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Carter's dramatic attack came late in the game. The Senate was moving toward approval of a package far more favorable to the hard-lobbying oil and natural gas industry than that passed by the House, which accepted most of Carter's proposals. The new White House offensive was timed to stiffen the House and apply heavy pressure on the Senate when a conference committee from both chambers sits down this week to begin trying to resolve the sharp conflicts in their bills.
Carter's new combativeness also came at a point when his popularity was slipping and his domestic problems mounting. The steel industry has suffered large layoffs and is pressing the Administration for help against low-priced foreign competition. Farmers are upset about falling prices and want bigger subsidies. The President is also struggling to convince two-thirds of the Senate that the Panama Canal treaties should be ratified. A meeting with Panama's Omar Torrijos Herrera successfully clarified differing U.S. and Panamanian interpretations of key treaty provisions—notably the U.S. right to defend the canal.
But there was little doubt that energy was his deepest domestic concern. Schlesinger talked more than half a dozen times on the subject with Carter after returning from meetings in Paris with members of the International Energy Agency. One point he stressed: U.S. allies are deeply concerned about the nation's inability to cut its energy consumption. The whole subject, said Schlesinger, is Carter's "No. 1 priority." Carter readily agreed. Said he: "It's the most important domestic issue that we will face while I am in office." He thus placed energy above tax reform (which he decided last week to delay until Congress nears completion of the energy legislation), welfare reform, inflation, unemployment and health insurance. The risky implication was that if his energy program is rejected, his presidency may be judged a failure.
The decision to gamble so much on energy—in such a fulminant style—was made at a two-hour Wednesday-afternoon White House strategy session that included top Carter aides and Vice President Walter Mondale. The participants were painfully aware that Carter needed a quick pick-me-up. His Administration seemed to have lost direction. Some people were talking about a one-term presidency. Two weeks ago, an NBC poll had given the President a discouraging 46% approval rating (down from 60% in February). Now Harris was out with figures that showed even more slippage: a 66% negative rating on his handling of the economy, 57% negative for the energy program, 51% negative for his foreign policy. Something dramatic was in order. Mondale spoke up and, using a basketball image, urged "a full-court press" on energy. Carter liked the idea.
At his press conference, the President blamed the American public for failing to reduce energy consumption. But he depicted oil and gas executives as the chief villains. He also implied that a majority of Senators were bowing to the big companies' pressure.