President Barack Hussein Obama will address the nation tonight about the BP oil spill. He will use this speech to Demagogue BP and Push for Cap-N-Trade.
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.
Another item of interest is that the Obama regime pressured Israel to speed up the Gaza Flotilla and include an International component.
The Obama administration, led by National Security Advisor Jim Jones, was heavily involved in the Israeli government’s decision to appoint an “independent public commission” to investigate the Gaza flotilla incident and pushed Israel to speed up the process in order to head off any attempts for increased pressure at the United Nations.
Over the last week, there were a flurry of high-level interactions between top administration officials and their various Israeli interlocutors. A State Department official told The Cable that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and that Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg, Special Envoy George Mitchelland others were working the phones as well. Barak also spoke with Vice President Joseph Biden, who was traveling in the region.
But in last couple of days, the final details were worked out between the White House and Prime Minister’s office, specifically by Jones and Israeli national security advisor Uzi Arad, according to an Israeli official. The National Security Council was much more involved than the State Department, with NSC Director Dan Shapiro in Israel to help and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren playing a role as a go-between as well, the official said.
The message Obama officials delivered was twofold. First, they wanted to make sure Israel appointed international members to the commission who were credible. William David Trimble from Northern Ireland and Ken Watkin, a former judge advocate general of the Canadian Armed Forces, will be on it.
Tags: BP Oil Spill, Gaza Flotilla
