Kerry has an ad on his website called Oil house.
While it’s more factual than Bush's ad titled “Whacky,” and in fact Bush’s oil connections go well beyond those in the ad, I have a problem with the conclusion this online ad reaches.
It says that Bush's team has done nothing to lower oil prices because, where they come from, increased oil prices are a "good thing." I doubt that.
True, one should never underestimate the power of greed. But higher gas prices don’t help Bush's campaign or the job growth he needs to produce.
Rather, I think that this administration's ability and willingness to take the necessary actions are compromised by their connections with and dependence on the oil industry and its leaders. I also think that they simply aren't as capable or likely to think outside the oil barrel for energy solutions.
So whose fault is the gas prices? Well, OPEC is looking to make more money. And again, perhaps the Bush administration could have done more to address this issue. But we also have real issues with refining the crude oil into gas and distributing it. Nobody wants a new refinery in their town, and gas standards are a mess.
And frankly, it’s our own dang fault for being too unwilling to sacrifice a little convenience or to be demanding enough to truly encourage and use alternatives.
Kerry’s plan is put pressure on OPEC, simplify those diverse content and quality rules for gas in different states, no secret energy meetings or drilling in Alaska wilderness, and create 500,000 jobs in the renewable energy industry and in building fuel-saving cars. Might work.
Of course, such solutions will take time. So would increasing domestic oil production, which actually wouldn’t do much anyway, given the availability and the amount we already produce.
In the meantime, I agree with Bush that it would be a bad idea to tap strategic oil reserves during war time. But I also like Kerry's proposal, that instead of tapping the reserves we divert new incoming oil from being added to the reserves until the costs come down. And most importantly, let's get serious about reducing our dependence on that petroleum crack.
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