In the aftermath of the resignation of Van "Republican are a*holes" Jones, Mr. Green Job Hype, the White House is hoping today's report that oil imports led the surge in the biggest jump in the US federal deficit in a decade will go unnoticed. Is Obama hearing Ross Perot's "giant sucking sound" of American jobs in energy exploration and production, using today's proven technology, going to workers in the Middle East, Canada, and other energy producers while at the same time undermining the value of our currency? Apparently foreign-produced oil is "more equal" than American-produced energy in Obama's progressive (Alice in) Wonderland. Obama likes to tease possible policy review on American energy when oil surges over $140/barrel. How stupid does he think Americans are? He can visualize an American health care Armageddon and spin a fantasy of how the same government which managed Hurricane Katrina can manage one-sixth of the American economy--but when it comes to the reality of maturing international supplier oil wells and an explosion of competing consumers, including China which holds trillions in US Treasury debt, how can he simply dismiss $140/barrel oil as an anomaly? What evidence of declining US oil production does he not understand?
I think that Obama has been exposed to environmental propaganda so long that facts on the ground don't matter; he fundamentally doesn't understand the economics of the oil business or the reality of millions of vehicles, suburban commuters, etc. Obama needs a reality check; the only people he listens to on the topic are people like Van Jones mocking George W. Bush and millions of Americans seeking to stabilize or lessen our nation's addiction to foreign oil by finding new American sources, generating well-paid American jobs in the process. Obama and Van Jones know that it would not be politically wise to personally attack tens of millions of American voters whom bought and drive gas guzzlers or commute to work, so they predictably seek to scapegoat "oil speculators" or American energy companies and their executives searching for and bringing to market fuel for American homes and vehicles.
Ah, yes! Those devious American "oil pusher" companies, enabling average joes to continue their addictive carbon-generating ways! You know, they deploy all those standard marketing gimmicks--like giving introductory "free" tanks of gas or frequent purchase rebates in exchange to buying their brand of gasoline. What about, instead of the recent federal "cash for clunkers" giveaway to people already in the market for a new car, the oil companies buy the real clunkers, e.g., cars too old to qualify for the clunkers program but still on the road (typically well-conceived Democratic micromanagement), and offer to give them away for the promise that recipients drive them?
No, the real addiction is Democratic dependence on political support from environmental groups that have no short-term, viable, scalable, cost-effective, constructive solutions to suit our given American lifestyle. In fact, aggregate demand of American consumption of energy has been fairly flat over the past few years; the big difference is our market share of oil production has been in a long-term decline, and more countries, especially developing economies, are competing for a limited amount of foreign-produced oil exports.
