Posted on 06/21/2008 8:11:34 AM PDT by Brices Crossroads
With the Gallup poll of June 20, 2008 reporting that Congress's approval is at an all time low (in the 35 year history of this survey question), and with the salient issue of oil prices taking center stage in the 2008 election, John McCain's strategy and objectives have become clear. He must attempt to tie Obama to the miserably unpopular Democratic Congress. The bridge for making the connection between Obama and the unpopular Congress is the issue of oil prices and drilling. It is a simple issue. Gas prices were at roughly $2 a gallon in 2006 before the Democrats took over. They have doubled in a single year. He should ask the question: What has the Congress, controlled by Obama's party, done about it? Nothing. What does Obama propose to do about it? Nothing. McCain wants to begin drilling offshore. Obama's response is that this will not reduce the price of gas immediately. This is patent nonsense. The price is artificially high now. There are no shortages, and it is driven up by the speculation that has gripped the markets that oil prices will continue their rise unabated. If the Congress were to open up America's own huge reserves of oil, not only offshore but in ANWR and oil shale, the speculation that has fueled this price rise would begin to abate, perhaps rapidly, because those who purchase oil futures would be afraid to purchase them at $150 a barrel when in a year or two, America's massive new production could drive the price drastically lower. The fear which drove the price up rapidly will drive the price down just as rapidly. The consequences for the economy, needless to say, would be nothing short of spectacular.
McCain should make this argument, explaining to people that they will get more or less immediate relief if Congress should take these actions (not to mention the construction of new refineries-we have not had a new one in 30 years- and the nuclear plants that McCain has already proposed).
Obama will be isolated with the enviro-leftists, and will be unable to "flip flop" to a pro-drilling position for fear of alienating his own base. The "Drill Now, Pay Less" argument, and Congress' deliberate inaction on this issue, also serve to link Obama to the Democrat Congress, which cancels and perhaps reverses, any drag which Bush represented for McCain.
This strategy can have down ballot consequences as well. If the GOP can nationalize the election around this issue, as I believe they can, they can reverse the results in Districts such as the three (in Mississippi, Louisiana and Illinois) that recently went Democratic. Even if the freshmen Democratic incumbents support drilling (as I believe they would, given their respective districts' conservative bent), the GOP could argue convincingly that as long as San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi is Speaker, legislation lifting the ban on drilling will never make it to the House floor. Since these allegedly conservative Democrat congressmen vote for her for Speaker, they are complicit in her deliberate refusal to bring the legislation up and thus they too are responsible for the higher gas prices.
McCain's strategy is clear. Tie the albatross of the Congress and oil prices around Obama's neck. Done effectively, this issue will turn what I believe would have been a fairly comfortable win by McCain anyway into a landslide. And, significantly, it would cost the Democrats control of the Congress as well.
“With Congress’s approval at 12% and gas at $4, McCain’s strategy is clear”
Run against congress? Where has he been for the last 20 years? He has ONE shot; gas stays high, he hammers Obama on the drilling and refining and nuke plants. It also wouldn’t hurt if he picked a hard right VP.
Al that happens and he has a CHANCE.
Will drilling here really save any money? The oil companies are still going to try to get as much as the market will bear. Congress will want to add another energy tax to it. I’m thinking we might slow the cost down but I don’t see a drop in prices.
The writer lost me when he said it would cost the Democrats control of Congress, too.
In a year that points to increasing Dem majorities in both chambers, we would be so fortunate to limit our losses or at most gain a little here and there.
Even a McCain landslide (not predicting one, mind you) wouldn’t lead to a Republican TAKEOVER.
A real hard right. We need to get serious about other forms of energy too.
McCain’s strategy would be a lot clearer with some legislation. He is still a senator.
Well, maybe. But I'm not sure the distain is for the "Democratic Congress", but rather for Congress in general. Beyond Tom Coburn and James Inhofe, I can't think of very many Pubbies who have distinguished themselves lately, either.
My husband contends that if we start drilling the Saudis will do what they can to lower their prices to discourage us from drilling.
America is awash with energy resources. But we have placed the vast majority of them off limits.
If we begin to drill, and everyone knows that new supplies are in the offing down the line, it will affect the marketplace price of fuel by depressing it.
These would be supplies outside the Cartel’s control.
Price is crucial but even price is not everything. We need to get off foreign oil, for national security sake.
And should have long ago...
The key is to explain that merely authorizing the drilling offshore would drive the price down immediately because the speculators are betting that Congress will not authorize the drilling. If Congress does authorize the drilling, there will be a stampede to sell the oil futures, thus driving the price per barrel, and at the pump, down.
Obama is spouting the Marxist line that authorizing the drilling will have no effect on oil prices for years. This would be true only if there were shortages, which there are not. This price spike is driven by speculation, which is based on the theory that drilling will not expand. It is not driven by shortages. If drilling appears to be on the horizon, this will change the mindset of the market, to wit: the speculators. And they will bid the price back down, for fear that a glut of oil in the near future will cause their oil futures to be worthless, thereby ruining them.
Drilling is a “long” term strategy to make us energy independent. That is a National Security Issue. Whether or not it lowers prices in the short term is irrelevant. It will lower prices in the long term and make our country free from the whims of the Hugo Chavez’s and the Middle East. That is what needs to be emphasized.
Obama is PART OF the miserably unpopular Democrat Congress. Bring out the roll call records and make him eat his own Socialism!
Then with lower prices, it's not profitable to drill and we're right back where we were ten years ago and my SUV is cool again.
We need candidates that recognize the fact that big government is the cause of our problems not the solution. We need people willing to stand up and say that the Dept of Energy needs to be dismantled and the government needs to get out of the energy business. Sadly, there are few in the GOP that believe that.
Can we really be energy independent?
Senator Jeff Sessions.
I also like my Senator John Cornyn.
But you’re right, there aren’t very many.
There are a few good House members as well. Marsha Blackburn, Steve King, Jeb Hensarling to name some, and maybe others can cite their favorites.
Good luck with that one. The inner workings of most polls show that the Republicans are receiving more blame than the Democrats in congress from the sheeple who probably have no realization of who is now running both Houses.
We can if as a nation we had the will to do it. Going to the Moon, winning WW II all took the nations determination. If we had that same determination to be energy independent we could do it.
Captain Queeg actually has to grow a pair in order for that to happen. He would need to articulate a clear conservative vision for energy independence from the Arabs. He would need to hammer Obama and the Democrats for preventing domestic drilling and nuclear power plants for 25 years. I dont see him doing that.
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