Republicans' use of the "light-switch tax" is meant to make a simple point: Obama's energy plan costs money. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) used the term on a television talk show in March. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) have invoked it too.
"Republicans want to ensure that the American people see the Democrats' energy cap policy for what it really is -- a back-breaking tax on every American in this country who 'dares' use electricity," Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, said in an interview Sunday.
Obama privately is advising Democratic members of Congress to pay special attention to the words they use too. Hosting the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the president counseled members to say that the energy and cap-and-trade legislation moving through Congress would create "clean jobs."
"Global warming" is a phrase that also may be in jeopardy. Some Democratic pollsters dislike it; others think that jettisoning a term that has been the subject of a vigorous branding campaign would be risky.
One critic of the phrase is Robert Perkowitz, who is meeting with Obama's Council on Environmental Quality today.
Perkowitz said that "90% of people, when they hear about global warming, the first person that comes to mind is Al Gore. And if you like Al Gore, you're excited. But if you don't, then that turns you off to global warming."
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peter.nicholas@latimes.com
jtankersley@latimes.com
Tom Hamburger of the Washington bureau contributed to this report.
