Oil And Politics

Its beginning to look like the Republican Party may have latched onto a winning argument with the "Drill Here, Drill Now" campaign. A front page story in today's Democrat & Chronicle reported on a poll showing that growing numbers of Americans now perceive increasing domestic oil production as being more important than environmental concerns.

So the GOP has the right message, but do they have the right messenger? John McCain is a global warming supporter who still thinks ANWR should be off limits to drilling. He has recently softened his views on off-shore drilling and, I suppose, an abrupt about-face on ANWR would be met with charges of "flip-flopping" by the Democrats.

Still, McCain needs to come up with a plausible domestic production agenda. The GOP is clearly on the right side of this issue (and has been for 25 years). This is the one issue that could "stanch the bleeding" with respect to Republican losses of seats in Congress. McCain is, for good or ill, the GOP standard bearer. His take on "Drill Here, Drill Now" will be the one that the GOP will have to live with.

My next post will deal with the incomprehensible failure of Congress to enact a serious energy program which combines conservation, increased production and development of new energy resources.