Obama team likes Clinton book

President Obama's White House is giving good reviews to predecessor Bill Clinton's new book on jobs and using it to bash congressional Republicans along the way.

"I would say that the book is very helpful, in that it reinforces the positive steps that President Obama has taken and the positive steps he is now trying to take with Congress and is taking independently through his executive authority," spokesman Jay Carney said today

Those steps include Obama's campaign for his $447 billion jobs bill, which congressional Republicans oppose because of tax increases.

Carney said Obama welcomes Clinton's involvement in the jobs debate, noting that as president Clinton dealt with both the economy and congressional Republicans. Carney pointed out that Americans have listed the economy and jobs as their top concerns, by a wide margin, concerns shared by President Obama.

"He hopes that Republicans will hear the voices of their constituents and understand that they need to respond to this urgent demand for action," Carney said.

Carney said, "There's great frustration in the country with the dysfunctionality that has been demonstrated in Congress lately, with its refusal to take very simple, bipartisan, mainstream decisions that would have a positive impact on economic growth and job creation."


Clinton discusses his book, Back to Work, in an interview with USA TODAY.

When a reporter asked Carney whether the former president has given Obama any advice on how to deal with congressional Republicans, the spokesman said he had no specific readout.

"But certainly there are a number of people in this White House, beginning with the president, who have conversations with President Clinton," Carney said. "And, you know, communication goes both ways and is very positive and helpful."

Oil Agencies Revised Global Oil Demand Outlook

Three major oil agencies have released their latest outlooks on global oil demand. The US official DOE/EIA, based on a +3% global GDP growth assumption in 2011, expected oil demand to increase to 88.23M bpd in 2011, up +1.16M bpd or +1.3% from last year. Again, much of the gain would be driven by Chinese demand. For 2012, oil consumption will rise to 89.62M bpd, up +1.39M bpd or +1.6% from 2010, based on a downwardly revised GDP growth of +3.1%.

As per OPEC, global oil demand will rise +0.9M bpd, or +1.0%, to 87.8M bpd in 2010, and then by +1.2M bpd, or +1.4%, to 89.0M bpd in 2012. Demand in advanced economies has declined 'as a result of slowing economic momentum, particularly in the EU'. The cartel also warned that 'uncertainties in the world economic outlook for the coming year have increased due to the challenges facing the OECD economies'.

The IEA forecast global oil demand will rise +0.9M bpd, or +1.0%, to 89.8M bpd in 2010, and then by +1.3M bpd, or +1.5%, to 90.5M bpd in 2012. According to the agency, Libya's oil output was 0.35M bpd in October. The progress of resumption of oil facilities after the civil war 'is on a far faster track than initially anticipated'.