Murphy On Obama's Shift In Favor of Some Offshore Drilling

I emailed Bob Murphy, economist with the Institute for Energy Research, for his take on Obama's latest stance on offshore drilling. He wrote back:

It's great that Senator Obama has reversed his earlier opposition to offshore drilling, and now recognizes that proper tire inflation is not enough. However, one suspects that his reversal is simply a political move, given the public's support for such drilling. Who's to say what new information will change his mind back again if elected?

Of course, Murphy is referring to Obama's stance just days ago that proper tire inflation would result in oil savings equal to that of oil production from offshore drilling.

Murphy writes that IER will soon have a response in the works to Obama's announcement of *last* Friday, when he called for $1000 rebate checks to families, paid for by windfall profits tax on big oil.

Obama Shifts: Maybe Hot Air Isn't The Solution

After telling an audience that proper air in tires could save as much in oil consumption as drilling offshore could produce in oil (See the youtube video, here), Barcak Obama now says he would be willing to support limited additional offshore oil drilling.

"My interest is in making sure we've got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices," Obama said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post.

"If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done," Obama said.

But, here sure as hell is going to be a micro-manager:

...he told the Post he would be open to expanding the current drilling boundaries if it meant winning approval for more fuel-efficient cars, developing alternative energy sources and making the country more "energy independent."