Obama Trying To Have It Both Ways

In the “Trying To Have It Both Ways” department, President Barack Obama announced in Cushing, OK, on Thursday, March 22, 2012, that his administration expedited the permit for the southern half of the Keystone XL pipeline. He also said that his administration is pro-drilling, and that his administration had opened “millions” of acres of federal land to increased oil production.

“On Thursday, the president will reiterate his administration’s commitment to expediting the construction of a pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma, to the Gulf of Mexico, relieving a bottleneck of oil and bringing domestic resources to market,” a White House official said.

Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said, “There is only a minor, routine permit needed for this leg of the project. Only a desperate administration would inject the President of the United States into this trivial matter. The President’s attempt to take credit for a pipeline he blocked and personally lobbied Congress against is staggering in its dis-ingenuousness. This portion of the pipeline is being built in spite of the President, not because of him.”

Regarding Obama’s overall energy policy, “I think it’s, if you keep at it, it’s a process that improves continually,” spokesman Jay Carney said. “We’ve already seen our reliance on foreign imports decline in the last three years. [An economic recession will do that.] We’ve already seen an increase in domestic oil production. [But the increase was in spite of Obama’s efforts. None of the increase came from government controlled lands.] We’ve already seen increases in renewable energy production.” [And we’ve seen an increase in tax payer subsidized renewable energy company bankruptcies.]

According to a survey released by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Americans are more willing to support more offshore drilling, which suggests that backing for alternative energy sources (that dominate Obama’s energy strategy) has narrowed. I could find nothing in the MSM mentioning that fact.

Believe it or not, the MSM is trying to give Obama cover. According to one source (CNN): “Despite all the gasoline price rhetoric, high gasoline prices aren’t hurting as much as they used to. In 1981, when oil prices spiked following the Iranian Revolution, gasoline represented nearly 5% of the nation’s spending, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In 2011, only 3.7% of spending went to gas, even though prices averaged at their highest level ever that year. In 2008 gas prices were in the news when they hit their all time high, yet spending on gas totaled only $12 more per week in 2008 than in 2010, according to numbers provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That $12 per week is roughly the same amount that Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures show people spent on ‘pets, toys, hobbies and playground equipment.’ For the average American household, which has an income of over $62,000 a year, the increase in gas prices represents a relatively small portion of total spending.” That sounds like a lot of MSM double-talk. What all of that has to do with 2012 gasoline prices is beyond me.

But that’s just my opinion.