Morning Constitutional – Monday, 3 May 2010

Good morning, everybody. Was Obama funnier than Leno at this weekend\’s White House Correspondents Association Dinner? Here\’s your morning constitutional:

Sidewalk vendors were hailed as heroes yesterday for their roles in identifying an SUV in Times Square containing an explosive device. Police now seek the man responsible for the device, who appears to have been caught on tape.

With the oil patch in the Gulf of Mexico expanding, and with the robotic submarines so far unable to plug the leak, officials are grim in their forecast, suggesting it may take weeks or months to contain the leak. President Obama, visiting the Gulf Coast over the weekend, called the spill \”a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster,” and promised his administration will \”spare no effort to respond to this crisis for as long as it continues, and we will spare no resource to clean up whatever damage is caused.”

Some perspective: Nigeria has suffered Exxon Valdez-sized oil spills from off-shore rigs every year since 1969 and last year had 2,000 active spills.

Sheila Bair, chair of the FDIC, has called on the Senate to scrap Sen. Lincoln\’s proposal to force banks to spin off their derivatives business because she fears it could drive $294T in derivatives business into unregulated areas of the finance sector, such as hedge funds and foreign banks.

Jacob Weisberg at Slate defends Robert Rubin, whose policies from the 1990s is often blamed for the financial crisis.

Massachusetts state officials announced the pipes were fixed Monday morning, three days after a massive and unprecedented pipe burst in Boston over the weekend leaving millions in the Boston area without potable water. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority says that water around Boston should be safe to drink within 48 hours.

Six hybrid animals, including the liger and the beefalo.

Consumer spending rose in March by the most in five months, a vital sign the economy is recovering.

Chely Wright: America\’s first openly gay country music star.

Ohio\’s infamous former congressman, Jim Traficant, will file today as an independent candidate for Congress.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist\’s decision to make an independent bid for the U.S. Senate was made easier by advice from another independent, Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Robert Reich: Why schools matter more than Wall Street.

Three days before the U.K. election, the most likely outcome will be a hung parliament. Tory leader David Cameron has ruled out a coalition with the Lib-Dems if the Tories win a plurality, which would most likely mean a minority government. The Times explains the possible outcomes, including what a hung parliament would mean.

The Economist considers why the British National Party, notorious for its right-wing views and strong anti-immigration stance, is growing.

The Senate Democrat\’s immigration proposal shows just how far to the right the debate has shifted since 2006; many proposals once controversial are now taken for granted.

Finally, man in a Spider-Man costume thwarts a real-life robbery.