PRES TO FIGHT FOR ENERGY/CLIMATE BILL

Obama Says He’ll Push for Clean Energy Bill
Helene Cooper, June 2, 2010 (NY Times)

"President Obama…vowed to push for quick action on climate change legislation despite almost unanimous opposition from Republicans and continued skepticism from some Democrats…Seeking to harness the deepening anger over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to the advantage of his legislative agenda, Mr. Obama promised to find the lagging votes…[for the Senate bill] which tries to address global warming by putting a price on greenhouse gas pollution and provides incentives for alternative clean energy sources."

[President Obama:] “If we refuse to take into account the full cost of our fossil fuel addiction — if we don’t factor in the environmental costs and national security costs and true economic costs — we will have missed our best chance to seize a clean energy future…The votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months.”

Cartoonist Mike Luckovich via Climate Progress

"…[Mr. Obama reiterated] his call to roll back Bush administration tax breaks for oil companies and to make a broader case for his administration’s accomplishments heading into an election season…[He defended] his vision of active but restrained government against a conservative limited-government philosophy that he said had proved a failure under President George W. Bush, and he criticized Republicans in Congress as obstructionists…

"Many clean-energy advocates have argued that Mr. Obama should try to take advantage of the national anger over the gulf oil spill to challenge Republicans on the climate change bill, saying that his best chance to get such a bill passed is now…Apparently eager to seize an opportunity to take the offensive after weeks of playing defense on the oil spill, Mr. Obama suggested that he was happy to engage in a major battle for the legislation in the coming months."

Time to reach for something better. )click to enlarge)

[President Obama:] “[We risk] drilling four miles beneath the surface of the earth…[because of dependence on oil]…We consume more than 20 percent of the world’s oil, but have less than 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves…Without a major change in our energy policy, our dependence on oil means that we will continue to send billions of dollars of our hard-earned wealth to other countries every month, including countries in dangerous and unstable regions… [The] time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a clean energy future…”

"The White House has been trying to stop the environmental disaster in the gulf, now in its seventh week, from consuming the second year of his presidency…A day after disclosing that the federal government is conducting criminal and civil investigations of BP and other companies in connection with the spill, Mr. Obama did not directly criticize BP or the oil industry generally. Instead, he framed his agenda in positive terms…[and commited to getting the private sector on board]…"