Obama risks voter ire by opposing new oil drilling

[onehandle]

Source: AP

ROLLA, Mo. - Barack Obama is once again betting that his eloquence can persuade price-weary consumers — read that as voters — to take the long view and not jump at a short-term fix when it comes to soaring energy prices.

It worked in his presidential primary contest against New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton when she proposed a "gas tax holiday" for the summer, a pitch he opposed despite its popularity with many voters. But that was in April before gasoline shot past $4 a gallon.

Virtually all polls now show dealing with energy prices high atop the agenda of voters.

At issue for Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, is opening up offshore drilling to boost production, a move McCain and others GOP lawmakers say would increase supply and help control soaring gasoline prices. Opponents, including Obama and many other Democrats, say new offshore oil would be years away from reaching consumers and even then would make little difference in prices and the ongoing U.S. need for foreign oil.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_el_pr/obama_the_price_of_saying_no

[callous taoboy]

1. Virtually all polls now show dealing with energy prices high atop the agenda of voters.

That's right, we'll just deal our way out of this jam. We'll figure out a way to defy reality and keep the American consumer express charging full speed ahead despite the fact that we are running out of cheap oil and no other energy source will be able to sustain our needs as oil had.

[napi21]

2. I've been thinking about this, and I have a suggestion.

How about offering new oil leases, but with conditions.

1. If a particular State says no, then the answer is no.

2. New leases will be permitted ONLY after the oil Co. demonstrates that they have done the testing on the already existing leases, and can demonstrate that there is no recoverable oil there.

3. Once a leased site is tested and the co. demonstrates there is no recoverable oil, THAT lease is relinquishede back to the US before they can replace it with a new area.


That would do several things. It would prevent the oil co's from simply amassing leases and not doing anything with them, & it would demonstrate to that 75% of the public that we ARE interested in doing everything we can IN THEIR INTEREST.

What do you think? The % of people who want to drill, even if it won't produce any positive results for 20 years. That number of people is way too big to ignore!

[raebrek]

3. I see nothing wrong with leases.

Let the oil companies pay for leases that they do nothing with. Free money in my mind. What else can we charge them for that they won't use?

Raebrek!!!

[napi21]

6. Because I think they are amassing the leases just to increase the

APPEARANCE of higher assets on their balance sheet, and they have NO INTENT of ever exploring them.

[raebrek]

7. I would not think that the lease would be an asset.

but then I don't know.

Raebrek!!!

[napi21]

8. Yes, long term leases are considered an asset on the balance sheet.

I wouldn't be at all surprised that they are also listed at a grossly inflated value too!

[sofa king]

4. What we have left is our strategic reserve.

I'm glad to see that Obama is cognizant of that fact. It is a national security issue of the highest order, and it is telling that the Bush Administration, John McCain, the Republican Party and their corporate masters are instead looking to a profitable bottom line rather than the national security advantage of keeping a modest (once huge, now merely modest) store of untapped energy for when things get really bad.

Every year that we can resist selling the last of our most valuable resources off to our greediest citizens is another year this country has to figure out how to never use it at all, which would be for the best all around.

[HopeHoops]

11. Sadly, the "strategic" part of the reserve is reserved for GOP political strategy

[BrklynLiberal]

5. I would think he would make more people happy with that attitude.

I am certainly thrilled that he took this position.

[gratuitous]

9. More drilling would be a solution if supply was a problem

But as far as I can tell, nobody is being turned away from gas stations. There appears to be ample supply, and demand is even going down, yet prices continue to hold steady or rise. So if supply was the problem, more product would be expected to alleviate the problem. But there's plenty of gasoline. The problem lies somewhere else.

I hope it's nothing as uninteresting as plain old-fashioned greed.

[HopeHoops]

10. But the off-shore drilling ban is *ALL* the Democrats' fault!

I mean, the six years of GOP control under Bush were dominated by countless actions to counter the increases in pump prices. Well, by countless I mean you can't actually count to ZERO!

The really sad part is that so many people think off-shore drilling will do anything. Even if they could start the pumps up tomorrow, the crude would still be sold on the world market at prevailing prices. But hey, people do watch FOX Opinion Channel and *of course* they wouldn't fib.

[HopeHoops]

12. They just want more land - they aren't even using the existing fields

This is all long-term posturing for the oil companies. They are sitting on something like 3/4 million acres of approved drilling sites that they haven't even touched - much of which is off-shore. All they want is more land in their back pockets, which is understandable since the oil companies can't even make a profit these days ;}

[Jimbo S]

13. Stand your ground, Barack!

There are many better alternatives to solve the problem than increased drilling. And Barack is the person to communicate it.

[ohio2007]

15. Obama shifts on offshore oil drilling

snip
Shifting from his previous opposition to expanded offshore drilling, the Illinois senator told a Florida newspaper he could get behind a compromise with Republicans and oil companies to prevent gridlock over energy.


snip

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D929O8KG0&show_article=1

Florida wants the oil industry to create jobs

[depakid]

14. AP runs with the far right framing -no surprise there...

just as it was no surprise that the cowardly and complicit Dems chose to drop their own efforts to use high gas prices to their advantage by going after speculators.