President Barack Obama is going to address the nation Tuesday about the largest oil spill in our history and one of the worst environmental disasters worldwide.

And, as Bill Maher and countless other people have requested, I expect Obama to show that he's pissed off by pounding the podium, screaming at the top of his lungs and shooting somebody in the foot.

Actually, after his fourth tour of the Gulf today, Obama is going to speak about the steps that the government will take to deal with the disaster. That's what I need to see, not orchestrated displays of anger. Unfortunately, Obama has already capitulated a bit with his comments that he was looking for "whose ass to kick" over the spill. At this point, though, the government needs to find a way to force BP to stop all oil leakage immediately.

At stake is one of this country's most beautiful and economically important areas: Millions of people go to the Gulf Coast for a respite. Important wildlife resides there and hundreds of thousands of people, such as fisherman, who make a living based on the health of the Gulf of Mexico. I had a chance to spend a few weeks on the Gulf in Alabama a few years ago, and the area is absolutely beautiful.

When it comes to multinational corporations like BP, the best way to get their attention is money. So I hope the president announces that BP is going to be fined $30 million per day, in addition to its other fines, for every day that the oil leak continues.

That would really constitute an ass kicking. I bet the leak would be sealed in 48 hours.




The fact that BP is just now installing a sensor to measure how much oil is spilling in to the gulf is absurd. Why would we depend on the corporation that caused the problem to give us honest answers about the damage? BP should have paid for our efforts to get a handle on the damage that was being done long ago.

The president also needs to explain what the government is going to do to better monitor corporations like BP and to end this country's crack-like addiction to fossil fuels.

As the worldwide demand for oil increases, the lengths corporations will go to find that liquid gold becomes more complicated and more risky.

The fact remains that if we don't find a way to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, there will be additional BP-like disasters. There are 4,000 similar oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, and before this disaster, President Obama supported allowing oil exploration drilling off the coast of Virginia, Florida and Alaska.

"Drilling alone can't come close to meeting our long-term energy needs, and for the sake of our planet and our energy independence, we need to begin the transition to cleaner fuels now," Obama said at the time.

After the BP spill, Obama backed off of offshore drilling, citing, among other things, the inability of the U.S. Minerals Management Service to oversee such projects.

I also want to hear how the government intends to collect on the billions BP owes to clean up the spill and compensate those damaged by the spill. Finally, I want to hear a plan to return the Gulf of Mexico to the same or superior levels of health that existed before this catastrophe.

No yelling required, just solutions. Actions speak louder than words.