Obama Flip Flops On Domestic Oil Drilling
Or, as Obama’s adoring fans in the media put it, he “displays new flexibility” on domestic oil drilling.
This is what the Obama campaign said about efforts to increase domestic drilling for oil back on July 14th:
[Drilling] would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for 30 years. Senator Obama believes Americans need real short-term relief, which is why he has proposed a second round of stimulus with energy rebates for working families.
Now this is Obama today:
“My interest is in making sure we’ve got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices,” Obama said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post.
“If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done,” Obama said.
So new domestic drilling efforts would merely prolong failed policies, but if getting behind such efforts and supporting them will buy Obama a few votes well then he’s more than happy to throw his principles to the wayside and join in.
The good news? Obama fleeing from the “we can’t drill our way out of this” nonsense is an indication that the winds of energy politics are shifting to the better.
