Flip-Flop On OCS Drilling? Who Cares?
I’ve enjoyed myself this week as Democrats try applying the flip-flop tag on Sen. McCain for changing his mind of drilling on the OCS. Now they’re attempting to apply that tag to Florida Governor Charlie Crist:
This week, Crist stunned many when he said he is now open to the idea of expanding oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a reversal that’s in step with McCain. Crist said Friday that he is not running for vice president and his recent comments weren’t made to mirror the Arizona senator’s.
“It’s born out of a concern for the people of Florida and their pocketbook. I hear it all the time, that $4 a gallon gasoline is hurting families,” Crist said, emphasizing that he only supports a study on expanded drilling.
Critics say it’s the most striking example of Crist’s positions shifting to meet McCain’s.
I’d bet that people won’t care about the flip-flop as long as it drives gas prices down. To continue doing what we’ve been doing will keep crude oil prices excalating. As I pointed out here, the only smart energy policy is one that increases energy supply:
“Good energy policy is easy to distinguish from bad energy policy: Good policy leads to more supplies of affordable energy and bad policy leads to less.”
Let’s face facts. People know that politicians change their minds all the time. That’s factored into their opinions of politicians. That means, they’ll likely appreciate it when politicians flip-flop into the right policy.
Let’s put it another way. What’s more likely to happen of these scenarios?
Will a person appreciate gas prices dropping as a result of a policy change? Or will the person say something like this: I don’t care that gas prices have dropped. I don’t care that I’ve got more cash in my wallet. I can’t trust that guy and that’s all that matters.
I’m betting that the vast majority of people will thank politicians for policies that drop gas prices.
Technorati Tags: Charlie Crist, Flip-Flop, Oil Exploration, John McCain, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
June 21st, 2008 at 7:41 am
Yes we should get our heads out the sand and begin increasing domestic production, but lets keep our heads in the cockpit as well, if we think that is going to lower the cost of gasoline and diesel, we have another thing coming. The best we can hope for is a leveling off.
We also need to increase clean coal technology, solar, wind, and yes even (gasp) nuclear.
And by the way, all the flooding in the midwest that is detroying millions of acres of corn is not good news for the price of ethanol, which is a poisenous way to save gas anyway, but thats another debate I suppose.
June 21st, 2008 at 2:36 pm
It only makes sense to hedge our bets by exploring all options for energy — drilling off the coast, plus developing other energy sources. Of course, there’s no guarantee that new technologies will pan out, as the floods impacting ethanol prove, just as the possibility remains of a potential oil spill off the US coast. Still, sitting back and doing nothing but waiting for Obama’s muslim cousins to take control isn’t a reasonable option.
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
One more thing we need to recognize, and our politicians meed to think about, crude oil now being an international commodity.
Crude is primarily moved from source to refineries by tankers. When the ship fills its holds and gets underway, whether its from Valdez or Abu Dabhe, its in international waters. Once underway, there’s only a few people who have a say in that ship’s next port of call, its owners or leasers (usually an oil company), whoever may end up owning its cargo enroute and ultimately, its Master; not Congress, not the US Government. Yeah sure, 99.9 per cent of the time it goes where it’s been scheduled. That is, as long as some self agrandizing agenda driven politicians arent screwing around with the marketing process, the producers, or the refiners.