Obama: Oval Office Speech

Tonight, Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office.

Presidents reserve the Oval Office for rare televised addresses. When they take their place behind the desk, it's a time for solemnity and straight talk — often a moment of history. There is a sense of gravity. One man by himself before one television camera speaking to the nation.

One man. One television camera. There's an omission in this article - one teleprompter.

Oval Office addresses typically aren't lengthy discourses like a State of the Union, but if a president has to go for broke, this is where he does it. Bush addressed the nation from the Oval on the evening of Sept. 11, 2001. Ronald Reagan spoke there after the space shuttle Challenger explosion. John F. Kennedy grimly explained the Cuban missile crisis. Richard Nixon announced his resignation.

Obama hasn't used it yet. Not even during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Not to explain painfully high unemployment rates. Or bank and auto company bailouts. Not to speak of terrorism threats. Even when his health insurance plan was in peril, he did not speak from the Oval Office to rally support or explain to Americans why he considered it vital.

Are we supposed to be impressed that the Oval Office setting means Obama is more committed to the catastrophe in the Gulf than any other crisis he has faced during his presidency?

I'm not impressed.

Americans believe Obama has done a poor job of leading. Naturally, he's using the Oval Office as a prop to suggest that he's "fully engaged" as the president and he is, in fact, leading. If he thinks that the Oval Office can make his many missteps on the oil spill disaster go away, he's mistaken.

So what will Obama say from this historic and formal setting? What sort of language will he use?

I expect him to specifiy whose ass he plans to kick, using those terms. Anything less will be a disappointment.

Will he refrain from the "ass-kicker in chief" persona?

Who is the real Obama? Which Obama will show up behind the desk?

He wants to appear presidential. I suppose he will look presidential. Unfortunately, he'll probably resemble Jimmy Carter.

This is certain: Obama's address tonight will be first and foremost about political posturing and covering his own posterior.
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AP source: White House to name new oil agency head

The White House is about to announce a new head of the agency that regulates the oil industry, a Democratic official said Tuesday as President Barack Obama moved on several fronts to show control of the catastrophe in the Gulf.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House had yet to disclose the news.

It was not immediately clear whether the announcement would come Tuesday night during Obama's prime-time, Oval Office address about the devastating Gulf Coast oil spill.

The White House is also getting ready to provide updated information, based on government measurements, on the volume of oil gushing from BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico, the official said. Amounts have been unclear since BP's leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, and estimates have been repeatedly increased.