Obama reveals his lack of seriousness

While Barack Obama may have exercised good judgment Friday in dropping his complete opposition to offshore drilling, the Democrat nominee made two revealing statements this week that draw the line for voters in November. Anyone who took Obama’s ideas of inflating our tires and handing out stimulus checks at the expense of the oil companies is going to support him unconditionally. These sophomoric ideas are not the ideas of a serious candidate for President, and they should make undecided voters uneasy.

First, at a campaign event in Springfield, Missouri this week, Obama talked about offshore drilling. He made the ridiculous claim that inflating your tires and getting regular tune-ups would save just as much oil as domestic drilling would. This idea doesn’t even merit any kind of analysis, but John Hinderaker at Power Line had some fun with the figures. Americans may not feel strongly about Obama’s misunderstandings about history or the prosecution of terrorists, nor about meeting unconditionally with dangerous enemy leaders, but people understand that Obama was wrong about the counterinsurgency in Iraq and that inflating our tires is not even close to a serious solution to our energy problem. Gasoline is at $4 a gallon, yet Democrats are ready to go on vacation without even voting on drilling, and Barack Obama enlightens us with this gem?

Barack Obama does not want gasoline prices to go down. While he may concede on some offshore drilling in order to get some energy legislation passed, do not be fooled. Ultimately, he’d love to avoid the problem and offer phony solutions like this one that keep his left-wing base happy. Why would Obama say something like this? Is he really just clay molded by the Chicago political machine and the liberal wing of America? A man who will say anything his left-wing advisers and supporters instruct him to say? Obama seems to have repeated a silly statement he heard, and that should raise legitimate questions about how seriously we should take him. Unfortunately, Obama provided more reason for doubt.

As an attempt to stimulate the economy, Obama suggested a two-part plan. The first part of this plan is a tax rebate of $500 per individual and $1000 per family. Who will pay for these stimulus checks? According to Obama, “It’s time we used some of [oil companies'] record profits to help you pay record prices.” So a windfall profit tax on oil companies, who make less in profits than the government collects in gasoline taxes, are going to basically reimburse Americans for energy purchases? Is Obama serious? Apparently so, as his campaign released this plan. The increased tax on oil company profits is estimated at about $30 billion. John McCain’s campaign stated the obvious in response:

The higher taxes that Barack Obama supports are one of the surest ways to kill jobs and exactly the wrong approach to a slowing economy. While American jobs and families suffer from high gas prices, Barack Obama stubbornly opposes additional oil drilling, more nuclear power, and the gas tax relief we need.

While the “stubbornly” part may no longer be accurate for oil drilling, the rest is still accurate. Obama’s is another faux solution to the energy problem, and it will hurt the economy. If anyone wants to make money from the oil companies, or any other company for that matter, they can do it through the market by investing. The idea that we’re going to soak the rich, tax big companies to oblivion while maintaining the same goods and services that Americans depend on is naive.

At this point, anyone who defends these comments or is unmoved by Obama’s misunderstandings and lack of seriousness is not going to change his/her mind. For the undecided voters and those who don’t have time to research the history of habeas corpus and the prosecution of war criminals, or the past repercussions of meeting with rogue enemy leaders, the line can be drawn here. Obama has no serious plan for lowering energy costs and ending our dependence on foreign oil, and he has no serious plan for helping this economy. He will continue to speak out liberal talking points that are not part of any realistic solution. Barack Obama has revealed himself as an empty-suit without serious solutions.