Obama Speaks on His Bipartisan Meeting Video

Obama met with republicans and democrats today. They discussed the agenda going forward including the BP oil spill, jobs growth, more support for the military, tackling the national debt and finishing the Wall Street reform bill.
Obama also said we have to start planning the move toward new energy sources.
Mitch McConnell took the opportunity to oppose energy reform legislation. We wouldn't expect anything else.

Oil Drilling Swap for Alternative Energy Cars

The so-called "gang of 10" (5 democrats, 5 republicans) came up with an $84 billion plan that swaps more oil drilling for converting most vehicles to alternative energy within 20 years. Interesting. It would give the oil companies an opportunity to change their game plan. 

I'm still learning about this, so I don't have much more to say right now. Here is a good story to read. More of a gesture on Obama's part? 

The left and the Hillaries have already flipped out, starting the flip flop argument against Obama and John McCain has welcomed Obama to the dark side, chalking up a win for himself. At least we've gotten off the race card issue. I'd much rather see them squabble about these kinds of things. But I realized today, other than a minority of people talking politics on the Internet, the general public is not paying much attention.

Here's what Obama says:

CNN: 

"I made a general point about the fact that we need to provide the American people some relief and that there has been constructive conversations between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate on this issue," he said during a press conference in Cape Canaveral.

"What I will not do, and this has always been my position, is to support a plan that suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems," Obama added.

"If we've got a plan on the table that I think meets the goals that America has to set and there are some things in there that I don't like, then obviously that's something that I would consider because that's the nature of how we govern in a democracy."

The senator from Illinois has spoken out against offshore drilling since Sen. John McCain in June proposed striking down the federal moratorium banning offshore oil and gas drilling to help alleviate high gas prices. "

The RNC is having troubles getting at Obama on oil because McCain shifted his position on drilling:

The Republican National Committee wants to portray Sen. Barack Obama as a flip flopper because he has shifted his position on off-shore oil drilling from being against it absolutely to now being willing to permit drilling so long as certain conditions are met, for instance, it comes as part of a comprehensive drilling plan.

There only seems to be one problem with the RNC tack. Sen. John McCain also changed his mind about off-shore drilling going from anti to pro.

But that doesn't stop the RNC from trying. What Obama has opposed is the idea that drilling offshore would lower gas prices--total bulldinky-- which according to the polls, is what many Americans believe. 

Here is what the RNC uses against Obama: 

Just A Few Days Ago, Obama Called Offshore Drilling A "Scheme." Obama: "Now the latest scheme is well, we're going to drill offshore. Now, I want to be absolutely clear to everybody about this. If I thought that I could provide you some immediate relief on gas prices by drilling off the shores of California and New Jersey, I understand how desperate folks are. I met a guy who couldn't go on a job search that lost his job, couldn't go on a job search because of the high price of gas. Just couldn't fill up his tank. I met a teacher in South Dakota who loved her job as a teacher on an Indian reservation, she had to quit because the drive was too far, it was taking up too much of her paycheck. I know how bad people are hurting. So If I thought that by drilling offshore, we could solve our problem, I'd do it." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Springfield, MO, 7/30/08)

Also, Obama will speak at the National Urban League today at 2 pm eastern time. It should be live streamed at cnn.com. I expect we will hear more on this.

McCain's Drilling Talk Makes Big Oil Give

They like it so much that last month, they donated to his campaign.

Swamp: But it has caught on with the oil industry, whose executives contributed $1.1 million to McCain's presidential campaign last month, the Washington Post reports today on an independent watchdog group's study of the McCain campaign's fundraising.

Three quarters of McCain's oil haul followed the senior senator from Arizona's call for an end to the long-standing congressional moratorium on off-shore oil-drilling, the Post notes. And that $1.1 million take from Big Oil executives in June outstrips the industry's giving before that: $208,000 in May, $283,000 in April, $116,000 in March, by the Post's count.

Does anyone really believe that McCain wants drilling because Americans are suffering hardships? He hails from the Bush Cheney administration, the presidency of oil.

WaPo: McCain said the policy reversal came as a response to rising voter anger over soaring energy prices. At the time, about three-quarters of voters responding to a Washington Post-ABC News poll said prices at the pump were causing them financial hardship, the highest in surveys this decade.

Opening vast stretches of the country's coastline to oil exploration would help America eliminate its dependence on foreign oil, McCain said.

"We have untapped oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production," he said. "It is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions."

And some are saying McCain shaped his energy policy so he could get more money from the oil companies.

"The timing was significant," said David Donnelly, the national campaigns director of the Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonpartisan campaign finance reform group that conducted the analysis of McCain's oil industry contributions. "This is a case study of how a candidate can change a policy position in the interest of raising money."

Brian Rogers, a McCain campaign spokesman, said he considers any suggestion that McCain weighed fundraising into his calculation on drilling policy "completely absurd." Rogers noted that oil and gas money in June still accounted for a very small fraction of the $48 million raised by the campaign and by the Republican National Committee through its Victory Fund.

"John McCain takes positions because he thinks it's the right thing to do for America," Rogers said. "He has a long track record of doing that. And he's often made decisions that hurt with his fundraising base."

Economists have already debunked offshore oil drilling as a solution to foreign oil dependence. Even California Arnold Schwarzenegger, a supporter of McCain, said McCain is blowing smoke. The only solution is a longterm one that is made up of wind, solar and other kinds of renewable energy. In the meantime, we have to cut back on our use of oil. We have to sacrifice. 

Why we won't have low gas prices ever again, no matter what John McCain tells you: This time it's different.

Earlier oil shocks have had obvious causes. In October 1973, OPEC raised prices and declared an oil embargo against the United States and other countries that had supported Israel in its war earlier that month against its Arab neighbors. The embargo ended in March 1974, but pricing power had shifted from the oil companies to the producing countries. In 1979, prices soared again after the Iranian Revolution curtailed output and consumers and oil companies went on a spree of panic buying.

Now, however, there is no one culprit and no single international crisis to blame. Instead, world demand has been increasing faster than supply, steadily squeezing oil markets.

This in turn has signaled to investors that prices are inevitably heading higher. Financial players, such as Wall Street banks and hedge funds, have bet just that, investing tens of billions of dollars in oil futures. Critics on Capitol Hill and elsewhere say this speculation has turbo-charged the market, helping lift prices even more.
Read the whole thing -- it's a great explainer, what we need more of.