IS OBAMA THE JIMMY CARTER OF THE 21st CENTURY?

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US President Barack Obama's address from the Oval Office on Tuesday was supposed to be a moment of leadership during the worst environmental disaster in American history. But critics from across the political spectrum wondered afterwards whether he'd shown leadership at all. The geyser of oil in the Gulf of Mexico seems, technologically, to lie beyond anything either BP or the US government was prepared for, and Obama failed to mention any specific new ideas.

"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 declared, without offering policy details. Of course, it wasn't a policy speech. But the fact that Obama failed to outline a clear path toward this clean-energy future seems to have disappointed a lot of people. "He didn't boldly push an agenda," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, to Politico, the Washington-based news website. "I think a lot of people took that to mean lukewarm support for anything big."

One immediate result of White House talks with the American arm of BP, though, was a series of concessions on Wednesday. BP Plc agreed to set aside $20 billion (€16.1 billion) in escrow to cover damage claims by shrimpers, restauranteurs and other Gulf-Coast residents hurt by the spill. The energy giant also said it would suspend shareholder dividends until 2011, when it expects to have a clearer notion of the catastrophe's costs. Another $100 million (€80.8 million) will be set aside for compensation to BP workers hurt by the spill.

The next Jimmy?  Nah, he's worse that that idiotic peanut farmer ever thought to be.  After all, Carter had some talent; none of it however in governing.