Drilled on Oil

Nancy Pelosi is joining Barack in caving in on offshore drilling.

"There are things that Congress can do" to alleviate the energy crisis, Pelosi
said, "but the Republicans and the president have resisted. Instead, they have
this thing that says drill offshore in the protected areas. Well, we can do
that. We can have a vote on that. But it has to be part of something that says
we want to bring immediate relief to the public and not just a hoax on them."

On Larry King Live last night, Pelosi reinforced that the only principle Democrats actually adhere to is doing anything to win.

Asked if she would support an energy package that includes drilling, Pelosi said
she would not, then added: "It depends how the drilling is put forth. But I
don't -- that is not excluded, let me say it that way. It depends how that is
proposed, if the safeguards are there."

Why are the highly principled Democrats taking this tack? Public opinion has them down.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans now put a priority on "finding new sources of energy" over improving conservation -- a significant shift since 2001 -- and majorities support all of the five potential federal initiatives tested in a new ABC News poll.

Expanded Flip Flop

Proving once again that in Barack's eyes, any position that matches up with the polls is a good position, The One has now expanded his flip flop on the oil crisis. Last week, he backed off of his opposition to offshore drilling. Today...

Democrat Barack Obama called today for tapping the nation's strategic oil reserves to help drive down gasoline prices, a shift from his previous position on the issue.

The reversal is the second refinement in Obama's energy policy. Last week, he said that he would reluctantly consider accepting some offshore oil drilling. Obama had previously said he opposed such drilling, which is strongly backed by rival John McCain, who has urged that states be allowed to decide whether to drill.

Losing ground to McCain on the issues, Barack has now adopted McCain's positions, even while arguing that McCain holds the wrong positions! Oh, this Obama is a slippery character.

In his speech at Michigan State University, Obama, who celebrates his 47th birthday today, tipped his hat to McCain, quoting the Arizona Republican: "Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been 30 years in the making and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long-term about the future of the country," Obama said.

"What Sen. McCain neglected to mention was that during those 30 years, he was in Washington for 26 of them," Obama said.

And remember when, during primary season, Barack attacked McCain's gas tax rollback proposal as a gimmick? Barack now supports the gimmicks of tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserves and a Windfall Profits Tax, both of which may sound good to voters, but would have no positive effect on the price of oil.

To learn why, read this:

Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is an energy solution for politicians who are not serious about real energy solutions, but H.R 6578 seeks to do just that.

And this:

...according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), is that the 1980s windfall profits tax depressed the domestic production and extraction industry and furthered our dependence on foreign sources of oil.¹

Same Old Drill

Barack is shrewd to do change his stance on offshore drilling. The question is why anyone would be confused about what he's up to.

Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday he is simply acting pragmatically in softening his opposition to additional oil drilling along the nation's coastline, a shift Republicans say shows he is calculating and out of touch with voters.

Speaking in Florida, Obama insisted he still generally opposes additional drilling—as his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, once did as well—but would be willing to support it as part of a new bipartisan energy proposal that seeks to lessen dependence on foreign oil.

75% of Americans are in favor of drilling now to help alleviate the gas price crisis. Come voting time in November, folks will be very concerned about the cost of heating their homes this winter.

"If we can come up with a genuine bipartisan compromise, in which I have to accept some things that I don't like, or the Democrats have to accept some things that they don't like in exchange for actually moving us in the direction of actual energy independence, then that's something I'm open to," the Illinois Democrat said.

The nature of legislative compromise is that there are very few things that are entirely non-negotiable. Barack has opened to door to making a claim later that, "I've always said that drilling was on the table," when, in fact, that will be a misrepresentation.

Oil drilling, a hot topic in Florida, has been a point of dispute between Obama and McCain in recent weeks.

Will this drill work again? Sure, why not? It worked on Iraq.

Scared By the Numbers

The Obama campaign saw the numbers, and caved.

With the World Tour having failed to deliver a boost, poll numbers have dropped back to an even race with John McCain.

Barack's strategy? Abandon another position.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Friday he would be willing to support limited additional offshore oil drilling if that's what it takes to enact a comprehensive policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and develop alternate energy sources.

With the only philosophy that Barack holds dear being his own victory, he dumps another policy position, and again throws his core supporters under the bus.

Shifting from his previous opposition to expanded offshore drilling, the Illinois senator told a Florida newspaper he could get behind a compromise with Republicans and oil companies to prevent gridlock over energy.

Another demonstration of the new kinda politics?

Republican rival John McCain, who earlier dropped his opposition to offshore drilling, has been criticizing Obama on the stump and in broadcast ads for clinging to his opposition as gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon. Polls indicate these attacks have helped McCain gain ground on Obama.