Reply #22: Good points, but the expectations were set that he would take a stand

[karynnj]

Hearing what McConnell said, I can see the wisdom in separating the two pieces. He said that Obama was using the crisis to push energy legislation. This really was a speech on what to do with the oil spill, BP and the damage in the Gulf.

The problem, to me, came in the paragraphs where he spoke of being open to ideas on energy policy. I can see that endorsing Kerry's legislation here would have been "partisan", but when he didn't it looked like he was distancing himself. His spoken words could apply to K/L or to Lugar's bill or even Bingaman's energy only bill - as it includes green energy.

Part of my problem is that no one has been able to explain and counter the millions of dollars spent demonizing the carbon pricing in the bill. Even here and on Daily Kos, many parrot the RW line that it will lead to derivative like speculation - when it was designed to prevent that. It also looks like Move On is lining itself against it. As Obama had a big audience, this could have been the time, however it might not have been the right time and place.