The definition of a tough crowd? When Obama sycophants like Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Ezra Klein all give the President’s speech the worst reviews since the latest Ben Affleck movie, there’s not a whole heckuva lot for the MWU to add. Perhaps Olbermann said it best (didn’t think you’d ever see that line, did you? ): “It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the last 57 days.” Then there’s a headline by Lynn Sweet from Obama’s hometown paper, the Chicago Sun Times: “Obama makes nice oval office speech, but is the BP well capped?” Last night we said that the only thing that mattered is whether the people of the Gulf region woke up this morning more confident that the President will fix the leak and clean up the spill. The answer is a resounding, bi-partisan “NO.”
From The Huffington Post: Even close allies of Obama’s in Congress sounded critical notes. “I appreciate the President’s attention to the disaster,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement, “however, the public needs additional assurance that, all aspects of the spill response, from cleanup to claims, are being enforced and coordinated by the federal government.”
This afternoon, Mr. Cantor will appear on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports at 1:15 p.m.
Now on to the news …
The Oil Spill:  The President’s Speech: Heavy On Political Rhetoric, Light On Immediate Solutions
From A Honeymoon Suite To Divorce Court?  Matthews Goes From Tickled To Barfing

• Chris Matthews: Ludicrous that he keeps saying [Secretary of Energy] Chu has a Nobel prize. “I’ll barf if he does it one more time.”

MSNBC Declares The President’s Speech A Failure To Lead. … View The Remarks HERE

• Keith Olbermann: “It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the last 57 days.”
• Olbermann: “Nothing specific at all was said.”
• Chris Matthews: “No direction.”
• Matthews: “I don’t sense executive command.”
• Howard Fineman: Obama should be acting like a “commander-in-chief.”

CRUSHED: Lynn Sweet On The President’s Speech:  Nice Oval Office Speech, But Is The BP Well Capped? The Chicago Sun-Times
Struggling To Provide Leadership On Stopping The Leak, President Obama Attempts To Capitalize On A Stalled Climate Bill: For eight weeks, the spill has seemed somehow too big and too difficult to meet as the president struggled to contain it while trying to demonstrate leadership, sympathy and anger. It was not clear that this was one of those dramatic moments that alter the arc of a political crisis. … “The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now,” he said. “Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America’s innovation and seize control of our own destiny.” The connection to the spill, of course, goes only so far.  The New York Times
The Majority Of Americans Don’t Approve Of How The President Is Handling The Oil Spill. Most Americans are angry about the government’s slow response, the poll finds, with 54 percent saying they had strong feelings about the bureaucracy’s reaction. Many doubt that Washington could really help them if they were a disaster victim.  The survey found that 52 percent don’t approve of Obama’s handling of the spill, a significant increase from last month when a big chunk of Americans withheld judgment.  The Associated Press
Crook:  What About The Spill?  The President Launches A Campaign-Style Call For Energy Legislation From the Oval Office.   For I agree with much of the instant TV commentary: Obama’s address was surprisingly bad. He and his people made such a big deal of it–Oval Office and all–then when it arrived there was no there there. Nothing new. Hard facts were sparse, and in every case already well-known. I expected some new information. I expected at least a detailed, authoritative account of what was being done, and who was in charge of what. I thought there would be a more precise statement of what was being demanded of BP. He gave us none of this. Then it got worse, with a lame, formulaic, campaign-style call for a clean energy policy. Perhaps that might have some traction after the emergency in the Gulf has been dealt with. Even then, I doubt it. But for now, with the oil still leaking and the problems with the clean-up anything but resolved, it is simply beside the point. I cannot think that this is what the country wanted to hear from Obama this week.  The Atlantic
Sen. Feinstein:  “The Climate Bill Isn’t Going To Stop The Oil Leak.” The BP Plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is unlikely to create enough momentum to pass a comprehensive climate bill sought by President Barack Obama, say leading Senate Democrats.  Many Democrats don’t want to vote in this election year on whether to cap the greenhouse-gas emissions linked to climate change, saying they prefer to work in the coming months on legislation directly responding to the spill.  “The climate bill isn’t going to stop the oil leak,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. “The first thing you have to do is stop the oil leak.”  Bloomberg
A LOOK AHEAD At The Democrats’ Plan On Energy: More Political Gamesmanship … Phil Schiliro, the White House congressional liaison, has told the Senate to aim to take up an energy bill the week of July 12, after the July 4 break (and after the scheduled final passage of Wall Street reform). Kagan confirmation will follow, ahead of the summer break, scheduled to begin Aug. 9. The plan is to conference the new Senate bill with the already-passed House bill IN A LAME-DUCK SESSION AFTER THE ELECTION, so House members don’t have to take another tough vote ahead of midterms.  Politico’s Playbook
THE ECONOMY:  The Democrats’ Agenda Puts The Government, Not The Private Sector, First
The Democrat’s Agenda Grows Government, Strangles Small Business Job Growth. Washington’s expansion does nothing to create a robust small-business environment. Businesses with fewer than 250 employees provided most of the net job growth in the 2002–07 expansion yet are still in the starting blocks in the current recovery. The 2,300-page health care bill will take months and years to decode and will weigh heavily on small-business decisions. New regulations are mushrooming from the constant string of thick “stimulus” bills, the coming law on new financial regulations and the sure-to-be-bad tax bill toward year’s end. … While Washington pays lip service to the challenges facing small businesses, it repeatedly chooses its own expansion over results. In effect, government has become a huge silent partner in all businesses, often taking a majority of the profits and forcing many unprofitable business decisions without the risk that it will be fired.  Forbes
Hidden Costs Make The Stimulus Even More Expensive. States and cities have embraced these taxable bonds to borrow money at what they assume are favorable interest rates. The federal government pays 35 percent of the interest costs on the bonds, a huge potential saving.  But questions about this multibillion-dollar program are piling up. For one, Wall Street banks are charging larger commissions for selling Build America Bonds than they do for normal municipal bonds, increasing the costs to the states and cities. For another, the new bonds may be priced too cheaply, enabling quick-footed investors to turn a fast profit as the prices climb, but raising interest costs for taxpayers. Those imbalances have caught the eye of the Internal Revenue Service, which is asking municipalities whether the bonds are being priced and sold correctly. Alarmed by the uncertainty, Florida, which has sold more than $1.6 billion of Build America Bonds, has retreated from the market.  … taxpayers will be paying the bill for the Build America Bonds program for years, he added. “What’s clear is that the federal government, over the life of the Build America Bond issues, will be writing checks in excess of $50 billion to cover the interest,” he said.   The New York Times
Dem:  No Need For Further Deficit Sending. On the broader package, at least one Democratic senator has said he would vote no, while a second said he was undecided, but expressed concern about the size of the bill. Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) said he would vote against the legislation, saying that while he supported deficit spending when the economy was on the brink of an economic recession, it didn’t make sense now that a recovery was underway.  The Wall Street Journal
HEALTH CARE:  Uncertainty Grows Amongst Democrats Surrounding Health Care
Insurance Mandate Vote Shows Democrat Divide On Health Care. House Republicans successfully exposed lingering divisions within the Democratic Caucus over a health insurance mandate by forcing a vote Tuesday on a proposal to repeal that part of the new health care law. Twenty-one Democrats voted in favor of the repeal proposal, which Ways and Means ranking member Dave Camp (R-Mich.) offered as an amendment to legislation that would provide tax breaks to small businesses. But the proposal was roundly defeated, 187-230, and the House went on to pass the small-business bill, 247-170.  … Camp opposed the small-business bill and said his proposal would provide “real help to Americans by repealing one of the most onerous provisions of the new health care law.” “No American should be forced to buy or purchase health insurance that they don’t want,” he said.  Roll Call
THE WAR ON TERROR ROUNDUP
Hoyer Hints That Dems’ Support For Afghanistan Is Slipping. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday confirmed that Democrats have “significant” concerns about the direction of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, and hinted that party support for the conflict is eroding. … “I think that, clearly, the president enjoyed broad, bipartisan support for the plan that he proposed in dealing with the counterinsurgency, and to stabilizing Afghanistan and to then having a plan to phase out our involvement and turn that responsibility over to the Afghan government and the Afghan people,” Hoyer said in a press conference Tuesday. … A growing chorus of Democrats — many of whom supported Obama’s Afghanistan plan in a March vote in the House — have begun to share the concerns of their liberal colleagues, who have long argued that the United States is playing against a stacked deck of political corruption and unwinnable fights against insurgent strongholds.  The Hill
WHAT TO WATCH
UH-OH: Traditional Dem Allies At Odds With Democrats Over Citizens United Deal. House Democrats face a revolt by their traditional allies, angered by the special treatment given to the National Rifle Association in legislation requiring tougher disclosure on political advertising by independent groups.  “Regardless of your position about the legislation in general, we think you will agree with us that this special carve-out is undemocratic and dangerous,” Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, wrote Tuesday to the leaders of more than 100 member-organizations. She sought signatures on a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing “profound disappointment and anger about the special treatment provided to those least in need of special treatment.”  The Associated Press
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THE SCHEDULE

• The House will meet at 10:00 a.m. and continue consideration of H.R. 5297 – Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010

• The Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m. and begin a period of morning business.  Thereafter, resume consideration of H.R.4213, the tax extenders bill