Ragnar
<--- Pic is not me
Alternate thread title, Obama gets something right for once.
washingtonpost.com
Reuters had some of the story last night but WaPo (the first link) has much more information plus video. (for those who feel Obama is underexposed, lol)
Government set to unveil offshore drilling plan | Reuters
As per usual, Ed Morrissey has a good take although I'm not so sure there is a cap and trade trade-off in the works with Republicans. If there is it's in the way way back room for back room dealing. A Republican vote for cap and trade would and should torpedo any and all election hope. Below is the link to Ed at Hot Air...
Hot Air Blog Archive Obama to expand off-shore oil drilling
Cap and trade aside there is a lot of upside here for the President doing the right thing. Lower gas and energy prices almost right away and for sure by 2012. It's a nice poke in the eye to Mid-East Oil and Iran in particular. Thats on top of missle test we are doing this week in the mid-East. Coincedence? (yeah maybe, who knows) China is also moving into the Gulf and area's near enough to our shores that it's a good idea for us to step up our game and throw a few elbows. Most of all it's just good policy. It's a step in the right direction and not a small one. (sure I wish it were a bigger step but still) President Obama is right. Obama is doing the right thing.
Gosh that feels funny to type.
Also from the WaPo article...
OK. The man is right but he is still an ensufferable bore. It's long past time for the president to stop pretending he is God's gift to nonpartisanship. Right or wrong on any given issue, whenever he says "move beyond the tired debates" what he really means but will not say is "it's time for everyone to shut up and do what I tell them to". Heh, I'll give him a pass this time though. When it comes to energy production, it's time to hit the gas like we are in a defective Toyota and to Hell with the global warm mongers. Thank you Mr. President. Speaking as a big time critic, where we agree, I will continue to go out of my way to say so and note a job well done.
washingtonpost.com
The move ends a long-standing moratorium on oil and gas drilling along much of the East Coast, from Delaware to central Florida.
In a speech on energy security, Obama said he was steering a course between staunch opposition to any new offshore drilling and advocacy of opening all U.S. waters to energy exploration without restriction.
The compromise, which Obama said has been under consideration for more than a year, split environmentalists, with some applauding the administration's moderation and others questioning its precedent-setting decision. Republican critics welcomed the expansion of offshore exploration but complained that it did not go far enough.
Reuters had some of the story last night but WaPo (the first link) has much more information plus video. (for those who feel Obama is underexposed, lol)
Government set to unveil offshore drilling plan | Reuters
As per usual, Ed Morrissey has a good take although I'm not so sure there is a cap and trade trade-off in the works with Republicans. If there is it's in the way way back room for back room dealing. A Republican vote for cap and trade would and should torpedo any and all election hope. Below is the link to Ed at Hot Air...
Hot Air Blog Archive Obama to expand off-shore oil drilling
Obama could see this concession to conservative and industry pressure as a means to have them relax their opposition to cap-and-trade. However, that bill will have devastating effects on the energy sector, and trading off for domestic resources isnt going to be a good deal for them in any case. The effort to produce that raw material will cost billions, and if Obama and Congress impose a cap-and-trade system on energy production, it will be a money loser for them in the long run. In fact, cap-and-trade is specifically designed to make carbon-based energy production a red-ink affair in order to force industry towards so-called green energy alternatives, even if those alternatives cant possibly keep up with our energy needs.
A trade-off seems unlikely. It seems much more likely that Obama has realized that without cheap and plentiful energy, the American economy is not going to get off the floor and start expanding. That would explain his recent push for nuclear power stations, a welcome change in attitude, as well. Freeing up the coastlines for oil and gas production will add close to a million jobs, most of them high-paying union positions, in the first couple of years of expansion, which will be appealing to an administration that has proven itself inept at job creation.
Cap and trade aside there is a lot of upside here for the President doing the right thing. Lower gas and energy prices almost right away and for sure by 2012. It's a nice poke in the eye to Mid-East Oil and Iran in particular. Thats on top of missle test we are doing this week in the mid-East. Coincedence? (yeah maybe, who knows) China is also moving into the Gulf and area's near enough to our shores that it's a good idea for us to step up our game and throw a few elbows. Most of all it's just good policy. It's a step in the right direction and not a small one. (sure I wish it were a bigger step but still) President Obama is right. Obama is doing the right thing.
Gosh that feels funny to type.
Also from the WaPo article...
Obama called on the nation to "move beyond the tired debates between right and left, between business leaders and environmentalists, between those who would claim drilling is a cure-all and those who would claim it has no place."
OK. The man is right but he is still an ensufferable bore. It's long past time for the president to stop pretending he is God's gift to nonpartisanship. Right or wrong on any given issue, whenever he says "move beyond the tired debates" what he really means but will not say is "it's time for everyone to shut up and do what I tell them to". Heh, I'll give him a pass this time though. When it comes to energy production, it's time to hit the gas like we are in a defective Toyota and to Hell with the global warm mongers. Thank you Mr. President. Speaking as a big time critic, where we agree, I will continue to go out of my way to say so and note a job well done.