So today is a big day for Kevin Mitchell and his Business Travel Coalition. He's sending his letter to President Bush today asking the free world's erstwhile leader to call special session of Congress, starting August 9, for the sole purpose of debating our energy alternatives and enacting a coherent national policy. The plea is not exactly without precedent and Mitchell has spoken out many times before, but what IS different this time around is that Mitchell is not the only one asking people to sign the letter. He's joined by Bob Crandall. Yep, that Bob Crandall, the former chairman and chef executive of American Airlines. Crandall's recent call for modest reregulation of the airlines is not mentioned.
Bush would face a deeply divided Congress, one that in the last week has refused to pass a measure that limits the role of speculators in oil trading and has point blank refused to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, both steps the airlines would like.
Crandall (left) and Mitchell touch on both in passing is his letter but insists that neither alone is the answer or an answer. Instead, he says, "Our central problem is confidence - confidence now eroded by the perception that the most powerful country in the world, a country consuming 24% of the world's output and spending $700 billion annually to continue doing so, lacks the political will to address the problem."
