No Offshore Drilling #2 – Updated
Second in the daily postings of images of California shores, untainted by the fingers of Big Oil.
Imagine this scene with a few drilling platforms in the distance. It doesn’t quite satisfy, does it?
The current framing of Obama as “arrogant” (which some may interpret as the new code word for “uppity“, myself included) invites voters to think they have permission to ignore the real issues in favor of silly personality issues in vintage Rovian style.
To be clear, voters have the responsibility to figure out who they believe will be most effective going forward, regardless of personality or personability. Speaking for me, I’ll take “arrogant” and “intelligent” any day. It’s going to take more than a gladhander to fix the problems that have arisen over eight miserable years under George W. Bush’s stewardship. We all know it.
One of the reasons I’m putting such a sharp focus on the offshore drilling question is this: I see this becoming one of those election-determining issues that voters view through the Rovian “drill here, drill now” simple lens, despite the facts.
The facts are that there is no immediate gain to be had from allowing offshore oil exploration. There is no guarantee that if it were permitted and oil was harvested, it would add to the US reserves. With private corporations in charge of its disposition,it could more easily be sold at the high per-barrel prices that have driven domestic prices up to nearly $5.00 per gallon.
Or, the leases could be released to the big oil companies at a time where they have megaprofits to pay top-dollar for them, simply so they can sit on them as they have on the other 57 million acres of unexplored, yet granted, oil leases.
There is absolutely no benefit to releasing these shores to the hands of greedy oil executives. There is absolutely high political gain, however, in trying to sell voters on the idea that offshore drilling (like the fallacious gas tax suspension) will somehow ease the current price spikes.
Consider this before buying McCain’s hollow argument: In the next week or so, the big oil companies will be declaring astronomical, record profits for the second quarter of 2008 while the average American’s spending power has dropped, businesses are forced to cut back services and employees to cover the rising costs of fuel, and the economy continues to sit back in the doldrums, marking time while the shareholders of the oil companies line their pockets.
McCain’s decision to use our amazing shorelines as an election year pawn should not be rewarded with anything other than outright rejection.
Update: Exxon/Mobil announces Q2 Profits of $11.68 Billion, or $1485.55 profit taken for each second of the second quarter of 2008. Do you feel really profitable for that same time period, or just a little poorer than you did the quarter before? And we should give them absolute control over our coastlines, why?