Hello
Wednesday drill under the cut.
First, the expected and hardly original "Drill, Barack, drill" headlines.
Personally, i think that Barack Obama's biggest problem is being decades ahead of the country he leads (Down the diary you can hear Nicolas Sarkozy saying something similar, albeit much more gently). His vision, the tools he uses and his assessment of what progress means are so far ahead, it's almost painful to see how he's trying to pull a country stuck in the 20th century and move it to the 21th.
As for this particular issue, i really can't see why the hysteria (Other than the fact that we had a week of unity, and it's been more than a week since Obama was called "weak" on the FP). None of this is going to happen for years, and it may not happen at all, because it's all a big bluff:
more than 44 million acres of onshore public lands are leased for oil and gas development and yet most of it is not being drilled. All tolled (onshore and offshore), 68 million acres are leased and sitting idle. Over 10,000 permits are currently 'stockpiled' by industry...
...It has been estimated that if all of those currently inactive leases were drilled, the USA would produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas EVERY DAY, accounting for a doubling of US oil production and a 75% increase in US natural gas production. The Minerals Management Service tells us that about 80% of fossil fuels available in offshore are currently available for development.
Here's a map of where many of the permits to drill are. These huge amount of permits have been ready for years and still hardly any drilling has happened. Because if they'll drill more, they'll produce more, the price will go down, and who wants that. From 2001 to 2006, under George Bush, only one offshore oil rig was installed, off the coast of Louisiana. One, in six years.
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This new policy is nothing more than a political maneuver that may help get environmental legislation that will be worth decades of progress towards clean energy - Because this is going to be even tougher than Health Care. As Ambinder said:
with one fell swoop, Obama deprives Republicans of the major talking point they'd use to object to more expansive government-based climate remediation and energy prospecting policy.
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Anyway, hate it or hate it, this is another Obama decision that despite attempts to spin it, is consistent with what he said during the campaign:
October 7, 2008:
"I believe in the need for increased oil production. We're going to have to explore new ways to get more oil, and that includes offshore drilling".
August 1, 2008:
"Sen. Barack Obama suggested he could accept an expansion of offshore oil drilling today if it is in a broader package of energy measures that would free the logjam on energy bills in Congress.
"My interest is in making sure we've got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices," Obama said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post."
"Obama, through his Senate office, issued a written statement welcoming a proposal sent to Senate leaders Friday by 10 senators -- five from each party -- that would lift drilling bans in the eastern Gulf of Mexico within 50 miles of Florida's beaches and in the South Atlantic off Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, but only if a state agrees to the oil and gas development along its coast."
August 4, 2008:
"Sen. Barack Obama today softened his opposition to new offshore drilling, saying in a speech at Michigan State University that he is "willing to consider" allowing additional drilling in a limited number of offshore areas if it helps Congress pass energy legislation."
"In his speech, Obama indicated that his shift on offshore drilling is political, not philosophical. "I still don't believe that's a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term position," he said, but added that he did not want to make "the perfect the enemy of the good."
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For those who actually wants to listen to what the president said today, here it is:
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You want to see a REAL offshore energy enterprise:
Cape Wind announced today it has entered into an agreement with Siemens to supply 130 of its 3.6-Megawatt (MW) turbines for America’s first planned offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts.
In the next few weeks, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will make a momentous decision — the official, final, formal record of decision on permitting the nation's first offshore wind farm, Cape Wind. And after eight years of obfuscation, dilatory tactics and sharp practice by a well-funded opposition group wielding political power quite out of congruity with its level of popular support, his decision will come not a day too soon.
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Remember when it was forbidden to call French Fries, well, French Fries? I guess elections really have consequences, because if half of what Nicolas Sarkozy said about president Obama yesterday is true - Then it really is a new world. If you don't want to listen to the entire press conference, jump to around 16:00 mark.
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One day earlier, Sarkozy gave a speech at Colombia University, and had some blunt things to say about the new born health care reform in America:
...."Welcome to the club of states who don't turn their back on the sick and the poor," Sarkozy said, referring to the US health care overhaul signed by President Barack Obama last week.
From the European perspective, he said, "when we look at the American debate on reforming health care, it's difficult to believe".
"The very fact that there should have been such a violent debate simply on the fact that the poorest of Americans should not be left out in the streets without a cent to look after them... is something astonishing to us."
Then to hearty applause, he added: "If you come to France and something happens to you, you won't be asked for your credit card before you're rushed to the hospital."
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A LONG and beautiful story about the president's habit of reading 10 letters a day. Who knew that this small routine would become one of the heroes of health care reform (This is only the first couple of paragraphs. The whole thing is really worth reading):
For a look outside presidential bubble, Obama reads 10 personal letters each day
The black binder arrived at the White House residence just before 8 p.m., and President Obama took it upstairs to begin his nightly reading. The briefing book was dated Jan. 8, 2010, but it looked like the same package delivered every night, with printouts of speeches, policy recommendations and scheduling notes. Near the back was a purple folder, which Obama often flips to first...
....Inside, Obama found crinkled notebook pages, smudged ink, cursive handwriting and misspelled words -- a collection of 10 original letters that he considers among his most important daily reading material, aides said. Ever since he requested a sampling of mail on his second day in office, the letters have become a staple of his presidency. Some he immediately reads out loud to his wife; others he distributes to senior staff members aboard Air Force One. Some are from students requesting help with homework; others are from constituents demanding jobs or health care. About half of the letters, Obama said during a recent speech, "call me an idiot."...
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Richard Stengel, author of the book, Mandela's Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage is totally going there:
"Obama is a twenty-first century version of Nelson Mandela's values and persona"
"It is impossible to write about Nelson Mandela these days and not compare him to another potentially transformational black leader, Barack Obama. The parallels are many. I went to see Mandela during the Democratic presidential primaries last year and asked him whom he preferred, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. He smiled and then waved a finger at me in the universal gesture of, You're trying to get me in trouble. He would not answer. His restraint was characteristic.
That self-control, that omnipresent filter, is something the two men share. And while it took twenty-seven years in prison to mold the Nelson Mandela we know, the forty-eight-year-old American president seems to have achieved a Mandela-like temperament without the long years of sacrifice. Obama's self-discipline, his willingness to listen and to share credit, his inclusion of his rivals in his administration, and his belief that people want things explained, all seem like a twenty-first century version of Mandela's values and persona."
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Amazon notified me today that my next Obama reading is on the way, but it looks like i need to be ready for more:
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Blitz of Obama books is coming:
The White House has practically been overrun by journalists pumping top officials for behind-the-scenes details for a growing roster of behind-the-scenes books....
....The blitz has created complications for presidential aides, who have a country to run, and frustrations for the authors, who are clamoring for face time with their sources. One White House official calls the mounting demands "a pain" in the posterior, saying: "We try to engage when we can. No one is getting as much time as they want."
With the publishing world nourishing a deep appetite for all things Obama, those working on such books include Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, NBC's Chuck Todd, MSNBC's Richard Wolffe, The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and David Maraniss, the New York Times' Jodi Kantor and two New Yorker writers -- editor David Remnick and Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza. Time's Mark Halperin and New York magazine's John Heilemann...
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Madelyn Belliveau, of Saco, waits in line Wednesday, March 31, 2010, outside of the Portland Expo in Portland, Maine, to get tickets for President Barack Obama's visit Thursday. Belliveau arrived before 6 a.m., hoping to see the president on his first visit to Maine since being elected. (AP)
Seth Diemond smiles Wednesday, March 31, 2010, after getting tickets for President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Portland, Maine. Supporters waited in the rain for hours to get tickets for the event, where Obama will discuss health care. (AP)
Laura Lee Sawyer, left, hugs Christina Chamberlain, center, Wednesday, March 31, 2010, after they got tickets for President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Portland, Maine. Supporters waited in the rain for hours to get tickets for the event, where Obama will discuss health care. (AP)
President Barack Obama greets a young boy in the crowd prior to speaking on energy security at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, March 31, 2010. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)