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The Democrats decide the offshore drilling battle isn’t worth fighting on the Republicans’ terms. We hate to say we told you so.
According to a story on CNN by the AP, the Democrats are signaling a strategic shift in position on offshore drilling.
House members will be able to “consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards, and without taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil,” said Pelosi, a California Democrat.
“This comprehensive Democratic approach will ensure energy independence which is essential to our national security, will create millions of good paying jobs here at home in a new green economy, and will take major steps forward in addressing the global climate crisis,” said Pelosi, who criticized Republicans’ “drill only” plan.
In our most recent post that featured Stephen Colbert, we said, “Amazing as it is, the Democrats have allowed the Republicans to put them on the defensive and swing public opinion in their favor…despite having the Bush administration’s bottomless pit of scandal, incompetence, high crimes, and misdemeanors.
Lift the ban. Then let oil companies deal with the states and so many environmental NGOs in the courts, while repealing taxpayer subsidies, which should be done anyway, and enacting environmental regulations in the next administration. It’s called picking your battles. For whatever reason, the Democrats consistently pick the wrong ones.”
In an earlier post that featured (can’t believe we’re writing this) Paris Hilton, we said, “Congress should lift the federal ban and replace it with ’strict environmental oversight’ in the form of expensive bonds while removing oil subsidies and tax breaks. Then, as conservatives always champion, leave it up to the states to decide.”
In an earlier post about Debating Climate Change, we said, “The solution for many conservatives is to drill for more oil. With prices at historic highs, that goes without saying. Market forces will certainly respond accordingly. In addition, President Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling. This may very well be justified provided taxpayers don’t subsidize it and oil companies are forced to purchase bonds in excess of any possible cleanup costs associated with a spill (more on this later). So long as it makes economic sense under these conditions, it’s worth exploring.”
To be clear, we’re not Democrats or Republicans. We’re not even Independents. We’re rationalists who address each issue individually with a set of guiding principles. It just so happens that Barack Obama embodies many of these same principles, which is why we support him. It’s our hope that the Democrats don’t compromise Obama’s chances by playing into the hands of Republicans who use baseless fear tactics about terrorism and energy prices to sway public opinion.
The Republicans are calling Pelosi’s move a “ruse…to provide political cover.” Well, yeah. But the Republicans are getting what they want, so what’s the difference? The reality is that the Republicans knew all along that the Dems would take the bait and that public opinion would shift. If the Democrats had been smart about it from the beginning, there wouldn’t be any need for cover, and we could continue holding the Bush administration’s feet to the fire. (Did we say “continue”? We meant “start”.)
After all, Congress isn’t doing the drilling. The American people aren’t doing the drilling. Oil companies have to do the drilling, and it has to make economic sense. Exxon’s policies may have changed recently, but last we knew it didn’t undertake any project that can’t be profitable at $35/barrel. Without subsidies and in the presence of costly environmental regulations, we doubt it’ll make sense. Not to mention the additional costs that states can impose.
While we’re endorsing Obama, we may as well cast our vote for Vice President: Senator Joe Biden is by far the best choice. We know from inside sources that he would have been Gore’s Secretary of State in 2000. Biden is a solid rationalist with tremendous foreign policy experience. He’s a perfect match and balance for Obama. So we look forward to a text message with Biden’s name.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Ari Herzog // Aug 17, 2008 at 8:35 am
Democrats this, Republicans that. Can’t everyone get along?
The humor of this congressional energy debate pitting political party members against each other in the name of big business and tax subsidies is when you look at the 50 U.S. governors, most are aligned together regardless of party.
Everyone looks at California and Oregon for their west coast pro-Kyoto policies but Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ted Kulongoski serve opposite political ideologies. Texas Governor Rick Perry is in the news these days for wind turbines plopping everywhere, but so is Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick for the state’s solar compact.
If you’re keeping score, Arnold and Rick are Republicans, and Ted and Deval are Democrats, but alternative energy being the name of the game, they could be a band of brothers, all rooting for the same issues.
If only the feds can take the hint from their gubernatorial brethren.
2 Max Gladwell // Aug 17, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Ari: Thanks very much for that informative comment. The Neocons love when Arnold tempers their extreme views to independents, but when you use Arnold in an argument like offshore drilling, they tell you he’s not a bona fide conservative. They always want to have their cake and eat it too.
The same Neocons will tell you that they support states’ rights. Until the states don’t cooperate. Then it’s time to strengthen Federal power to serve their agenda. Same with small government. The only small government neocons support is the one they don’t control.
The Democrats aren’t much better. Politicians just aren’t principled people for the most part. Whatever position serves their interests or ideologies best is the one to take. Obama is guilt of this, as well, but he offends us the least.
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