More Disapprove of BP Than President Obama

With the BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico seemingly capped, Americans are split down the middle over whether the federal government should maintain a moratorium on most offshore oil drilling in the Gulf, or lift it and allow drilling to resume before November, according to the latest Gallup Poll on the subject.

Americans as a whole are also divided over whether BP should be allowed to drill for oil in the same area again in the future, and the gender and partisan differences on this question are similar to those seen for lifting the Gulf oil drilling moratorium.

This survey makes clear, however, that far more people blame the British Petroleum corporation than the president of the United States or the government for the massive mess in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP’s Ratings Improved, but Still Negative

Despite Americans’ divergent views about future oil drilling in the Gulf, they share a common reaction to BP’s handling of the 2010 oil spill — one that is overwhelmingly negative. While more Americans approve of BP’s handling of the situation than did so in June, 64 percent still disapprove.

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The Big Picture
by Glynn Wilson

On Sunday, June 13, 1971, the day the New York Times published its first installment of the Pentagon Papers story on the Vietnam war, I was going on 13, living in the suburbs east of Birmingham, Alabama. About the only news I recall keeping up with in those days had to do with Alabama football and Atlanta Braves baseball.

Summer was fun then (before global warming had started to set in) and you could play outside without dying of heat exhaustion, although the air in Birmingham was pretty bad in those days. On CB radios truckers called it “Smoky City.”

On April 27, 1971, Hank Aaron had hit his 600th career home run, the third player ever to do so. On July 31 that year, Aaron hit a home run in the All-Star Game at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium. He would not break Babe Ruth’s all time home run record with number 715 until April 8, 1974, at a time when the end of the war in Vietnam was about a foregone conclusion.

Two big changes came to Alabama football in 1971. Wilbur Jackson was the first ever black player given a football scholarship to Alabama and John Mitchell, who made the team as a junior in 1971, was the first to actually play, eight years after the Alabama student body had been integrated. The Crimson Tide went undefeated that year, but lost to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. I met Paul “Bear” Bryant in person around that time at an Alabama-USC basketball game.

I mention my personal history to try to inject a little reality into the garbling of Vietnam-era history that has accompanied the WikiLeaks release of the Afghanistan war logs last week, to make sure readers check in with Frank Rich at the New York Times today, and to make a related point but a different argument about recent criticism of President Barack Obama.

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A reader from Montana with a relative in attendance sent us this link this morning, an amazing piece of footage showing we now have a president in the White House who not only knows who Galileo was, but opens up the White House lawn to kids interested in something other than Easter eggs — the science of space.

On the South Lawn, A White House ‘Star Party’

It was 400 years ago, the president told the students, that Galileo built his first telescope and began probing the universe.

“Galileo changed the world when he pointed his telescope to the sky. Now it’s your turn,” Obama said. “Don’t let anyone tell ya that there isn’t more to discover.”

The event was dreamed up as an effort to promote science literacy.

On Friday morning, NASA will crash a spacecraft and a rocket booster into a shadowy crater at the moon’s south pole in an attempt to see if frozen water lurks there beneath the lunar surface. Such water would be highly useful to a lunar base should astronauts return to the moon.

NASA Crashes Rocket Into the Moon Friday

We’ll be watching. Will all those fans of George W. Bush and Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck?

Nah, they will be holding a special prayer meeting asking god to kill this president, simply because he has black skin. That’s some distorted view of Christianity, wouldn’t you say?

Alabama Democratic Party Chair Joe Turnham praised President Obama’s selection of Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to the United States Supreme Court in a press release today.

When confirmed, Sotomayor will be the third woman to serve and the Court’s first Hispanic justice.

“President Obama pledged to select a nominee with a rigorous intellect, a mastery of the law and a commitment to impartial justice. He promised to select someone who has a broader perspective on how the world works and has a commonsense understanding of how the law affects the daily realities of everyday life,” Turnham said.

“On Tuesday President Obama delivered on his promise with the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor’s stirring life story and outstanding career — at nearly every level of our judicial system — makes her uniquely qualified to serve as America’s next Supreme Court Justice. Throughout her career on the bench, she has been lauded as a fearless jurist, with a sharp and independent mind and a deep commitment to the rule of law and our constitutional traditions,” he said. “I commend President Obama on his outstanding choice and congratulate Judge Sotomayor on her nomination.”

Bradley Byrne Opposes Alabama Families on Kitchen Table Issues

Bradley Byrne entered the race for Alabama governor this week, bringing with him a track record of opposing popular measures to improve the lives of middle class families, the Alabama Democratic Party said in a press release.

Known as a fierce partisan in Montgomery, Byrne opposed accepting $66 million in federal unemployment for out of work Alabamians available through the stimulus, helping send those tax dollars to other states.

In the State Senate, Bradley Byrne proposed raiding millions of dollars from the Education Trust Fund to pay for other priorities.

“Bradley Byrne is out of touch with Alabama families on kitchen table issues like standing up for unemployed workers and investing in our education system,” said Alabama Democratic Party Executive Director Jim Spearman. “He has consistently sided against ordinary Alabamians struggling to make ends meet.”