White House Misrepresents Experts Views - And Gets Caught

The seven experts who advised President Obama

on how to deal with offshore drilling safety after the Deepwater Horizon explosion are accusing his administration of misrepresenting their views to make it appear that they supported a six-month drilling moratorium -- something they actually oppose.

The experts, recommended by the National Academy of Engineering, say Interior Secretary Ken Salazar modified their report last month, after they signed it, to include two paragraphs calling for the moratorium on existing drilling and new permits.

Salazar's report to Obama said a panel of seven experts "peer reviewed" his recommendations, which included a six-month moratorium on permits for new wells being drilled using floating rigs and an immediate halt to drilling operations.

"None of us actually reviewed the memorandum as it is in the report," oil expert Ken Arnold told Fox News. "What was in the report at the time it was reviewed was quite a bit different in its impact to what there is now. So we wanted to distance ourselves from that recommendation." - FOX News Story

Obama's BP Response, Worse than Bush's Katrina Response

More than two-thirds of Americans rate the federal government's response to the oil spill off the Gulf Coast negatively — topping the number of those who said the same about Katrina soon after the hurricane, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Sixty-nine percent of the 1,004 adults polled nationwide held a negative view of the federal government's response to the spill; only 28 percent gave the government a positive rating.

Two weeks after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005, the same survey showed 62 percent of Americans held a negative view of the government response.

Democrats and Republicans are split in their views of the two disasters.

Asked about the oil spill, 56 percent of Democrats gave the government a negative rating while 81 percent of Republicans said the same.

Two weeks after Katrina, 79 percent of Democrats were displeased with the government's reaction compared to 41 percent of Republicans. - Politico Story

Obama wants to know "whose ass to kick." - How about His Own Ass

(CBS/AP) President Barack Obama says his talks with Gulf fishermen and oil spill experts are not an academic exercise. They're "so I know whose ass to kick."

One target for the presidential foot: Tony Hayward, the embattled chief executive of BP.

Mr. Obama was asked by Matt Lauer of NBC's "Today" about Hayward's past comments that "I want my life back," that the Gulf was "a big ocean" and that "the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest."

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

"He wouldn't be working for me after any of those statements," Mr. Obama said, according to excerpts released by NBC.

The interview was to air Tuesday. NBC aired portions and put out some excerpts Monday night.

It was part of a stepped-up White House effort to show Mr. Obama is actively engaged in dealing with the worst oil spill in the nation's history, and to distance itself from the London-based oil giant, formerly known as British Petroleum. Polls have shown a majority of Americans believe Mr. Obama has handled the crisis poorly.

In a CBS News poll released last week, 44 percent of Americans said they disapproved of the president's handling of the spill, with 38 percent approving. In all, 63 percent of respondents said they felt the president could be doing more to address the disaster. - CBS News Story

Obama's Latest Failure - No Change in Washington

WASHINGTON -- Nobody led.

Not the president of the United States. Not the chief executive of BP. Not Congress, federal agencies or local elected officials. From its fiery beginning, the Gulf oil spill has stood as a concentrated reminder of why, over four decades, Americans have lost faith in nearly every national institution.

Like Hurricane Katrina, a natural disaster that caused voters to question then-President George W. Bush's credibility, the poisonous geyser at the Gulf's floor threatens to undermine Barack Obama's presidency. More alarmingly, the spill exacerbates the worry that this nation founded on the principle of trust now faces a crisis of faith in its public and private institutions -- government and big business particularly.

"This spill, it's another blow to the body politic," says John Baick, professor of history at Western New England College in Springfield, Mass. It is, he says, another excuse to be cynical and uninvolved -- "exactly the opposite of what has always been the American zeitgeist, a sense that we, collectively and through our institutions, can be something greater than ourselves."

It's hard to summon that rising-sun aspiration when the unemployment rate hovers near double digits. When wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue unabated. When terrorists take aim from inside and outside U.S. borders. When the U.S. Treasury writes massive IOUs to China and public schools write off millions of poorly educated children. - FOX News Story

Like BP - Democrats Spend Millions on PR War

Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and Victoria Kennedy, the late senator’s wife, are expected to be named co-chairs this week of a $125 million campaign White House allies are rolling out to defend health reform amid growing signs the party is failing to get political traction on the issue.

The extraordinary campaign, which could provide an unprecedented amount of cover for a White House in a policy debate, reflects urgency among Democrats to explain, defend and depoliticize health reform now that people are beginning to feel the new law's effects.

The Health Information Center is being started by Andrew Grossman, a veteran Democratic operative who founded Wal-Mart Watch, a labor-backed group to challenge the world’s largest retailer.

Grossman told POLITICO that the lessons of Wal-Mart Watch will be helpful on health reform: “When you treat people with respect and try to understand how they interact with businesses and politics, you can move them.”

The estimated budget is $25 million a year, for five years. Grossman has begun raising money from unions, foundations and corporations. - Politico Story