Democrats, Obama send mixed message on energy policy

I have no idea where this ship is heading. Obama does not want to drill offshore, but is now willing to drill offshore. He did not want to tap into the strategic petroleum reserves, and now he does. Haven’t the Democrats been saying that we can’t drill out of this problem? Didn’t they say that the only way to lower prices was to build windmills?

On top of all that, now he wants to bring back the windfall profits tax on “big oil” and use the money to give out $1,000 checks to people. Is he nuts? Corporations don’t pay taxes you idiot.

Talk about a completely disjointed platform, we’ve got a bunch of Democrats out there spelling out the same old same old; “we can’t drill our way out of this problem.” But now Obama is suggesting that we should tap into the strategic reserves and consider drilling offshore. Left hand, meet right hand.

Just today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood firm, no way was the House going to vote on offshore oil drilling. From USA Today.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday ruled out a vote on new offshore oil drilling even as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he might be open to a compromise that included it.

That’s right. Obama starts heading one way while Pelosi goes the other. Seems as though Pelosi feels safe in her congressional district and Obama wants to win the presidency. The story continues, with my emphasis added.

Pelosi called proposals to allow more offshore drilling a deceptive “decoy” rather than a solution and indicated she would bar a vote on any bill that included it. “I’m not giving the gavel away to a tactic … that supports the oil (companies), big oil at the cost and the expense of the consumer,” she said on ABC’s This Week.

The House started a five-week summer recess Friday despite Republican demands for a vote on lifting the federal ban on offshore drilling. House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio said GOP representatives would be on the House floor today to protest the lack of action.

Pelosi’s hard line is good news for Obama, said Thomas Mann, a congressional analyst at the Brookings Institution. Her action “basically cools the passion of environmentalists, knowing it’s not going anywhere, while he (is) open to compromise on a comprehensive package that would achieve many other objectives,” Mann said. “It allows him to effectively have it both ways.”

Talk about ZERO leadership. Neither of them have the guts to stick to their principals, simply because they have no principals. They also do not have the experience to be leaders. (Check out the gaffe by Bill Ritter, the governor of Colorado, who was asked about being considered for Obama’s veep.)

Michelle Malkin is all over the story about some Republicans taking a stand.

Hot Air has the details on Obama’s flip on tapping the strategic reserves.

Back to Obama and some of my talking points.

  • Corporations do not pay taxes; people pay taxes. If you raise taxes on the oil companies they must pass on those taxes to the consumer. They must be able to make a reasonable profit margin on investments
  • Oil companies are selling a lot of fuel and making a lot of money, but as a percentage – 7 to 9 percent on average – their profits are reasonable.
  • If drilling offshore or drilling in ANWAR would only cut costs on gasoline by a few cents, what will releasing 70 million barrels from the strategic reserve do to the price of oil? Why even bother Obama?
  • The strategic reserves should only be tapped at true times of national emergency. We’re not in an emergency. In Connecticut, gas prices have dropped more than 5 percent in the last couple of weeks.

This is pandering and populism, pure and simple. Liberals are pros at this stuff.

This would be funny if it wasn’t so damn serious.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

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