Obama now supports tapping oil reserve

there is 3 to 4.3 billion barrels in montana northdakota area recoverable oil. old news http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911

In a world where all the energy problems are fixed almost simultaniously, car models 2011+ manditory ethanol/biofuel conversion, building codes to include solar/wind/hydro power based on the landscape the structure is built on, and calebrated for 24hour self sufficency with battery cells for stored power.

And also in a world where a leader had the best plan... he wouldnt steal it from the other guy who's plans better.

Jonny '08

I agree with most of what you said Abamanation. And I agree that this is a tactical mistake by the Obama campaign. The price of oil is already dropping because of a decline in demand(higher prices).So even though it might have been an honest attempt to help Americans it is coming across as pandering. However, I do think Obama has a grasp of what it is going to take to wean us off of foreign oil. I just hope he has the gonads to tell big oil to f..k off when they come calling in January.

I think that its time to check to see if Obama has any oil connections...

It looks as though he is getting ready to pull a Gore and profit off of our oil reserves.

Pulling from the Strategic Oil Reserves is just plain stupidity. First of all 70mil barrels is just a piss drop in the bucket and wouldn't last more than 2 or 3 months before they were looking to pull more.

I hate to say it but if you want to effect a change in American thinking you dont try to lower the prices... you need to have them raised....

What? You say....

Here is the logic behind this:

Higher gas prices mean will cause most people to use less and look for alternate energy sources. This effect is 2 fold ... first more effort will be put into developing these new energy sources and as they come online our dependence on foreign oil is reduced.

This ushers in the second effect ... OPEC will then see that their #1 consumer is no longer purchasing their oil on the same scale that we once were, thereby forcing them to drop their prices in order to get the US on the OPEC teet again. If they decide that they can make up for the loss in US sales elsewhere then ... FUCK EM ... let them sell to the Chinese or where ever. By that point we should be relatively self-sufficient when it comes to energy production.

The problem is that we need a few things to happen for that to work...

1. A paradigm shift in the mindset on the way the average American consumes oil. For this to occur the price of oil has to go high enough for people to want to change. (for me $4/gal was that point).

2. once the shift is made then this part becomes almost automatic.... Serious looks into alternative energy, (Fuel cells, hybrids, electric, ect.)

3. This is part that will get the most resistance but it is also one of the most important... We need to beef up our domestic production, and that means increasing the current production and tapping new resources such as offshore and possibly even ANWAR. The reason for this is that with the added production you can mitigate some of the costs and will further show OPEC the resolve that we are looking to become energy independent. Dont get this wrong the increased production is not meant to replace foreign oil, just to free up the resources that we can then use to dump into alternative research.

If we could bring this about the US can be energy self sufficient in about 7 - 10 years.

If Obama was serious about his energy policy this would be the direction that should be taking.

But as we all know, right now it's all about pandering for votes ... so why not rape the oil reserves so you can take credit for a temporary drop in gas prices during election time.

Yeah, it's true that we might see up to a $0.20 drop in gas at the pump, but I can guarantee that after the election we will pay for it 2 or 3 times over.

Good God, he'll say anything. Whoever he's talking to at the time, that's whose plan he supports.

Obviously you people didn't listen to what he said. He is NOT "flip-flopping". He said he's willing to include SOME off-shore driiling if it will lead to a real energy plan that mostly relies on alternative sources and conservation. SOME OFF-SHORE DRILLING! That is not a "flip-flop". That is a compromise in order to further dialouge on the subject.

Apparently bush has been in office for so long that everyone (especially the media) have forgotten how true poloticking works. It's all about comprmise.That is how our system works!

Now I have'nt decided to fully back Obama yet but at this point he seems like our best bet. So instead of bashing him whenever he makes a correction on a position we should look at it for what it is and not listen to the sopposed "experts" and talking heads, who by the way are paid to get the most out of what both candidates say wether negative or positive.

Think people,think.

hey guess what obama falls back on his word too... not more CHANGE in politicians is there people...

The strategic oil reserve is a joke. It was set up as a politically mandated emergency asset. It cannot come close to meeting long term demands for oil in the U.S.

OBAMA.....MAKE UP YOUR MIND! First you don't support off shore drilling, then you do, then theres a baccklash from it and suddenly you dont and you want to tap the reserves. Stop flip flopping, stop back peddling and just take a stance. Bush may be a horrible president, but at least he sticks to his terrible ideas instead of changing them everyday.

It's so hard not to say "I told you so". People got so wrapped up in Obama's star power that they forgot we were voting for President and not American Idol.

I must admit, I do not support Mr. Obama in this decision (similar to his recent FISA decision). Though I'll also admit, if it gets him voted in, well do whatcha gotta do Mr. President.

Just another silly idea that won't help anything. Just saying anything to make ya feel better. Hope your college is not 20 miles away and you have to walk. I like the malls too but i can't carry anything back on a bicycle. Hard to carry a few bags of groceries while walking or riding 10 miles and not to mention my ice cream would melt and my milk would be ruined...just a few things. WE NEED OUR CARS AND WE NEED GAS TO RUN THEM! We need more oil!

He's stupid. Go into our reserves. Yea yea. I totally see his purpose but he's just contributing to the pollution of our ozone layer and such.

Not only that. But! We have to tap into reserves.
Is there another Reserve after we're done ravaging this stockpile?

hmm?

Get it straight kids, oil isn't going to last forever.
Get a bike. and help the environment.
Do something as a human being. Instead of being a selfish animal.

I take it back!!!! I am watching his speech on C-span to a crowd in Michigan right now. He basically just made the 10 year promise to get off of oil.

Obama is adopting Gore's challenge! This is great news. no need to move to outer space. woohoo! JanForGore, you should be psyched.

I think it's a good idea, the strategic oil reserve is 97%
full and he's got it right it would drive down gas prices like it has in the past and keep oil company's guesing
what would he do next. Plus our solutions are going to be long term this will help those who need it most now.

Fuck everyone...I'm moving to outer space.

Yeah, I wish he would. I guess in the end Obama is probably going to be a lot less progressive than we hoped. I think he'll be more of a Bill Clinton than, say, a Al Gore. Not ideal, but I can live with it.

He's not in the White House yet, he's merely campaigning. He should be making bold progressive statements now while he still can.

(shurg) We already have the oil -- so wouldn't this be a better solution (in the very short term) to drilling? I like it because it has a good chance of actually working and driving down the price and once the price goes down the "urgency" people feel to approve new drilling will go down too.

At this point he knows he has to make some strategic moves to get into the White House. If he can just get people to calm down about oil prices long enough to get into the White House...then this seems like a good idea.

The price of oil is really being driven by psychology (I think) just like the Dot.Com's were "worth" $100 billion dollars even though none of them had an actual business plan. People THOUGHT they were going to be worth a lot, so they invested, which drove up the price, which reinforced the belief that these things had real value. Oil prices seem to be behaving the same way. People are convinced they will go up, so more people buy, which drives up price, which convinces more people, etc.

I think just releasing oil from the Strategic Reserve would make people THINK the price is going to go down and that would, actually, drive down the price -- and when people see the price going down in real time it will become self-fulfilling and will (ideally) continue to fall back to normal levels.

what the fuck O?

what about Gore's 10 year challenge??????????

Obama is Killing me! FISA, oil... do you want a baby polar bear to eat Mr. O? ...hope...change...Yeah right.

Can you just step back and look at the over all picture?......how utterly insane humans on the whole look....we started strolling down the wrong path 100 years ago......now we are racing down it.....having politicians wanting to help and offer solutions........is like getting pyromaniacs to help put out a fire.........Golden Ruler.....Will.......

Not that what Obama is saying is a bad idea, i just hope he's wearing a good cup, that fence he's straddling is getting more narrow by the speech.