Today Obama (who began to crater last week on his opposition to expanded domestic drilling for oil) is launching his energy policy this week.  Looking at the “Energy Policy Fact Sheet” posted on his website I think his policy can be summed up as follows (per Ed Morrissey):

* Increase Fuel Economy Standards
* Invest in Developing Advanced Vehicles
* Build Biofuel Distribution Infrastructure
* Build More Livable and Sustainable Communities

So what do these things mean?  Bigger government, and more government intervention into our lives.

Increased fuel economy standards means the government telling you what kind of car to drive.  Do you live in northern climes and want a big SUV to ferry you and your family around safely?  Tough.  Barack Obama thinks you need something more fuel efficient.  Because it’s not like car companies know how to make vehicles people want to buy.  Nope.  They need government intervention to figure it out.

Investing in developing advanced vehicles means nationalizing, even if only partly, the auto industry.  Much like with biofuels, the government will invest in what they think you should want and not very often in what you will actually want.  Such government steering rarely ends well.  And again, we see Obama wanting to tell you what sort of vehicle you should want.  Apparently this is what he thinks government is for.

Biofuel distribution infrastructure makes sense, but you have to wonder why Obama is in favor of this but not in favor of expanding our oil infrastructure.  The risks are the same.  A pipeline dumping thousands of gallons of ethanol into the ground is about as bad as a pipeline dumping crude oil into the ground.  Or even refined gasoline.  So why one and not the other?  Especially given that demand for biofuels is negligible, and that biofuels aren’t even marketable without heavy government subsidy.  I think we should first produce a biofuel people want, and then worry about a delivery infrastructure.

As for building “sustainable communities,” this is the scariest part of all.  What it means is all sorts of government mandates on how you live your life.  How you conduct your business.  How you build your home.  How you move yourself around.  Sound pleasant?  It might be if your idea of living the good life matches up with Obama’s and his government cronies.  But if it doesn’t?  Too bad.  Your lifestyle isn’t “sustainable,” and thus isn’t acceptable.

What Obama has created here is not a solution for America’s energy woes, but rather a farce that only uses those energy woes as an excuse to clamp down on our freedom.