the project along.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters Thursday that Obama was claiming credit he didn't deserve on the southern leg of the Keystone pipeline while continuing to prevent construction on the northern leg from Canada.

"It's already gotten its approvals and this idea that the president is going to expedite this will have no impact on the construction of this pipeline," Boehner said of the Cushing-Gulf Coast portion. "The president has continued to block development of oil and gas reserves, big reserves, on federal lands.

And he can go out and make all the noise that he wants, but the facts are there."

Poll: Majority say build Keystone pipeline

On Wednesday, Obama kicked off his energy tour with stops in Boulder City, Nevada, and Maljamar, New Mexico, to focus on work on alternative energy sources.

The visit to Boulder City was designed to tout the success of solar technology at the largest photovoltaic solar facility in the nation. Photovoltaic solar panels create energy directly from sunlight without the need for any water or moving parts.

Obama acknowledged the high prices at the pump, but used the problem as a reason to abandon federal "subsidies" to oil and gas companies.

"We want to encourage production of oil and gas, and make sure that wherever we've got American resources, we are tapping into them," the president said. "But they don't need an additional incentive when gas is $3.75 a gallon, when oil is $120 a barrel, $125 a barrel. They don't need additional incentives. They're doing fine."

What the president calls subsidies, the petroleum industry calls the same tax breaks afforded those in many other industries.

The push to end what Obama deems to be preferential treatment to a petroleum industry that's never been more profitable was central to his two-day tour, but the president also used the trip to push back against those who call federal aid to the renewable energy industry a waste of money.

"Some of these folks want to dismiss the promise of solar power and wind power and fuel-efficient cars," Obama said in Boulder City. "In fact, they make jokes about it.

One member of Congress who shall remain unnamed called these jobs 'phony' -- called them phony jobs. I mean, think about that mindset, that attitude that says because something is new, it must not be real. If these guys were around when Columbus set sail, they'd be charter members of the Flat Earth Society."

With nearly a million solar panels spread across 450 acres, Copper Mountain 1 in Boulder City provides power for roughly 17,000 homes, but employs just 10 full-time employees.

The solar plant's owner, Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, is in the process of building a second facility nearby that's set to more than triple the output of Copper Mountain 1.

Construction of the second facility -- Copper Mountain 2 -- has created 175 temporary jobs but, according to Sempra's own projections, the final solar plant will result in just five full-time positions.


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Obama To Approve Southern Portion Of Keystone; He's Preparing For GOP-Controlled Congress

On Thursday Pres. Obama will announce plans to approve the Southern portion of the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline.

This announcement comes just 2 months after he said his administration needed at least 6 months to review plans of the pipeline for Environmental Safety purposes.

So why the sudden rush?

Politics! i.e., an approaching election & Gas Prices.

I told ya'll Pres. Obama is preparing to work with a 100% GOP-Controlled Congress just as Bill Clinton had to do.

Pres. Obama will most likely squeak through a Win but the Senate will most certainly go to GOP Candidates due to the amount of Big Money being spent by Wealthy GOP Super PACS & from Wall Street Executives.

As this election closes in don't be surprised to see Pres. Obama veering more & more to the Center.

Once the election ends & the new Congress is Sworn in, Pres. Obama is going to govern from a Very Conservative, Very Moderate perspective.

Just Watch.


Obama to fast track southern portion of Keystone XL Pipeline


President Obama plans to announce in Cushing, Oklahoma Thursday that his administration will expedite the permit process for the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline, a source familiar with the president's announcement tells CNN.

In January, the Obama administration denied a permit for the 1,700 mile long Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would stretch from Canada's tar sands development to the U.S. Gulf Coast. That decision was met by persistent Republican criticism that the president has not been doing everything possible to create jobs and combat high gas prices.

Late last month, TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL Pipeline, announced it would move forward with the process to build the southern portion of the pipeline, which would begin in Cushing, the president's third stop on his two-day energy tour. The White House praised the move.

Still, the permit process for a project like this can typically take a year or more. The source familiar with the president's announcement says the administration could shave several months off that timeline.

Senior administration officials would not confirm the president’s plan to unveil the effort to cut red tape for the project, though one senior administration official acknowledged the need to deal with the glut of oil in Cushing, where oil from the Midwest hits a bottleneck as it is transported to the Gulf of Mexico.

Such an announcement would no doubt be met with opposition from environmentalists, many of whom spent weeks protesting the Keystone XL project outside the White House late last fall into the early winter, before the administration announced its objection to the pipeline.


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New Orleans Saved By Army Corps In 2011; Ignored In 2005

This Time The Army Corps Of Engineers Actually Prevented The Levees In Louisiana From Flooding New Orleans. The Same Way They Could Have Averted Hurricane Katrina's Flood Waters From Wiping Out The Ninth Ward Back In 2005.

Unfortunately ALL Of The WHITE Gulf Coast Residents Who Were Spared In 2005 At The Expense & Sacrifice Of New Orleans's Ninth Ward BLACK Citizens, Are Now Experiencing What Those Ninth Ward Citizens Experienced. Only Fewer Deaths.

For The Record Just Because Newly Elected NOLA Mayor Mitch Landrieu(U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's Brother) Is A Democrat Doesn't Mean He Loves Black People.

After All He DID Grow Up In Louisiana, One Of The MOST Racist States In The South!

So Do I Believe That Back In 2005, Louisiana's Lawmakers With The Exception Of Mayor Nagin INTENTIONALLY Allowed The City Of New Orleans To Flood Just To "Clean Out" Its Poor BLACK Citizens & Make Room For A New White, Upscale Population?

YES!

But....

Did Anyone Think That The Lord God Almighty Would Ever Forget The Intentional Deaths Of More Than 1,500 Ninth Ward Citizens, Mainly People Of Color In 2005?

Well Guess What?

He Didn't!

Thus The Reason Why All Of This Year's Destruction Along The Gulf Coast.

Call Me Crazy If You Like However....

MURDER IS MURDER!

God's Word Says: VENGEANCE IS MINE! I WILL REPAY! Romans 12:19

Remember Katrina!

Thank You Kanye West For Speaking Up!


FYI:

If You Want Me To STOP Talking About Racism, Then Please Just Stop Practicing Racism & Discrimination.

Its Not Rocket Science You Know.

"What The World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love. Its The ONLY Thing That There's Too Little Of".

VOTE OBAMA IN 2012!











Louisiana Spillway Opened to Relieve Flooding

After declaring that “public safety is our No. 1 priority,” officials from the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza spillway, sending water from the engorged Mississippi River rushing into the pastures and cropland here to forestall potentially catastrophic damage farther downstream.

As Col. Ed Fleming, commander of the corps’ New Orleans district, had said beforehand, one bay of the giant structure was opened Saturday at 3 p.m. local time, sending water out at a predicted 10,000 cubic feet per second. If current forecasts hold, officials would eventually open enough bays to allow water out at 125,000 cubic feet per second, a quarter of the spillway’s capacity.

That diversion would relieve the already enormous pressure on the levee system as the river courses past Baton Rouge, New Orleans and a corridor of chemical plants and oil refineries. But it would also flood hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and thousands of homes, as it pours out into the Atchafalaya River basin. Evacuations have been taking place for days in the towns and communities throughout the basin, along with large scale operations to protect these towns with sand bags and other barriers.

The Morganza, one of four floodways in the Mississippi River and tributaries flood control system, has only been opened once, in 1973. “We’re using every flood control tool that we have in the system,” said Gen. Michael J. Walsh, commander of the Mississippi Valley Division of the Corps of Engineers.

General Walsh added that the system was still under “tremendous pressure” and would remain so for weeks as the crest slowly moves down the river to the Gulf. The Morganza, which is triggered to open when the river is flowing at 1.5 million cubic feet per second past the Red River Landing north of Baton Rouge, was likely to remain open for weeks, ensuring that the river remains below that flow rate downstream. Any more pressure would put the levees past their design capacity.

With the opening closed to the general public, the occasion did not have the festive, tailgate atmosphere as when another spillway outside of New Orleans, the Bonnet Carre, was opened earlier this week. But there were some who wanted to mark — and capitalize on — this historic moment: a stand by the road into town was selling T-shirts for $20 that read: “Morganza Spillway 2011 Gates Finally Opened.” A live video stream has been set up by the Corps to show the flooding.

Just about everyone in southern Louisiana had come to expect the decision to open the spillway and had resigned themselves to the bitter but necessary trade-off behind it.

The water will take days to pour out into the Atchafalaya River basin, filling up marshes, engorging bayous, submerging hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and seeping into thousands of homes. It will also test the network of federally and locally built levees that wall off towns and small Cajun communities throughout the basin. The water levels in the area will remain high for weeks.

According to maps released by the corps, these areas would be flooded to some degree whether the spillway was opened or not, given the extraordinary amount of water in the system.

There are about 2,500 people in the direct path of the spillway, and around 22,500 others who would be threatened by swollen backwaters. Gov. Bobby Jindal urged people remaining in these areas to begin evacuating.


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Sources: ABC News, CNN, Newsbusters.org, NOLA.com, NY Times, Washington Post, Youtube, Google Maps

Obama Lifts Ban On Deep Water Drilling; But Hid BP Spill Truth

Obama Administration Lifts Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium


Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday that the Obama administration is lifting the Moratorium on deep-water oil drilling it put in place after the Gulf oil spill disaster.

Operators must comply with new rules and regulations in order to get permission to resume drilling, Salazar said.

"There will always be risks associated with deep-water drilling," Salazar said. "We have reached a point where we have significantly reduced those risks."

The six-month moratorium was first issued by Salazar in May after the April 20 explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people and triggered one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

When a federal judge overturned the ban and an appeals court agreed, Salazar issued a second ban in June that was scheduled to expire in November.

Critics of the ban, including Republican leaders, Gulf state officials and Gulf coast residents, said it would only hurt oil and gas workers in the already hard-hit coastal communities, where hundreds of jobs were lost because of the disaster.

Salazar said the moratorium provided time to make sure similar accidents involving a failed piece of equipment called a blowout preventer wouldn't occur, and that rig operators were prepared to deal with worst-case scenarios if it did happen.

Under the new requirements, operators must show that their proposed development and exploration plans can deal with potential blowouts and undergo detailed inspections and design reviews of blowout preventers by independent third parties, said Michael Bromwich, the new head of the federal agency that oversees offshore oil drilling.

Bromwich said it might take time for companies to come into full compliance, but he expected some permits for resumed drilling to be approved by the end of the year.

"We will not approve permits without vital supplemental information required by the rules," said Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, a critic of the moratorium, called Tuesday's announcement a good first step but said more was needed to help the region's oil and gas industry get back to work.

"This means that the administration must continue to accelerate the granting of permits in shallow and deep water, and provide greater certainty about the rules and regulations industry must meet," Landrieu said in a statement.

Landrieu has blocked Senate consideration of President Barack Obama's nomination of Jacob Lew to become the new director of the White House Office of Management and Budget to protest the moratorium. Her statement said she would study the situation in coming weeks before deciding whether to lift her hold on the nomination when the Senate returns from recess after the November 2 congressional elections.

An environmental group questioned if enough had been done to prevent another rig explosion and spill like the one that took oil giant BP and the government months to contain.

"Deepwater oil drilling is intrinsically dangerous, as demonstrated by the BP spill, and it's surprising the federal government thinks it has so quickly resolved all the problems that contributed to the spill," said David Guest, an attorney for Earthjustice.

"We learned from this spill that we have only a tiny fraction of what's necessary to control deep water oil spills," Guest said in a statement. "While we've now got some new regulations that address technology and safety, the federal government still hasn't come up with any new regulations addressing oil spill response. We still don't have the equipment or technology to control or contain the oil from a major blowout in the Gulf."

Salazar noted that one reason for the moratorium was because resources needed to respond to the disaster were tied up with the BP spill. Now that the broken well has been capped, those resources are again available in case of another accident, he said.

The moratorium affected 36 operators, half of which were able to continue some level of work such as helping to dig relief tunnels that capped the broken well, Salazar said. Lifting the moratorium means applications for 18 exploratory wells can again move forward, providing they comply with the tougher new regulations and rules, he said.

"The policy position we've articulated today is that we're open for business," Salazar said. "We will be taking applications for drilling in the deep water and we'll be processing those applications under the road map ... created in the last six months."


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Gov. Jindal Happy Federal Judge Killed Obama's Moratorium (Video)

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Obama Calls BP "Reckless", Vows They Will Pay (Speech Video)

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Obama Accuses BP Of "Recklessness"


Dedicating new urgency to the Gulf oil spill, President Barack Obama accused BP of "recklessness" in the first Oval Office address of his presidency Tuesday night and swore not to rest until the company has paid for the damage it has caused to lives, businesses and shorelines.

He announced that he had asked former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus to develop a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan — to be funded by BP PLC — in concert with local states, communities, fishermen, conservationists and residents "as soon as possible."

Obama did not detail what this plan should include or how much it might cost, a price sure to be in the billions of dollars.

'We will make BP pay'

Whatever the bottom line, he declared to his prime-time television audience, "We will make BP pay."

Still, eight weeks into the crisis, oil continues to gush from the broken wellhead, millions of gallons a day, and Obama has been powerless to stem the leak. The sad episode has raised doubts about his leadership and his administration's response to what Obama has called the nation's worst environmental disaster.

The speech comes as a new poll shows a majority of Americans disapprove of how he has handled the Gulf disaster, though far more blame BP for what people call a sluggish two-month response.

A government panel of scientists said earlier Tuesday that the undersea well is leaking even more oil than previously thought, as much as 2.52 million gallons a day — or enough to fill the Oval Office more than 22 times. The total spilled so far could be as much as 116 million gallons.

BP has had only modest success so far in stemming the flood of oil, but Obama said that within weeks "these efforts should capture up to 90 percent of the oil leaking out of the well." Later in the summer, he said, the company should finish drilling a relief well to stop the leak completely.

Much of the president's speech was devoted to a recitation of steps his administration has already taken — "from the very beginning," he said — to clean the oil, help the distraught people of the Gulf and prevent another environmental crisis.

"We will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes," Obama said.

Likened to long epidemic

Likening that process to a long epidemic instead of a single crushing disaster like an earthquake or hurricane, he said the nation could be tied up with the oil and its aftermath for months "and even years."

Looking ahead to his showdown Wednesday morning with BP executives, Obama said he would "inform" them that the company must set aside whatever resources are required to make whole all local residents and businesses hurt by the spill and to repair the immense ecological damage wrought by the oil.

That meeting was to be followed by a presidential statement — his fourth planned remarks on the spill in three days. Later in the week, BP leaders take the Washington hot seat again, appearing before more congressional hearings.

However, Obama said that the new Gulf restoration plan would go beyond just repairing the effects of the crude on a unique, teeming ecology that was already battered by the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"We must make a commitment to the Gulf Coast that goes beyond responding to the crisis of the moment," the president said.

Obama also urged the nation and Congress to get behind his goal of passing sweeping energy and climate change legislation, a key domestic priority of his presidency that had become a long shot. Though Obama supports placing a price on heat-trapping carbon emissions, he did not directly state that.

"The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now," he said. "I say we can't afford not to change how we produce and use energy - because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater."

Oil executives grilled

On Capitol Hill, executives from other major oil companies turned on BP and defended their own drilling practices during a congressional hearing as they sought to stave off new government regulations in the wake of the spill.

Obama began the day in Pensacola, Fla., where he inspected the famous white sand beaches and met with local officials before heading back to the White House to deliver the first televised Oval Office message of his presidency.

The president walked along Pensacola Beach with Gov. Charlie Crist and Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. People were swimming in the emerald green water. But oil is nearby even if it can't be seen, according to Allen.

Onlookers chanted "Save our beach, save our beach."

Earlier Tuesday, the White House announced former Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich as Obama choice's for the new head of the Minerals Management Service, the agency that regulates the oil industry. Bromwich replaces Liz Birnbaum, who resigned in May in the fallout over the government's response to the spill.

BP said a small fire believed caused by lightning briefly shut down a system capturing oil from the gushing well on Tuesday. The fire on the drilling ship Discoverer Enterprise was quickly extinguished, the company said, and the oil capture operation resumed.

BP also announced it is accelerating the payments of commercial large-loss claims to get money into the hands of businesses more quickly. BP executive Bob Fryar said the company has thus far paid about $70 million in claims — the vast majority paid to individuals, especially those working in fishing and tourism. Fryar said the average time from claim to check is four days for individuals and about seven days for commercial entities.

Oil in the hot seat

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Oil executives testifying before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on energy and the environment Tuesday defended their own drilling practices.

Exxon Mobil Chairman Rex Tillerson told the panel it is crucial to find out what caused the offshore rig to explode in April, killing 11 workers and creating the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

"This incident represents a dramatic departure from the industry norm in deepwater drilling," Tillerson said.

Shell Oil Co President Marvin Odum testified, "We remain confident in our drilling expertise and procedures, built on a foundation of multiple required safety


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Cal Cunningham Raises $1.2 M, Elaine Marshall $775,003

Neither Cunningham, Marshall Flush With Cash But Cunningham Raises More


Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham has raised $1.2 million, while his rival in the June 22 run-off, Elaine Marshall, has raised $775,003, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

Neither campaign was flush with cash, Rob Christensen reports.

Elaine Marshall had $193,172 on hand as of June 2, while Cunningham had $107,469 on hand, according to the Federal Election Commission. While Cunningham has been the leader in fundraising throughout the campaign, Marshall's first place finish in the May 4 primary appears to have given her a boost, enabling her to compete nearly evenly with Cunningham.

For the most current reporting period - from April 15 through June 2 - Cunningham raised $377,479 and Marshall raised $331,688.

Cunningham had earlier this year lent his campaign $86,000, and Marshall's family last year lent her campaign $71,500.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee contributed $79,980 to Cunningham's campaign.


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Sources: DSCC, McClatchy Newspaper, WRAL, Google Maps

Pres. Obama Addresses Nation On BP Oil Spill; What To Expect

Robert Gibbs Previews Obama's Address To The Nation


With a good majority of Americans saying he's not being tough enough on BP, President Obama is doing something he's never done before tonight – addressing the nation from the Oval Office. To give us an idea of what we can expect, we were joined by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday's American Morning.


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Did Obama Give BP Free Pass On Oil Spill & Clean Up?

Obama Gives Brits Free Pass On Oil Spill While Lashing Out At Congress


President Obama on Saturday reassured Prime Minister David Cameron that his frustration over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not an attack on Britain.

But a day earlier, Obama blasted U.S. lawmakers and Tea Party activists for criticizing his response to the nation's worst environmental disaster, suggesting they are being hypocrites.

"I think it's fair to say, if six months ago, before this spill had happened, I had gone up to Congress and I had said we need to crack down a lot harder on oil companies and we need to spend more money on technology to respond in case of a catastrophic spill, there are folks up there, who will not be named, who would have said this is classic, big-government overregulation and wasteful spending," he told Politico in an interview.

Obama also suggested the criticism coming from anti-big government protesters, such as Tea Party activists, was hypocritical.

"Some of the same folks who have been hollering and saying 'do something' are the same folks who, just two or three months ago, were suggesting that government needs to stop doing so much," Obama said. "Some of the same people who are saying the president needs to show leadership and solve this problem are some of the same folks, who just a few months ago, were saying this guy is trying to engineer a takeover of our society through the federal government that is going to restrict our freedoms."

But Obama sang a much different tune to Cameron on Saturday when the two leaders held a "warm and constructive" telephone conversation for more than 30 minutes, Cameron's Downing St. office said.

Cameron's office said the prime minister “expressed his sadness at the ongoing human and environmental catastrophe,” but stressed BP's economic important to Britain, the U.S. and other countries.

Then Obama told the prime minister "that his unequivocal view was that BP was a multinational global company and that frustrations about the oil spill had nothing to do with national identity. The prime minister stressed the economic importance of BP to the U.K., U.S. and other countries. The president made clear that he had no interest in undermining BP's value.”

Cameron is under pressure to get Obama to tone down the criticism fearing it will hurt the millions of British retirees that hold BP stock. The company's stock has lost 40 percent of its value since the April 20 oil rig fire.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., fired back at Obama over his criticism of Congress, saying hypocrisy is no excuse for inaction "in addressing the dysfunctional and corrupt nature of the Minerals and Management Service" -- the agency that oversees offshore drilling.

"If President Obama had exercised some long overdue leadership and called on Congress to address the cozy relationship between MMS and the industry they regulate, I would have been the very first person to partner with him and give MMS the overhaul it desperately needs," Issa said in a written statement.

"After 10 inspector general reports, 10 GAO reports, a congressional investigation, the real question is, why did it take such a catastrophe for the president to call for action," he said.

Obama has sharpened his attacks on BP in recent days as the company struggles to stop oil gushing from its ruptured deepsea well.

Obama has said he would have fired BP's top executive, if he were in charge, and has supported the idea that the oil company suspend its quarterly dividend.

In a sign the company feels the pressure, BP said Saturday that its board would meet Monday to discuss deferring its second-quarter dividend and putting the money into escrow until the company's liabilities from the spill are known. BP said no decision had yet been made.

Obama also has reproached BP for spending money on a public relations campaign and occasionally refers to "British Petroleum," although the company years ago began using only its initials and is a far-reaching international corporation with extensive holdings in the United States, including a Texas refinery and a share of the Alaska oil pipeline.

This past week, the usually measured Obama said in a television interview, "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar; we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers -- so I know whose ass to kick."


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Obama Will Address U.S. Tuesday On BP Oil Spill Disaster

Obama To Address Nation Tuesday Night On Gulf Oil Spill


President Obama will address the nation Tuesday night to talk about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The 8 p.m. ET speech will take place from the White House shortly after the president returns from a trip to the Gulf.

The speech will be delivered shortly after the president's return from a two-day trip to the Gulf region. He is expected to address efforts to contain the spill, the timeline for capturing the oil, the long-term recovery and restoration of the Gulf region and regulatory reform efforts at the Mineral Management Service.

"This is an ongoing crisis, much like an epidemic," David Axelrod told NBC television's "Meet the Press."

The 10-15 minute speech will also provide more details about a BP escrow fund the president wants established for fishers and trawlers whose livelihoods have been shot as a result of the spill. The administration wants a third-party reclamation process rather than BP managing distribution of funds.

The speech comes as the Obama administration faces criticism for a slow reaction time to the Gulf spill, including the approval for the construction of barriers and assistance to the states. At the same time frustration is growing about the slow pace of the clean-up and BP's inability to stop the flow while the estimates on the leak have grown exponentially.

BP's board is to meet on Monday to discuss deferring its second-quarter dividend and putting the money into escrow until the company's liabilities from the spill are known.

In addition, the president will make clear in his meeting Wednesday with BP's chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, and others about his expectation of BP's responsibility for caring for people affected by the spill.

"Our mission is to hold them accountable in every appropriate way," Axelrod said.

The amount of money set aside will be part of White House discussions with BP executives on Wednesday, but Axelrod said it should be "substantial."


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Obama Expresses Anger At BP, Gets Criticized (Double Standard)

Why Obama Doesn't Dare Become The "Angry Black Man"


Here's proof that President Obama has indeed ushered in a new era in race relations.

Who would have ever expected some white Americans to demand that an African-American man show more rage?

If you've followed the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, you've heard the complaints that Obama isn't showing enough emotion.

But scholars say Obama's critics ignore a lesson from American history: Many white Americans don't like angry black men.

It's the lesson Obama absorbed from his upbringing, and from an impromptu remark he delivered last summer. Yet it's a lesson he may now have to jettison, they say, as public outrage spreads.

"Folks are waiting for a Samuel Jackson 'Snakes on the Plane' moment from this president as in: 'We gotta' get this $#@!!* oil back in the $#!!* rig!' But that's just not who Obama is,'' says Saladin Ambar, a political science professor at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Some of the same people crying for Obama to show more emotion would have voted against him if he had displayed anger during his presidential run, says William Jelani Cobb, author of "The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress."

"It would have fed deeply into a pre-existing set of narratives about the angry black man," Cobb says. "The anger would have gotten in the way. He would have frightened off white voters who were interested in him because he seemed to be like the black guy they worked with or went to graduate school with -- not a black guy who is threatening."

Obama ready to kick butt?

Now some critics say that Obama should be a little bit more threatening.

On Monday, Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today" told Obama that critics don't want him to react to the oil disaster by meeting with experts and being calm. They want him to "kick some butt."

Obama responded by saying he talks to experts "because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."

Obama's tough talk comes after criticism mounted over his response to the oil fiasco.

During a White House press briefing last week, a reporter told Obama's press secretary that most people haven't seen rage from the president. (That led Obama's press secretary to say he had seen an enraged Obama's "clenched jaws" in meetings.)

Obama's cool temperament even prompted black filmmaker Spike Lee to tell CNN that for at least one time, Obama should "go off."

Why Spike Lee thinks this is the time for Obama to go off

But Obama has "gone off" before and that didn't work too well for him, says Ambar.

During a news conference last summer, Obama casually said that police acted "stupidly" when they arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates in his home for disorderly conduct after a confrontation with a white police officer.

Obama's comments infuriated many white people, and even some black supporters. Obama had to have a Beer Summit to calm the public uproar.

"He flashed genuine anger," says Ambar. "At that moment, when he touched on the issue of race, he spoke frankly and passionately about what he felt and it got him into a big deal of trouble."

Evoking the specter of the angry black man almost cost Obama his shot at the White House, says Paul Street, an author and political activist who worked with Obama in Chicago.

Street says videos of Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, angrily condemning America were so dangerous to Obama's campaign because it hinted that Obama may have been an angry black man behind closed doors.

"Rev. Wright almost cost him his run for the presidency because of fears of the angry black man," says Street, author of the upcoming book "The Empire's New Clothes: Barack Obama in the Real World of Power."

"What was Rev. Wright but the ultimate symbol of the angry black man who is going to take revenge," Street says.

That symbol is hardwired into American history and popular culture. It's Nat Turner, the slave who inspired a bloody 19th-century uprising. It's Malcolm X, the black militant who denounced "blue-eyed devils."

It's the hip-hop and rap artists who populate contemporary radio.

Why Obama can't get angry if he tried

Obama, though, has spent a lifetime trying to rewrite that script, says Street, who says he worked with Obama in Chicago.

"He is Mr. Equanimity and Mr. Consolation," says Street. "That's how he negotiated his way through multiple worlds, and reached out across bridges."

In his 1995 memoir, "Dreams of My Father," Obama explained why he thought such negotiation was necessary when he met white people as a young man growing up in Hawaii.

"People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. Such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn't seem angry."

If Obama wants to go down as a great president, though, he may have to discover the political value of rage, others say.

Franklin Roosevelt was such a president, historians say. During the Great Depression, he went after business leaders who opposed his New Deal policies. Roosevelt once said that he "welcomed the hatred" of the economic elites.

Could Obama become a 21st-century version of Roosevelt, not only in taking on the oil companies but big bankers as well?

Ambar, from Lehigh University, doesn't think so. Obama doesn't share Roosevelt's elite background, which inoculated him from charges of being anti-American. Roosevelt came from a prominent, and wealthy, American family.

"It's easier to do it if your name is Roosevelt," Ambar says. "No one questions your love of capitalism or your patriotism."

Obama's challenge ahead

The BP oil spill, though, goes beyond race. It is so egregious that Obama now has permission to stoke some "pitchfork, populist" anger, says Street.

"He's now in danger of being perceived as being too soft and conciliatory and too much in the bed of corporations," he says.

Some forms of rage remain a potent political weapon, says John Baick, an associate professor of history at Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Tea Party organizers; Democratic leader Howard Dean; former presidential candidate Ron Paul -- all used rage as a powerful organizing tool, Baick says.

"Rage can provide answers to murky questions, rage can provide passion for the dispirited, rage can provide focus," Baick says.

But race-specific anger is off-limits, Street says.

"He would be politically dead; it would be over," Street says.

Yet the call for a black man to show more emotion on subjects outside of race is still a healthy development, says Ambar, from Lehigh University.

"I take it as a sign of progress that people are calling for Obama to be angry, an almost impossible sentiment a decade ago," he says.

Still, Obama must be careful about getting in touch with his inner-Samuel Jackson, others say.

Just as gushing oil lurks below the Gulf's surface, all sorts of ugly, racial undercurrents exist beneath the surface of American politics, Baick says.

"Our commander in chief has many burdens, and among them is our history and culture," Baick says. "Compared to the weight of that, the current BP crisis and the years of environmental damage and cleanup must seem transient."


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Stephen Colbert Gets Angry At BP & Obama (Videos)

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Oil's Well That Never Ends
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Oil Spill Rage - James Carville
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Obama Discusses Impact Of BP Oil Spill On Gulf Coast Families

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