This president, the liberals, and their environmental friends must think the American people are fools. The announcement that President Obama would open up the coasts for offshore drilling sounds like a reversal that is too good to be true for much of the country, and that is because it almost certainly is.
The same president who said his cap and trade plan would bankrupt coal companies and would cause energy prices to skyrocket, the same president who said he was okay with rising gas prices but only wished the rate of increase hadn’t been as high as it was in 2008, the same president who refused to abandon or start over on his healthcare plan despite such strong opposition now reverses his energy policy and wants to drill, baby, drill? Don’t count on it.
What is going on here is cynical politics. President Obama and his party have taken a beating in the polls over healthcare, and now they need some points to help them in November and to help push his cap and trade bill that stalled in the Senate. It’s likely that the reason the press is so willing to report this supposed effort to work with Republicans is because they and the environmental left have been assured that little, if any oil drilling will occur due to this new effort. They’re also counting on the public not figuring this out.
Remember last year when the Department of the Interior slowed efforts to produce oil by scrapping oil shale leasing? The department was attempting to delay and discourage oil and gas production by extending the public comment period, and it could increase royalties required for producers. The administration will gladly allow environmental lawyers to sue, and thanks to the Supreme Court, the EPA can now regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gases. How much drilling do you think there will be under the Obama administration?
What Obama wants to do is say that he’s coming to the center to work with Republicans. This might help him in a cap and trade push, as he can say that he has offered offshore drilling as a concession, and that Republicans should now support his agenda. Also, considering Obama seems to be preemptively setting up Mitt Romney, this could be a nice positioning move if Sarah Palin were his challenger in 2012.
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