Kevin Drum finds out in the LA Times that Obama's willing to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help offset high gas prices and to him, this is another volley in the McCain/Obama energy panderfest:
And we can't blame this one on the media, folks: Obama really is flopping around on energy policy, and he's doing it in the most craven possible way, switching from correct but politically risky stands to dumb panders.
He may be right, and Obama may be cravenly reversing a long-held position. My question is: are you sure that Obama ever held a different position, or did you perhaps project your own opinion onto Obama? It can be shown that Democrats as far back as last year have been talking up using the SPR to stabilize prices, so he's not exactly breaking from the party on this issue.
I don't have access to the Nexis, but with some crazy searches in the Google News, I did dig up an article from the March 20, 2008 Globe and Mail entitled "Obama would intervene on oil: adviser"
Mr. Obama would also consider tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down prices while recognizing that such a move is normally meant to aid in the case of an acute supply disruption, Mr. Grumet said.
"It would be on the table," he said.
Just sayin'.
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1 comment:
I'm with you on this one--good catch with your Googling. Also, as Alterman suggests, shouldn't somebody be looking into whether his plan is reasonable, rather than just dismissing it as a flip-flop? I mean, is it reasonable to use the light crude from the SPR and replace it with heavy, or will this result in an unjustifiable expense for the government without lowering prices very much for us?
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