Obama's 'Annie' Energy Policy - Investors.com
Gas Cost: Is it just us, or do Obama's policies sound suspiciously like that "Annie" song: Don't worry about today's killer pump prices, a bright energy sun will come out tomorrow.
When gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon in 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama had a simple message for voters: There's nothing that can be done about it today.
Certainly not offshore drilling. Obama trashed Sen. John McCain's call to open up vast tracts of offshore oil to exploration and drilling. It would not, he said in June 2008, "lower gas prices today. It would not lower gas prices this summer. It would not lower gas prices this year."
Nor a gas tax break. Letting consumers temporarily off the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax hook was, Obama argued, merely a "gimmick" that would "only worsen our addiction to oil."
And not even opening up more oil and gas leases. Obama said oil companies "already own drilling rights to 68 million acres of federal lands, onshore and offshore, that they haven't touched."
Indeed, Obama claimed that anyone suggesting a short-term fix was just trying to peddle "false promises, irresponsible policy and cheap gimmicks that might get politicians through the next election."
Nope. What we needed, Obama argued in June 2008, was a plan for tomorrow that provided more money for alternative energy: "I will invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in alternative sources of energy."
Fast-forward three years to this past Saturday. Gas prices again top $4 a gallon, and what's the president's message to struggling families? "There's no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away." And anyone who suggests otherwise is just "trying to grab headlines or score a few points."
But don't worry, Obama has a plan that will solve all our energy plans tomorrow. We just need to "invest in clean, renewable energy. In the long term, that's the answer."
Never mind that, had we started drilling in 2008 as McCain wanted, we might actually be realizing the benefits today in lower prices, or that no credible energy expert believes alternative energy will amount to much for many years to come.
And especially don't pay attention to the fact that the short-term policies Obama has put in place are, if anything, putting upward pressure on gasoline prices.
He's put a virtual "permitorium" on offshore drilling after the Deepwater Horizon spill, and just this week his EPA forced Shell to abandon its drilling plans in Alaska. In December, Obama reversed course and abandoned plans to open new areas of drilling in the eastern Gulf and Atlantic seaboard, locking up vast amounts of potential new oil.
Meanwhile, Obama continues to push for billions in new taxes on oil companies that would just show up in higher pump prices. And his politically motivated attacks on speculators will do absolutely nothing to lower prices.
Obama is right that domestic production had climbed in the past two years to levels not seen since 2003. But this had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with the policies of his predecessor. In fact, Obama's own Energy Department forecasts that domestic oil production will drop sharply over the next two years as his policies actually do start to take effect.
The president may think that, in the face of dark clouds cast by historically high and rising gas prices, he can just stick out his chin and grin because the sun will come out tomorrow. But if he continues to block every new source of oil and gas that we desperately need today, tomorrow will indeed always be a day away.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/570340/201104271827/Obamas-Annie-Energy-Policy.aspx
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