Remember in November 2008 when Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said never let a good crisis go to waste? The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a crisis the Obama administration could have only dreamed of. Why?
The oil spill has given the liberals just the excuse they need to “starve this country of domestically produced oil.” The longer oil spills into the Gulf, the longer the president can use the crisis to gain support for his $1 trillion energy policy.
During his Oval Office address, the president shifted gears from the crisis itself to using the oil spill to talk up his energy policy. He stated “that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission… and seize control of our own destiny.”
Here’s a better idea, why don’t we get the Gulf coast cleaned up and instead of seizing control, why don’t we plug the leak?
The president continued that his energy policy would create millions of jobs. He has in the past said he wants us to model our energy policy after Spain, whose government created so-called “green jobs.”
But Spain is now on the verge of bankruptcy. For every green job created by government invention, hiking welfare cost, and undermining economic growth, they lost 2.2 private sector jobs.
In fact, a 2009 study from King Juan Carlos University says the subsidizing of renewable energy was “a complete disaster.” Translated into American dollars, each “green job” cost $774,000 since the program was started in 2000. As energy prices rise, job loss will increase as companies move out of the country.
The president seems to think we are recovering from the Great Recession. But just look at the numbers: national unemployment is still hovering close to 10 percent, thousands of people in the Gulf are being put out of work because of the president’s moratorium on oil drilling, and the president’s request for an additional $50 billion to bailout states again. Now is not the time to transition to clean energy. The president even admitted that under his policy “electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”
It appears that the White House will try and get an energy bill done this year. Congressional liaison Phil Schiliro announced that the Senate will look to take up an energy bill after the July 4 recess with a vote on the final version during the lame duck session in November/December so that House members won’t have to make another “tough” vote before they face the voters.
The president continues to say that from day one, his administration has been on top of this. He states “from the very beginning of this crisis, the federal government has been in charge.”
Well, folks if this is the best they can do, then we are in trouble.
During his address, the president laid out his “battle plan” which included cleaning up the Gulf (a no brainier), helping our neighbors (as Americans, this comes naturally), and making sure a catastrophe like this never happens again (well, he must think he is the Messiah, because that is an impossible task; accidents do and will happen, it’s part of life, get used to it).
Gulf leaders have begged the president to not put into place his moratorium on off-shore drilling but he refuses to listen. Putting thousands of people out of work will devastate the Gulf coast economy but the president doesn’t seem to care. He even acknowledged that his moratorium will cost jobs and believes it is BP’s responsibility to pay the “unemployment benefits” for his actions.
BP should be held accountable for the disaster in the Gulf. They should pay for the cleanup. They should pay for the financial losses of the businesses directly affected by the spill. If the company used cheaper wells for their off-shore drilling, then they should be held accountable.
However, I would like to see the incompetent federal government officials at the MMS who signed off on the deep-water drilling measures for BP dragged before Congress and questioned in the same childish manner as the BP CEO.
America has an even bigger problem than the oil spill. This crisis is reminding us just how incompetent our federal government is. They halted the use of barges off the coast of Louisiana because they needed to count the number of life jackets on board.
Seriously, you couldn’t have counted the life jackets some other way?
They turned down the help of more than two dozen foreign countries, including the Dutch, the Norwegians, the Saudis, who have experience in underwater drilling.
Yes, they did approve the construction of new barrier islands in Louisiana six weeks after Governor Jindal made the request.
The federal government has shown us that they can’t be trusted with taxpayer money. Why would people in the Gulf trust them with this fund? While Ken Feinberg did a good job with the 9/11 fund, the fund set up for Katrina victims was filled with fraud and abuse.
And in case you need reminding, the federal government announced in August 2009 that they will send $2 billion to Brazil to drill off-shore for oil. The chief beneficiary of this project is none other than George Soros. Soros’ principal investment just happens to be in oil and the Brazilian-owned company, Petrobras (the largest investment in his portfolio).
It’s good to know that the administration is in favor of lower energy prices, limiting the use of fossil fuels, and the exploration of new resources in one America. Unfortunately, it’s not North America.
Laura Lunsford
Fayetteville, Ga.
