President Obama has now done it often enough that it seems to be his strategic approach. When tackling big issues, racism and health care are good examples, he allows the problem to fester for a while, throws a Hail Mary pass that's full of pragmatism and common sense late in the fourth quarter, and ultimately settles for a compromised solution that's often less than satisfying for all involved.
The president is scheduled to speak from the Oval Office tonight to address the Gulf oil spill and will presumably turn it into one of his fourth quarter speeches, this time about energy and climate change.
The question is "how big" will the president go tonight?
If the Center for American Progress really is pulling the strings on the President's energy policy, then POTUS will Go Medium Big: check out this memo from Dan Weiss, CAP's director of climate strategy:
President Obama must use this moment to rally Americans to support a sweeping oil reform agenda that permanently changes the way big oil does business. This means building public demand for standards and investments that deeply cut the $1 billion per day spent on foreign oil, ending tax loopholes for big oil companies, and beginning to crack down on global warming pollution.
If "Go Big" means a strong push for carbon pricing, then this would be the middle ground -- a speech that focuses on the oil industry, pollution reduction (including renewable standards and CAFE standard enhancement), lots of money for relief and reconstruction, and an assumption of responsibility for the clean-up. (Link)
It struck me that one of the tactical failures during the health care debate was going in with a compromise position right from the get go. Rather than begin with a single payer system and negotiating down to a public option, President Obama and Congressional Democrats had no room to negotiate and ended up handing over the entire country's insurance needs back to the same private insurers who'd mismanaged it before.
I hope they don't repeat those same mistakes here.
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