Obama Doesnt Want to Drill For Oil in the Gulf

Could this be a huge mistake on his part, especially since gas is around 4 bucks? i saw a video on cnn of obama talking about how mccain is supporting drilling in the gulf and obama said something like "this will not solve the problem right now, maybe in 5 years but it will not lower gas prices right now."

while i agree that it wont help immediately, help in 5 years would still be good. who knows what prices will be like then. who knows if there will be any where left for us to drill in the gulf in 5 years. all the other countries in the world will already be drilling there if we dont do something soon.

So, was this a mistake on obama's part? I think middle/lower class america will see this as mccain wanting to help lower prices and obama doesnt. Thoughts?

reply to post by tdubz


I definitely think this will be used against him. The propaganda machine is going to get fired up and start convincing everyone that we are in the middle of a gas shortage and evil Obama wants us to suffer. Even though the reality is pretty far from that.

Obama is a big-business NWO puppet. He will do as instructed. Even Bush is calling to remove a ban on offshore drilling! Why not have the option if something should necessitate it?

Obama would be selfish in stating it wouldn't help anything. How does he really know? He doesn't. It has been stated that Obama wants higher Gas prices, and for what reasons i'm unsure, but the American people obviously do not.

The media is mostly pro-Obama Karl, not against him. He has been having a free ride with them so far.

reply to post by tdubz


Hm...maybe we shouldn't be using gasoline in the first place. Did anyone ever think about that?

A nonrenewable resource that can be controlled by a coalition of businessmen...Remind you of anything?

We should all be driving electric cars around by now. California ran a electric car program in the 1990s and several companies released models ranging from SUVs to ultra compacts.

As for generating electricity, we should be using wind, solar, geothermal, and microhydro. There is no excuse for using coal, oil, and natural gas for our energy.

Energy policy is a huge matter in this election. Obama seems to have allied himself with Gore's renewable energy policy, but of course he will be attacked for being unreasonable. McCain wants to drill in ANWR and the Gulf of Mexico, which to me sounds completely ridiculous.

This is a handout for oil companies to make a quick buck as they won't have to pay OPEC for the 'processing fee'. This will not lower gasoline prices that much...Only ensure the corporate bigwigs another unseen $400 billion profit margin (Exxon-Mobil).

We need to stop relying on oil in general, not just foreign oil. The fact we don't use renewable resources at this point is quite sickening.

Enough of the power cartels monopoly on energy. We need progress, not regression. Politics aside, Jimmy Carter's move to put solar panels on the white house was a big deal. When Reagan came into office he removed them. That has been the general sentiment towards renewable energy since the 1970s.

We initially wanted renewable energy due to the oil embargo, now we're doing it because we actually grew half a brain cell. Go figure free, clean energy was a good idea.

Who woulda thunk it?

[edit on 6/18/2008 by biggie smalls]

i was reading somewhere else, that the US could pump enough oil out of the gulf each day to equal the amount of oil we import from venezula. isnt venezula one of the countries we get alot of our oil from? if this is the case, i cant help but think it would be beneficial for us to do it. What is the main arguement against drilling in the ocean? is it the risk of pollution and possible oil spill?

reply to post by biggie smalls


biggie smalls, i agree with your post completely. the problem is, we cant change overnight. the technology is out there to lessen our dependance on oil. there is a thread out now about hondas fuelcell vehicle. honda is also working on a second gen insight that is estimated to get around 50 miles to the gallon (it will be a hybrid, not an electric car this time)the main problem that i see is that there is no infrastructure to support other types of vehicles, ie hydrogen gas pumps, electric car plugin stations, etc. These all take time to implement, probably more like decades i would imagine, to get the infrastructure set up in the entire nation.

so we have do what we can now. we will be dependant on oil for years to come. i believe its better to depend on your own oil then on someone elses.

If we start drilling now it could be 5 years before we even start seeing results from it. So if we don't start drilling for another 5 years it will be 10 years before we see results. Obama needs to open his eyes on this issue for sure. We could use every bit of oil we can get right now.

reply to post by tdubz


I agree with Obama. We need to get away from gasoline. Like biggie said, it's NON-RENEWABLE! What are we going to do when we start running out? (If we aren't already) We're going to have to do something different. We might as well start doing it now and stop depending on these countries where the oil is.

What kind of future do we have trying to suck every drop of oil out of the earth?

Biggie, I would give you 10 stars if I could!

reply to post by biggie smalls


I agree with most everything you said regarding energy and the environment. However, this is one position I would just as soon see Obama flip-flop. I realize that no form of energy is "free" - there is expense and energy output used to harvest all forms of energy. Some are better and cleaner than others.

But for strategic geo-political purposes, we need to go all out on being as energy independent as possible, as soon as possible. We need to pursue all avenues of independence including ANWAR and coastal drilling. No need for anyone to tell me it would take 3 to 10 years to see the benefits of drilling, I get it.

Drilling would send a signal out to the world that we are serious about not bending over to the oil cabal anymore. Furthermore, I think Obama needs to at least pay heed to the needs of the average working class citizen who is getting pinched right now. It's a nuanced and politcal issue he better navigate well or he will lose.

I'll also add that if the Decider had told everyone to conserve and save after 9/11 instead of shop and consume, we might not be where we are right now.

Originally posted by eric52081
If we start drilling now it could be 5 years before we even start seeing results from it. So if we don't start drilling for another 5 years it will be 10 years before we see results. Obama needs to open his eyes on this issue for sure. We could use every bit of oil we can get right now.

The other side of this issue is that while we may not see an ease in gas/oil prices for 5 years, this will create a lot of jobs and get the money flowing NOW.

Agreed, we need to focus on other forms of energy. Just imagine where we could be by now if we had focused on R&D for any alt. fuel types 50 years ago. And by focus, i mean dumping billions into R&D over the years. We might even have those nifty flying cars by now!

reply to post by mpriebe81


We can focus on other forms of energy as well as pump oil from our oceans. Even if we find a better means it is going to be at least a 30 year process of getting everybody on that fuel source. This is something you can not do over night. So we are still going to need oil if not for vehicles but for production companies. Almost everything you buy is made from oil.

Originally posted by eric52081
If we start drilling now it could be 5 years before we even start seeing results from it. So if we don't start drilling for another 5 years it will be 10 years before we see results. Obama needs to open his eyes on this issue for sure. We could use every bit of oil we can get right now.

There is no oil shortage! That is just a myth so speculators can make a killing in the Market.

I see you need to trash Obama at any opportunity but this is not the issue.

google is our friend!!!

www.larouchepub.com...

reply to post by whaaa


You are absolutely right. There is no shortage but there is a cartel that manipulates the supply and banksters that create false demand. Let's get out of that vicious cyle.

Let me add to this thread:

Obama ridicules McCain's plan to tap offshore oil

Obama :"Much like his gas tax gimmick that would leave consumers with pennies in savings, opening our coastlines to offshore drilling would take at least a decade to produce any oil at all, and the effect on gasoline prices would be negligible at best since America only has three percent of the world's oil.

Obama is pushing for a "windfall tax" on oil companies' record profits and for federal investment of 150 billion dollars over 10 years in renewable and green energies.

Source: www.breitbart.com...

Here's what I think based on this - McCain and Obama are both wrong, but Obama is doubly wrong. Here's why:

Obama criticizes McCain's plan because
1. It would take at least a decade to produce any oil at all
2. The federal gas tak holiday saves the consumer only pennies

But he wants to impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies and invest 150 billion dollars over 10 years on renewable energies. Here's what his plan would do:

1. Tax the oil companies who would then raise gas prices to compensate for the tax. The government gets the windfall tax money AND the additional tax money from raised prices. The consumer end up paying MORE at the pump.
2. He wants to invest 150 billion over 10 years on renewable energies - while this is a great move, what he's proposing will ALSO take 10 years and there's no guarantee that any technology or product will be ready at the end of that time frame. Not to mention he doesn't say how this will be subsidized - I'm assuming through tax increases.

So Obama is chastizing McCain because he wants to drill for oil and because it will take 10 years, yet he has no solution to high gas prices and also wants an investment of 10 years and money.

Does anyone else see the double standard in this? The only good thing about Obama's plan is IF the research is successful and we find a way to use a renewable energy that can replace gasoline then Earth will be a much better place for it. But I would like to know what are the chances of success before investing a whopping $150 billion in something like this?

Here's another question - why can't we do both? Why can't we drill AND invest in new energy research? That way if we fail to find alternative energy at least we have our own oil to use.

Originally posted by biggie smalls
Hm...maybe we shouldn't be using gasoline in the first place. Did anyone ever think about that?

We should have gotten the oil monkey off our back when Carter was in office. That was in the 1970's; things would have sucked, but right now, we wouldn't be in this position.

Until the time comes when we get a renewable source, we need oil. Might as well drill for our own oil, employ some of our own people, and help out in some way.

I think Obama is part of the "microwave generation". If you can't do it in 10 seconds or less, it's not worth the time.

oil companies would never research alternatives. why shoot your self? they are raking in BILLIONS! "yeah, we are making tons and tons of money. say, why don't we stop it and look at something else that will be cheaper for the customer and we will take a loss." even if they did start to drill, price will still go up. "boy, installing all these new derricks were more expensive than we thought. sorry, looks like we will raise prices to off set the new expenses." and don't fprget what happens in the gulf this time of year. "whoa nelly! a hurricane is in the gulf! just might hit a derrick or two. got to raise prices due a possible interruption of drilling!"

why do many on here believe that oil companies actually care about us?

Well, I'm still waiting for them to play their "alternative hand."

This is just another stall tactic and they just figure we'll give up as usual and adjust like the europeans have. They'll tell us how lucky we are we aren't paying their prices and call it a blessing.

It appears they only give us expensive alternatives that most can't possibly afford and bury the rest behind red tape or disinformation tactics.

"Uh, it's in the pipes....down the a road....in a couple of few years....we have the situation all under control."

So, be prepared, bend over and get surcharged.

How would we not start to see the benefits for 5 years? That doesn't make any sense. If we start increasing the supply, then the price is going to go down. Imagine if, tomorrow, 10 million pounds of gold were found. What do you think would happen to the price of gold? It would fall through the floor. The same thing would happen with oil prices.