The Far Left Turns on President Obama

The far left turns on Barack Obama. That is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo". Fox News analyst Charles Krauthammer makes an interesting observation. He says that conservatives in general have cut President Obama more slack on the oil slick than liberals. And that seems to be true. Fair-minded people understand the president is not directly responsible for the catastrophe. And although he may have been slow in reacting, he's not doing anything bad on purpose. But the far left is scorching Mr. Obama, especially NBC News, which has been the leading cheerleader for the president over the past two years. But why? Why are committed left wingers giving the president such a hard time?

Let's let far left zealot Cynthia Tucker, who works for "The Atlanta Journal Constitution" answer that question for us. Writing about the president's speech last night, she says, "He didn't use the moment to assert a resolute sense of command, nor did he use it to call on Americans to make the sacrifices that will be necessary to make the transition from petroleum to cleaner fuels." Aha! Big clue. It's not really about the oil spill. It's about fossil fuels and global warming. That's what's driving the far left angst.

Many committed liberals are furious the president okayed more oil drilling earlier this year. And they're also hopping mad that cap and trade legislation has stalled. They expected their guy, Barack Obama, to be a global warming warrior. And he has not been. So the oil disaster in the Gulf has ignited global warming resentments towards Mr. Obama. Many Americans simply don't understand how deeply the far left feels the warming pain.

On the moderate left, there's concern the president simply doesn't know what he's doing in the cleanup. Yesterday, "The New York Times" printed a front page story that says "Cleanup Efforts Are a Fiasco." But last night, President Obama said his strategies are effective. So there's a divide. And some moderate liberals are becoming disenchanted.

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KATIE COURIC: I think that, basically, the effort just has not been very well coordinated. I think -- in my opinion and I usually don't give my opinion, but I think BP has been given too much authority in this.

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"Talking Points" believes Ms. Couric's assessment is essentially correct. There is chaos in the cleanup. And the president relied far too heavily on BP in the beginning of the crisis.

On balance, the speech last night really didn't do the president much good. The Rasmussen daily tracking poll today has the president's approval rating at just 42 percent among likely voters. Not good. And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

Comedian Kathy Griffith not a big fan of Fox News, but apparently her mom is.

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KATHY GRIFFIN: My mother loves Fox News and she loves Bill O'Reilly and we get into big fights about it. She calls Bill O'Reilly her boyfriend because she's crazy.

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Griffin's mom certainly not crazy. She's a patriot. A lot of pinhead fun. About a half million people are emotionally invested in Scott the Kitten. Somebody put a hat on Scott with an eye on Internet exposure. Then a bigger cat came along and knocked the hat off. Is that nice? No it is not. But Scott was cool. He did not react violently. However, the bigger cat is a major pinhead.