Obama Campaign Takes Credit For Boost in Domestic Oil Production

In another article:

In remarks that largely repeated points he made on Feb. 23 at the University of Miami in Florida, the president said that such a strategy requires the right incentives. “And here’s one of the best examples: Right now, $4 billion of your tax dollars—$4 billion—subsidizes the oil industry every year,” he maintained.
“I am asking Congress [to] eliminate this oil industry giveaway right away,” Obama continued. “I want them to vote on this in the next few weeks. Let’s put every single member of Congress on record: You can stand with the oil companies, or you can stand up for the American people. You can keep subsidizing a fossil fuel that’s been getting taxpayer dollars for a century, or you can place your bets on a clean-energy future.”

Oil and gas industry associations and other business groups again questioned his characterization of the federal tax code provisions the White House wants to eliminate. “A subsidy is a direct payment of money to a person or business by American taxpayers,” American Petroleum Institute Pres. Jack N. Gerard said on Mar. 1. “The president has it backwards: Our industry pays the government nearly $90 million/day—the biggest contributor of government revenue than any other industry in the United States.”

National Ocean Industries Association Pres. Randall B. Luthi, meanwhile, noted, “While the facts are the facts, it is disingenuous of the president to claim credit for increased production, particularly when that increased production has occurred on private and state lands. The fact remains that his administration has done very little to encourage new future production on federal lands onshore or offshore, and has in fact done more to thwart it.”

I'm not sure where Obama gets the idea that he has done anything other than increase the cost of gas. Even if you believe he did nothing to effect the cost of oil, the fact remains that he is clearly not doing anything to bring the rising costs down. It is clear from his history that he is wanting our gas prices to rise to the levels we currently see in Europe. This would be near or around 8 USDs per gallon.

Imagine what would happen under those prices. You can say goodbye to delivery services since it will not be worth the effort to deliver anything. The cost would be way too much. All of the goods that are shipped to grocery stores, department stores, and any other store will increase because the huge cost of transportation that will be passed down to the consumer. We are not Europe. We need our cars and our trucks to transport ourselves and goods across the country. Many people will not be able to even go to work or if they do, the first few hours they work will be solely to cover the cost of gasoline to get to and from work. I suppose we are expected to take public transportation but many cities were not planned to handle only public transportation. In order for that to work correctly, cities would have to tear down, re-plan, and rebuild, costing tax payers even more money that the people simply do not have.

Many Americans do not live near a major city that has some form of transportation. They live in small communities and rely on their vehicles to drive them into the city for work, food, clothes, and entertainment. All of which are major contributions to the overall economy. If Obama has his way, he will literally strangle the life out of our already oxygen starved economy.

I have to wonder what the motivation is here. Why would Obama want to cripple us more? Are we supposed to believe that he does not realize how much of our economy is based on the production of oil? It is one thing to promote different forms of clean energy but to force this issue in a way that will result in the economy going into a severe depression is an entirely different issue. Obama cannot claim he is helping the little guy when it is clear that his goal with oil prices will result in the destruction of the little guy.

He doesn't want to admit it, but President Obama is taking credit for something George W. Bush did. 

The White House is touting federal data that shows domestic oil production is at its highest level since 2003. In a blog post last week, Obama’s top climate and energy aide, Heather Zichal, points to Energy Information Administration data that shows oil production from the Outer Continental Shelf (which basically means the Gulf of Mexico) has increased by more than a third between 2008 and 2010. 

EIA Administrator Richard Newell says it takes several years for any major federal policy action -- such as issuing leases -- to affect domestic oil production.

“Even if one has development drilling going on, there is about a one- to three-year lag between drilling and production that one will see,” Newell said during a break in a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Thursday. “If you’re on a longer term -- for example, new leases being issued in an area -- you can be on a several-year time frame before you can see a relationship between new leases and production. So there are significant lags.” 

While Bush was in office from 2001 to 2009, the oil and gas industry saw many new leases and other expanded drilling opportunities. In March 2010, Obama announced plans to expand offshore drilling, but he retreated in the aftermath of the BP oil spill.

Click here for article.

I think it's safe to say that Obama's numbers and claims are more than a bit fuzzy. He seems to be under the impression that he can go forward with his agenda without fully disclosing what his final goal is. Unfortunately for him, people are catching on and they are not happy.

It appears as though the Obama administration is actively blaming Wall Street for high gas prices. This is consistent with Obama's policy to take no responsibility for anything that goes wrong.

From article:

Dozens of House and Senate Democrats are urging federal regulators to implement limits on speculative trading in energy futures markets that the lawmakers call a major factor behind the run-up in gasoline prices.

House and Senate Democrats are increasingly citing Wall Street speculation to counter GOP election-season political attacks over gas prices.

Even if this is the case, it does not take away the fact that Obama refuses to ever admit fault in anything. Blame, blame, blame. How about fixing the problems? Maybe it's time for Obama to stop golfing and actually start doing his job. Would it not be classier for Obama to do something about these problems instead of taking every opportunity he can to bash the Republicans? What ever happened to the tradition of not speaking badly about those that have served before you?