The republicans have set the tone for the major issue in the upcoming election with Bush's and McCain's call to drill everywhere on the planet. I don't know enough about the issue to know where or if we ought to be drilling. My initial instinct is that I don't want giant oil slicks washing up on beaches, but maybe it's not necessary. That isn't the point though. The point is how both sides are going to try to frame this debate.
Obama's position is going to rely on a sense of sacrifice and intelligence. He'll have to say something about alternative energy, the need to conserve, and the need to preserve the planet. McCain will pretend to give a shit about us "common folk" and how hard the $4 per gallon gas is hitting us. It is starting to hurt, and not just common folk. Businesses, especially restaurants, in OKC are starting to suffer, but is drilling for a short-term fix the solution? American political debates are famously without nuance. I'm pretty sure John and Sue Middle America aren't going to want to think through the implications of drilling, refining, and waiting for other solutions. They want to pay less now (so do I).
This is the one issue that will allow the republicans to portray themselves as the friend of the middle and lower classes. Obama's universal health care will be the democratic opportunity. This isn't news to anyone, I'm sure, but any notion of framing a debate in terms of the common good is lost in the political reality of "are you better now..." Sound bites and self-interest take the place of genuine discussion. And now that all truth is politicized, those of us who want a full and honest debate will gnash our teeth and save for the eventual move to Scandinavia. I just wish it was warmer there.
Obama will hope people will hear him out. They won't. This issue will make the election far closer than it should have been. Alas...
Obama has mentioned making fuel from aborted babies (which we'll have an abundance of once he's elected).
Posted by: Russ | June 20, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Russ,
Unless that was tongue in cheek, thanks for showing how ignorant the debate can become so quickly.
Posted by: greg | June 20, 2008 at 12:06 PM
but is drilling for a short-term fix the solution?
Drilling isn't even a short-term fix. The off-shore wells that are being proposed will take decades to explore and tap. (Same with the new nuclear and coal power plants he's proposing.)
The only thing they are good for in the short term is boosting the balance sheets of energy companies, who under the accounting rules, can count such reserves as assets.
Obama has been good at jujitsu-ing these sorts of issues so far. (E.g., the gas tax "holiday.") Have faith.
Posted by: Jason | June 20, 2008 at 01:09 PM
Oh, and see former Labor Secretary Robert Reich for more along these lines.
http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2008/06/no-to-further-offshore-drilling.html
Posted by: Jason | June 20, 2008 at 01:14 PM
So lessee: Cripple the entire world's energy supply with a lame-ass, expensive war. Check. Let your contributors and cronies benefit from rising prices. Check. Allow 100% foreign ownership in Iraq and give your buddies no-bid contracts to rebuild its oil industry. Check. Ignore and even oppose any investment in alternative energy sources, from nuclear to solar to bugs that poop oil. Check.
Tell the American people that prices will keep going up unless we drill for more oil, and WE are just the people to deliver. Check. Oh, and I'm a maverick. Check.
At this point, is there anything they can't put by the American people? The brilliance of the GOP is their audacity to say fuck you every day to every law and every person in this country with the knowledge that they will only be meaningfully opposed by one small tail of the voting distribution.
Posted by: Zossima | June 20, 2008 at 02:05 PM
BTW, my heart's desire is to see Obama say this in the 3rd debate to McSame: "Your stated positions on taxes, energy, the war, medical care for our citizens, and on and on, are precisely the same as the president's. Not only are you not a maverick, you're a nuzzler. That's what we should call you, 'the nuzzler'. You should rename that bus of yours the 'Nuzzle Express'. I can't think of anyone worse to lead this country than a man who cuddles with the very man who spread racist lies about his family."
Probably too much to ask for, I know...
Posted by: Zossima | June 20, 2008 at 02:12 PM
Obama's bus could be the "God Damn America Express" or "The Partial Birth Abortion/Welfare-mobile."
Posted by: Russ | June 20, 2008 at 04:06 PM
From my extensive research while watching "Ice Road Truckers" and "Black Gold", I know it costs $40,000-$60,000 a DAY just to run a rig. Drill bits alone cost $60,000 and it takes 3 of them to get to 10,000 ft where the oil may or may not be. However, if they end up striking oil, the payoff is anywhere from 1-2 million bucks. Now, this is based off of drilling sites in W. Texas and the Arctic Circle. I think McCain and Bush are both executive producers of the show.
Posted by: Cara | June 20, 2008 at 04:37 PM
I really think this is really a minor issue as far as the campaign is concerned. There are other issues that take way more precedence for me.
I think the sooner we cut our dependence on oil and change our lifestyle the better. Urban sprawl is ridiculous. My father has people at his work that commute over forty -five minutes to work everyday just so they can live in a nicer suburb with a bigger house.
The increase in gas prices has already started to have an affect on how people drive. If the prices continue to stay high, the market will lead people to change their lifestyles and live in the cities in smaller quarters and closer to their work.
I think all this talk about alternate fuel sources is a bunch of hot air. The oil companies are too big for a change in alternate fuels to be taken real seriously by Washington at the moment. That includes Obama's camp as well.
I'm guessing that oil will remain the standard in personal transportation but will be considered somewhat of a luxury,like it is in Europe. The government will eventually agree to put more money into public transportation.
Too bad this won't really matter as far as the environment is concerned because automobile production and oil consumption is increasing rapidly in China.
Posted by: Fremen66 | June 23, 2008 at 12:05 AM
Russ
Nice work, my man. You have put about as much thought into your statements as McCain has into his. Unless I have missed something, Obama isn't making abortion a platform issue, so why are you?
Healthy politics is not about you getting your way or my arguments winning over yours--no, it's about doing what is right for the whole of the country. Until you can tuck your own agenda to the damnation of everyone else away, you'll never see this profound truth. Instead, you'll keep muddling away at issues which are here to stay.
Cara/Fremen66 et al: the energy "crisis" or "oil debate" is not about supply and demand, so please find a way to decipher the issue without advocating more production as the answer.
Though I'm not quite sure what you mean, but "oil" is not a "luxury" in Europe. Europe taxes fuel on a much larger scale than does Uncle Sam and our local yocals. Also, Europeans don't mind using public transportation--we do. Public transport denies my right to privacy and invades my divine right to rugged individualism and the Biblical truth that says that I can move into a new house every 3 years because my new appliance warranties have expired in the "old" one.
Never to worry, however, because what makes this country great will be all but a distant memory within my child's lifetime . . .
Posted by: dr dobson | June 23, 2008 at 08:05 AM
Joe Biden was on Meet the Press Sunday morning talking about how oil companies are not currently using 78% of their existing off-shore oil leases and that until they drill and pump from their existing leases, there is no reason to even be considering opening up more leases. I found his argument quite convincing and the Republican on, Lindsey Graham, never responded to it but kept talking about $4 a gallon gas.
Posted by: Scott | June 23, 2008 at 12:24 PM
I guess my sarcasm is hard to read through seizure drugs and over the internet. I'm not an advocate of more oil production. I was making fun of the fact that Bush and McCain are both advocating for the off-shore drilling ban to be lifted while we're spending gagillions to try to find the dang stuff. I think everyone should have seizures and not drive like me. Then we would solve this "crisis."
Posted by: Cara | June 24, 2008 at 02:54 PM
Cara
We do hope you're doing better--don't get overloaded on all that late-night or daytime TV watching. There are some real gems out there, though. I think Bob Tilton's show is still on BET. Also, I find it hard to turn away from Mormon TV these days--that's an amazing bit of hilarious mind control. If you have nothing better to do, tune in BYU TV and be awed by what you see/hear.
Posted by: dr dobson | June 25, 2008 at 08:09 AM
Someone on NPR the other day was saying that American oil companies drilling off shore and in places like ANWAR simply increase the amount of oil available to the entire global market, which may or may not drive down prices in America. It would, logically, drive down the price across global markets. He said that such price reductions would be minimal because of increasing demand for oil in Asia.
Gas is going to be expensive forever. It's time to start being thoughtful about how to respond to it.
So I say drill in ANWAR. I'm a little bit more hesitant about off shore because it is so ugly. But even given these initiatives, we still need to create new sources for energy and encourage conservation.
Posted by: Tim Sean | June 26, 2008 at 08:39 AM
Drilling in ANWR is not going to solve the problem of oil dependence, neither will off-shore drilling. The only way to get over oil is to get over oil. Drive less, don't use disposable plastics, and buy local food and other products. Eventually new technology will come on the market, until then, we should all lay off the teat.
Posted by: cheek | June 26, 2008 at 11:48 AM