You do have to say this for the President: he has no trouble separating himself from the reality of his record. That is a really valuable skill in politics. AEA (9/6/12) reports: ““On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Solyndra’s bankruptcy, Barack Obama made the latest in a four year string of empty promises about his plan to achieve American energy independence. Despite his pledge to create 600,000 jobs in the energy sector and 1 million new manufacturing jobs, President Obama has presided over the worst economic recovery in a generation. He has refused to permit the Keystone XL pipeline, which would create tens of thousands of jobs, and he has instituted a de facto embargo on offshore energy development that has left the Gulf coast economy struggling to recover. At every turn, President Obama has denied access to taxpayer owned energy resources on federal lands, including more than a trillion barrels of oil shale.”
Congressman Markey just can’t win. At the risk of piling on, we would point out (again) that wind, solar, oil, and natural gas are merely some of the above. And for our friends in the natural gas business, you may want to reflect that Jimmy Carter’s favorite fuel was . . . coal. Mutatis mutandis. Grist (9/6/12) reports: “Let me say this because I think it’s important: When George Bush left office in January 2009, we as a country were 57 percent dependent on imported oil. Today we are 45 percent dependent on imported oil. That’s Obama drill, baby, drill! Why do I say that? We are at an 18-year high for oil production in the U.S.! Let me say that again: We are at an 18-year high for oil production in the U.S. right now! And we are at an 18-year low with greenhouse gas emissions [thanks to Obama’s push for] natural gas, wind, solar, and new vehicle standards.”
You are a damned fool if you live in coal country and don’t register some sort of disapproval with the current President. The Atlantic (9/6/12) reports: “As the delegate roll call at the Democratic National Convention neared West Virginia last night, the jokes started to fly on Twitter. “It’s going to be awkward when the West Virginia delegation gives delegates to federal inmate Keith Judd,” quipped BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynczki, a representative example.”
I think Celinda Lake is probably right. The economy is a much bigger and less comprehensible mess than one, small, ugly instance of corruption involving billionaire donors, White House involvement, skirting the law, and the usual efforts to avoid talking about the whole thing. Politico (9/12) reports: “But Democratic pollster Celinda Lake contended that Solyndra still isn’t as hurtful to Obama as Bain Capital is to Romney… “Solyndra doesn’t have any victims,” she said. “Bain does. People lost their health insurance. Solyndra is a bank shot.””
When you actually ask voters to list important issues, environment (in total!) gets mentioned by about 1% of respondents. Climate change gets even less. Which is why the President has spent approximately zero percent of his political capital on the issue. Coral can be a good reporter, but when it comes to this issue she has jumped the shark. National Journal (9/6/12) reports: “But on Thursday night, under the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, just two months from the general election, Obama made his most high-profile mention of the controversial issue this year. “And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet—because climate change is not a hoax,” Obama said. “More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They’re a threat to our children’s future. And in this election, you can do something about it,” he said, to a sustained ovation.”
Meeting this goal would probably be a lot easier if the President had approved the Keystone pipeline. Or if Secretary Salazar would open up more than 3% of the federal estate for exploration. Or if the Administration would follow the law on oil shale leases. I could go on, but you get the point. Politico (9/6/12) reports: “President Barack Obama will call for cutting net oil imports in half and supporting 600,000 natural gas jobs by the end of the decade, according to excerpts of his address to the Democratic National Convention released by the Obama campaign.”
This is pretty good. Or terribly bad, depending on how you think about the world. SchiffReport (9/5/12) reports: “Posing as an anti-business crusader, Peter Schiff found a number of DNC delegates and attendees who support explicitly outlawing profitability. We deliberately avoided speaking with the occupy protestors camping outside in tents to get a more “mainstream” Democratic perspective!”
