1.) Everybody wants something from Obama’s SOTU — For two weeks now, yammer-faces and pols have rattled off what they’d like from tonight’s State of the Union address. The only thing they haven’t asked for is the moon. In an interview with The Daily Caller, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner added his own demands to the growing list of things Obama must pay lip service to during his address. “What I hope he says – and I think this will make some folks on my side upset – even if he has an innovation and growth agenda … just growth alone isn’t going to get us out of this problem,” Warner said. “We’re going to have to take on the size and role of government” and “the stuff that’s popular” like entitlement and defense spending. “You’ve got to earn good faith by showing willingness to do spending cuts,” Warner said. “There is some value in short term cuts that will at least show that we’re serious about doing something.” Obama’s more likely to promise the moon. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s top adviser on energy and climate matters is stepping down, two White House officials confirmed Monday. The departure of Carol Browner underscores that there will be no major White House push on climate change, given that such efforts have little chance of succeeding on Capitol Hill. (more)
Listening to the local news on the radio recently, I heard a report about how newly elected Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz plans to save $8 million by, among other things, merging the “Office of Sustainability” with the Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management. (more)
President Obama is in deep planning mode for a major staff reshuffle. According to news reports, former campaign manager David Plouffe will join the White House in early January and senior adviser David Axelrod will return to Chicago to work on Mr. Obama’s reelection campaign, perhaps as soon as right after the State of the Union address in late January or early February. (more)
In bland bureaucratise, three top advisers to President Obama briefed him on thorny problems with a major green jobs program in the economic stimulus law, confessing that billions of dollars in money supposed to already be creating jobs was stuck. (more)
President Obama wishes everyone would stop talking about the oil spill. His federal government’s response has been incompetent at best, malevolent at worst. Yet, lacking any evidence of a credible response, Obama still sent Carol Browner to the Gulf on a victory lap last week after oil stopped appearing on beaches and the water’s surface. But while the Obama administration is doing victory laps, more news of their botched efforts are coming to light. (more)
It’s August, the time of year when demand for gasoline spikes as Americans hit the road in high numbers. Summer means road trips and joyrides, which translates into lots and lots of fuel. (more)
The Environmental Protection Agency has had a busy year. The agency’s regulatory shop seems to crack down on a new greenhouse gas every week in the name of fighting climate change. But despite its full plate, the EPA has still found time to link up with the Congressional Black Caucus for something called an “Environmental Justice Tour.” (more)
Nearly two months after the BP oil spill, President Obama tapped secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to oversee recovery efforts in the Gulf. Since dubbed the “oil czar” in the press, Obama described Mabus’s new role during an Oval office address to the nation on Tuesday night. (more)
BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg was determined to stay on message following a four-hour meeting at the White House with President Obama and a host of aides and cabinet secretaries. (more)
HOUSTON — The Obama administration scrambled to respond on Sunday after the failure of the latest effort to kill the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. But administration officials acknowledged the possibility that tens of thousands of gallons of oil might continue pouring out until August, when two relief wells are scheduled to be completed. (more)
The glitch: Nasdaq Chief Executive Robert Greifeld has said several factors contributed to last week’s near-1,000-point drop in the Dow: “I think it was a confluence of factors led by the marcro-economic environment, the futures market and then the listed market for those stocks.” Regulators originally thought a trading glitch may have caused the market to freefall, but Greifeld believes that was only one aspect. The fear that financial unrest in Greece could be spreading to other European countries, and heightened activity in the futures market that spilled into the equity market contributed to the issue. On Thursday, 27 U.S. stocks dropped more than 90 percent as U.S. equities tumbled, before recovering by the close. More than 285 securities rose or fell more than 60 percent during the stock-market’s plunge and will have these trades canceled. On Sunday, Nasdaq added another 12 stocks to the list of trades it was canceling following Thursday’s sudden market plunge. (more)
The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to regulate another pollutant without congressional approval last week. (more)
