President Obama gave his first oval office speech tonight on the Gulf Oil disaster.  It seemed a little too cheerful, a little disconnected to me, over practiced, or maybe over-thought, and highly edited.    I could just picture the speechwriters and aides convening to discuss the speech and tell him to leave things out, edit things a certain way for maximum political effect, and how best to reassure people. As a result it wasn’t all that effective.  In part that’s because I keep expecting great, bold things from Obama even though I should know better by now.  I’m not the only one that keeps expecting bold things from Obama. Keith Olbermann, on MSNBC, was so harshly critical after the speech that I had to change channels. He obviously expected a lot more. Other people didn’t seem to think it went far enough, and I’d have to agree with that. It was also an incredibly short speech to discuss a disaster of this magnitude and its ramifications.   Below is the video of it and what I thought were the best parts.

The transcript is here. Below are what I consider the best parts:

As a result of these efforts, we’ve directed BP to mobilize additional equipment and technology.  And in the coming weeks and days, these efforts should capture up to 90 percent of the oil leaking out of the well.  This is until the company finishes drilling a relief well later in the summer that’s expected to stop the leak completely.

If only that were actually going to happen! It doesn’t seem likely, with BP constantly breaking its promises and not being honest with anyone.

Already, I’ve issued a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.  I know this creates difficulty for the people who work on these rigs, but for the sake of their safety, and for the sake of the entire region, we need to know the facts before we allow deepwater drilling to continue.

It’s good he’s holding on to the moratorium and not being swayed by those who want it lifted.  The moratorium should actually morph into a ban on offshore drilling.  Oil companies have no business drilling off our shores for dirty fossil fuel energy that impacts our shores when it leaks — and it always leaks.

For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered.

He recognizes peak oil and knows that we need to move towards replacements. That’s good, but that’s a low bar to meet.  He knew that during his campaign. Still, it was good to hear this and then his talk about renewable energy.

As we recover from this recession, the transition to clean energy has the potential to grow our economy and create millions of jobs -– but only if we accelerate that transition.  Only if we seize the moment.  And only if we rally together and [...]