Just saw an article on Drudge. He must be biting his lip right now, HAVING to support what he doesn't believe in so he can win the election! Let's be clear about this flip flop, nearly everyone else in the US has known that to lower prices at the pump, you have to increase supply by allowing companies to drill where there is oil. He suddenly realizes that his belief that the working man should pay up or shut up isn't working, sochanges his stance on the issue to increase his chances of becoming president. [:'(]
Obama shifts, says he may back offshore drilling
Aug 1, 7:40 PM (ET)
By MIKE GLOVER
(AP) Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at a town hall meeting in St....
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - 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.
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.
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.
"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.
(AP) Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. acknowledges an audience member's... Full Image"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."
Asked about Obama's comment, McCain said, "We need oil drilling and we need it now offshore. He has consistently opposed it. He has opposed nuclear power. He has opposed reprocessing. He has opposed storage." The GOP candidate said Obama doesn't have a plan equal to the nation's energy challenges.
In Congress, both parties have fought bitterly over energy policy for weeks, with Republicans pressing for more domestic oil drilling and Democrats railing about oil company profits. Despite hundreds of hours of House and Senate floor debate, lawmakers will leave Washington for their five-week summer hiatus this week with an empty tank.
"The Republicans and the oil companies have been really beating the drums on drilling," Obama said in the Post interview. "And so we don't want gridlock. We want to get something done."
Later, Obama issued a written statement warmly welcoming a proposal sent to Senate leaders Friday by 10 senators - five from each party. Their proposal seeks to break the impasse over offshore oil development and is expected to be examined more closely in September after Congress returns from its summer recess.
(AP) Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. answers an audience member's question,... Full ImageThe so-called Gang of 10 plan would lift drilling bans in the eastern Gulf of Mexico within 50 miles of Florida's beaches and in the South Atlantic off Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, but only if a state agrees to the oil and gas development along its coast. The states would share in revenues from oil and gas development.
Drilling bans along the Pacific coast and the Northeast would remain in place under this compromise.
The plan also includes energy initiatives Obama has endorsed. "It would repeal tax breaks for oil companies so that we can invest billions in fuel-efficient cars, help our automakers re-tool, and make a genuine commitment to renewable sources of energy like wind power, solar power, and the next generation of clean, affordable biofuels," Obama noted.
"Like all compromises, it also includes steps that I haven't always supported," Obama conceded. "I remain skeptical that new offshore drilling will bring down gas prices in the short-term or significantly reduce our oil dependence in the long-term, though I do welcome the establishment of a process that will allow us to make future drilling decisions based on science and fact."
Nevertheless, Obama said the plan, put forward by mostly moderates and conservatives led by Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., "represents a good faith effort at a new bipartisan beginning."
Earlier in the day, Obama pushed for a windfall profits tax to fund $1,000 emergency rebate checks for consumers besieged by high energy costs, a counter to McCain's call for more offshore drilling.
The pitch for putting some of the economic burden of $4-a-gallon gasoline on the oil industry served a dual purpose for Obama: It allowed him to talk up an economic issue, seen by many as a strength for Democrats and a weakness for Republicans, and at the same time respond to criticism from McCain that Obama's opposition to offshore drilling leads to higher prices at the pump.
In linking McCain to the unpopular President Bush, Obama struck a theme from Ronald Reagan's successful 1980 campaign against President Jimmy Carter by asking a town-hall audience in St. Petersburg: "Do you think you are better off than you were four years ago or eight years ago? If you aren't better off, can you afford another four years?"
Obama primed the crowd by noting new government figures showing 51,000 jobs lost last month and citing 460,000 jobs lost over the last seven months. He tied other bad economic news from the Bush administration to McCain and offered his energy program as one route to relief.
"This rebate will be enough to offset the increased cost of gas for a working family over the next four months," Obama said during a two-day campaign swing in Florida. "It will be enough to cover the entire increase in your heating bills. Or you could use the rebate for any of your other bills, or even to pay down your own debt."
RE: Obama might change his mind on offshore drilling
Maybe Obama hasfinally found reality. Seriously is this guy the biggest Flipper ever on anything. HE CANNOT BE AN EFFECTIVE PRESIDENT if he changes his mind this much..
Quote:
460,000 jobs lost over past 7 months, THAT SAY's IT ALL. Republican policy is not working no matter how much oil we drill
I suggest you ask Bill Clinton why he went ahead with NAFTA when he did. Most of the jobs lost were manufacturing jobs(what is left of that) and most do not have a college degree.
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RE: Obama might change his mind on offshore drilling
Job creation used to be the criticism of Bush, until we added millions a year for consecutive years. If his policies were so bad, how could that have happened years into his presidency. The fact is that low taxes translates to more money in people's pockets, which translates to more money they spend, which means more demand for the products and services of businesses, which requires morepeople to man those positions. Having said that, the economy runs in cycles now, as it has since the beggining of recorded activity. The housing crisis and concurrent economic expansion of third world countries leadingto accelerated demandfor gas has led to a price explosion that furthereroded our economy and we are ona downcycle.
So I touched on low taxes, but democrat policies of not opening areas we have oil todrilling over the past fewdecades hasexacerbated the problem byensuring oil/gas prices stay high,which takes more money from people, giving them less to spend, less demand, less employment to service the demand, etc. etc.
RE: Obama might change his mind on offshore drilling
Job creation is still a criticism of Bush. Your storybook explanation of lower tax's translating to more goods and jobs, with the economy running in cycles is simply not true. Your, simplistic statement seems to be just another broad brush statement to justify the faied policy's that are in still in play.
RE: Obama might change his mind on offshore drilling
Both candidates will flop repeatedly as much as their advisors tell them to. Anything to gain the votes or the perception of being the best choice.
For me there is no choice. Obama is simply a somewhat glib orator (when he has his own notes to work from, .. just words?), while McCain has a record of service and knowledge without any weird background issues.
I'll be voting for McCain, not because he's the choice I've been waiting for, but because he's clearlyabove Obama in being able to navigate our governmental system.
They can flip all they want, ... I'll be voting on what they've DONE for the past several years, not what they will say over the next few months.
If it is true that ignorance is bliss, then there are some among us that must be simply ecstatic.
We can all make our own individual choices, but the entire nation will live with the election machine'scollective decision. For 4 years anyway.
Obama might change his mind on offshore drilling
