COMMENTARY
So with Obama’s new comments on oil drilling, is he a flip-flopper, an opportunist (shades of the Hillary label!) or a true statesman. Here’s one reader’s perspective (not mine). What’s yours…?
So Barack Obama just reversed his hard line stance against offshore drilling. I genuinely hate offshore drilling because it’s clearly a well funded oil company ploy. They’ll make billions more by producing oil, the price of gas will not change for decades, and, when it does, it will be a few cents lower than the price (and who knows what that price will be in 10+ years anyway). We’ve been drilling for over a century in this country and if we continue to expand our drilling we’ll be in the same situation we’re in now: without enough oil. It won’t ‘buy us time’ for alternative fuels, it will buy oil more time to dominate our economy. Everyone knows we’re addicted to oil, and everyone knows the best way to end an addiction is to stop using the product.
However, I’m not infuriated by Obama’s shift. He says: “If, in order to get [a comprehensive energy bill] 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.”
When Obama says he’s a different kind of politician, people don’t really investigate what that means. It means Obama is a compromiser and a deal maker, not an ideologue and not heavily opinionated. While to many this “flip-flop” seems like a display of weakness or political pandering, I think it shows that he has his priorities straight. Right now, what this nation needs is a strong, consistent, well-supported energy policy with ambitious but achievable objectives. Bipartisan support is essential to any real plan. If the Republicans and 70% of Americans support drilling for more oil, even if that support is manufactured by oil companies, then Obama is willing to compromise to make sure the bigger objective is achieved.
Unconventional politics is compromising with your adversary even when you have an advantage. That is the way long term solutions are created. Unfortunately, many Democrats are having buyer’s remorse. They see a strong Obama and a strong Democratic party, and they want to shove policies down Republicans’ throats. That’s conventional politics and the path to an ineffective government. Resist that urge, compromise and make progress. A national energy policy is more important than a few additional oil rigs in the Gulf.
