CNN

Obama has a point.

I am absolutely appalled at President Bush for only pushing for more drilling in US territory. It goes to show you who he works for. I agree that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil imports, BUT we also NEED an alternative energy plan. Oil is finite! I wonder if he gets that, or is just ignoring the fact and continuing to be the oil’s company’s puppet.

We can drill for more of our own oil, but we need to have a structure in place for alternative energy so we don’t get caught with our pants down when oil dries up. We also need to start reducing green house gases. Bush obviously doesn’t care about that, and that has been proven with Cheney’s doctored CDC report on climate change.

Obama isn't tied to oil. He knows the stakes. I believe this guy really does care about the direction of the country.

In reality some of the oil would hit the market within 5 years. Just starting the process would worry speculators enough to lower the cost of oil some. In the long run it would benefit the economy to keep the billions of dollars we will be paying for oil in 10 years and beyond in America instead of paying it to other countries; even if the cost of oil continues to go up. That said, alternative fuels are the long term solution so we don't revisit this every 20-30 years. They need a renewable fuel tax of $10 a barrel charged on the oil brought to the refineries (US or foreign oil) which would be solely directed at creating renewable energy sources. With American ingenuity and over a billion a year from tax revenue we should get renewable resources within 3 decades. But first we need to stop arguing.

I don't see any lines at the station so it's not supply and demand. Its the falling dollar, McCain's former financial adviser's Enron loophole,
and of course Irans oil bourse not trading in dollars. Industrialized Hemp can solve all of our fuel problems it is four times more efficient than sugar cane and can be growen from coast to coast. But the oil companies will not let the legislation from the thirties be reveresed because it will put them out of business and put fuel production in the hands of the farmers who would grow it. It's why Hemp was outlawed 60 years ago when Henry Ford created fuel out of it and plastice 10 times stronger than steel.

"Alice in Florida"... well, I suppose that name alone explains why you'd be voting for someone with the EXACT OPPOSITE AGENDA as Hillary.

I'm sure you paid off some of her debt, though... right?

Obama is not getting it.You have to have off shore oil and new clean energy also. Canada is rich in oil in alberta. In newfoundland they were loosing the people to the down turn in the fisheries and now they have off shore oil and it is booming, now saskatcewan is getting oil and they are rich in potash so their crumbling economy is booming and they are asking peole to come move their as they have new houses and stores growing faster than ever and they need workers.you also critize hillary for the tax relief at the pump idea like macain also wanted to help the people temporary but obama was against it well how come he did it for his own people in chicago?I guess it is all about who you favor so you can get ahead.

The last I checked, we were a capitalistic society. Why is it then that the Dems always want to punish those who have been successful? Why don't you go ahead and redistribute the wealth while you are at it as well. If big oil profitted, good for them...that is afterall, the American dream. Dems always want a handout. God forbid you work and make your own lot in life instead of always trying to get some freebies from the state or fed goverment. I'm not a wealthy person, but I don't blame rich people and expect them to chunk out a larger percentage of their well earned money simply for the fact they make more. Give me a break...Dems want to railroad anything that might work and make them look bad.

***************************************

NO DECEPTION HERE. IT IS NOT IN HIS BEST INTEREST TO BE AGAINST OFFSHORE DRILLING. HES NOT GOING TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF THIS STAND.

ON THE OTHER HAND, THIS ADMINISTRATION GOES TO SHOW THEY ONLY IN THIS FOR ONE THING AND THAT IS OIL.

MONEY....OIL......MONEY ......OIL.

STOP THE MADNESS. VOTE OBAMA.

THANKS OBAMA FOR TELLING US THE TRUTH

What baloney! Pelosi screams we need to cut into our reserves to lower prices and Obama screams gettting more oil by drilling won't affect prices. They are not on the same page economically. Listen: where will we be in 10 years – broke from giving all our money for oil to people who despise us. What is the democrats plan – conserve? Can't we do that too? Why would we not want to drill for our own oil? We don't complain about other countries drilling for oil. Why the hypocrisy? Lets drill for our own oil.

yes! it is a scheme Mcwar/MCshame/McBush his the one that put us in this hole now he wants to dig more with Bush. obama 08!!!!

Arrrrrrrghhh! This guy infuriates me! Who does he think he is to say that offshore drilling wouldn't bring prices down? Apparently, he thinks the 70% of us that support offshore drilling are beneath him. Heck, oil prices fell when Bush merely lifted the presidential ban on drilling. I can see the McCain ad now – "Obama said that if he thought he could provide you some immediate relief on gas by drilling off the shores of California and New Jersey he'd do it. McCain knows he can provide you some relief by drilling and he will do it. Don't just hope for lower gas prices, vote for them!” And the saddest think of all is that this comment won't even get published because CNN is in the tank for Obama.

Yeah lets invest in "Alternative" and "Renewable" energy that doesn't exist, while we keep using our kids college tuition to fill up our cars. I guess we can keep doing that until our beloved "Alternative" fuel source arrives.

Oh! The Irony: Oil goes into a world bank. In other words, oil produced here wouldn't necessarily stay here. Either way it would do little to help our situation. The problem isn't creating more oil, the problemis our oil dependence.

Oil doesent goto a world bank, I suggest educating yourself on how oil is distributed and priced, as well as our Oil Futures Market. We will probally continue to use Oil in some form for the next hundred years, but we do need to begin to rely on other forms of energy... the problem is how long is it before we can do that, and why are we importing oil when we have it here...its killing our trade deficit and really discounting our dollar.

Everyone keeps saying that drilling will not have any impact on prices for eight to ten years. I certainly believe this.

How long do you think it will take for alternative energy sources to have an euql impact? Probably eight to ten years.

We have to do it ALL. Drill in OUR OWN country, invest in alternatives, and conserve. To ignore one solution and totally write it off is unrealistic. It is idealism and not practicality.

One thing I can tell all of you Sierra club, tree huggers... Someone is going to drill there eventyally. My suspicion is that China will park an oil rig a mile outside and angle their drills in there. I would rather have it be us, but mark my words. Someone is going to drill it. If not now, then later when oil is $200 a barrel... $300 even.

Money makes things happen... Not pie in the sky ideas.

It's like this...advocates of off shore drilling... you can't be on crack while in rehab. Drilling for oil while seeking alternatives sounds like a great idea only on the surface...we have to experience drawbacks to achieve energy independence...especially after over decades of our addiction to this "crack". Judgement '08.

I call Obama trying to get people to vote for him by filling their heads by talking CHANGE over and over nothing but a scheme to get elected. In reality it's a farce when it comes to meaninging he would be an effective President. Don't drink the Koolaid! NOBAMA!!!

I wish people could understand if we still need that oil in 10 years when we'd get it ,we would be in terrible trouble with global warming.
I am not a scientist , I am a retired electronic engineer but I've had enough scientific training to know bunko science from real science and global warming is REAL!!! and its terrifing and its becoming a sippery slope. Al Gore is right and Obama knows it.

FACT – We are already drilling offshore. Are there any drilling platforms or oil workers sitting idle? The answer is NO.

The oil drilling companies have a 5 year backlog of work. That's why they are making Billions of dollars.

McCain is pushing drilling because it sounds good, and he's hoping that people are stupid enough to buy into it.

Unfortunately, it might work

MACCAIN TO OLD TO LEAD

Yeah lets invest in "Alternative" and "Renewable" energy that doesn't exist, while we keep paying our kids college tuition to fill up our cars while we wait for the "Alternative" energy technology to arrive.

With all of this howling about Obama...

can any of you republiCONs tell me something good about mccain besides, vietnam war and maverick?

And I don't mean spin.. i don't mean propaganda... give me something tangible.

it was finance reform.... until he voted agains his own bill

he has taken the party line of the last 8 years on every single thing.

ALPHA MALE: I want an alpha male for president. Do you really want someone that is going to sit around, call names, make attack ads, and whine all week long. Oh Iran won't listen to me, oh France called me a bad name, oh China is not playing fair. Silly!!! I WANT AN ALPHA MALE.

why do I get censored so much in here? Is this not a valid point?

The media SHOULD be asking, "why are the oil companies not drilling in the millions of acres they have?"

HE"S RIGHT FOLKS.....oil is a depleatable resource. When its gone ......its gone. This country needs to call on our brillance for solving problems and find new sources of energy. Just as we exploded the Industrial revolution ( Now the Rust Belt) that drove the economies of the world for a hundred years ....so can we do this !!! Listen to Mr Pickens and Sen. Obama. We have become complacent and lazy. Lets work together for solutions !!! NEW Oil drilling will take ten years to hit the market and will only extended the eneviatable...at great costs. Set a goal like we did to get the moon. We need to stop this greed and selfishness. YES WE CAN !!! Follow a leader with a plan not an old whinner than can not even sign on to a computer. I can do that and I'm 60 years old !!! Go Obama

Those people that do not agree with Obama statements probably drives an SUV . We can drill to China, but the addiction will only get worse. We need to change our behavior and be innovative in how we can reduce the need for oil. Obama tells it like it is. The truth. Sometimes the truth hurts.

Theirs hundred of million of land though out the South not in use which in one year could start producing Bio-fuel. Why spend government su.. for fossel fuel when penny on the dollar Bio-plants can be built within six month and first raw material nine month later. Way to go.

Obama you and your ego is a scheme. You offer nothing to America but taxes, fluffy speeches and a inflated ego so big your head won't fit through the door.

Your ego check is coming in November. So by all means continue with your fluff and arrogant elitist attitude.

This is a sign of Obama's leadership qualities. Obama choses to take a position not popular in the polls, but one essentially correct based on economics and science.

Offshore drilling, like McCain's gas tax holiday scheme, does not provide a solution for our energy independence. Obama has my support here, because he does speak like a typical politician, He thinks through the problem and sees the big picture.

Randy,
After reading your post ONCE, i understood what you meant. What you meant was to take what Obama said and twist it into something stupid and un-defendable.

nah... I got it... and i got YOU.

If Obama thinks we can be off oil in 10 years he's back to using cocaine. We will need oil as part of the mix for decades, even with major investment in alternative fuels. His opposition to nuclear is insane as well. France gets 80% of it's electrical power from nuclear. Modern designes are safe an efficient. It emits no greenhouse gases, and with reprocessing our supply of uranium will last centurys. Wwe need every means possible to generate power. Obama just doesn't get it.

Another reason we can't vote for Obama and the Obama Democrat.
He’s a big spender. He probably will be listed as the most expensive candidate in the history.

Maybe somebody can give us ideas how much money was spent already on the secret service throughout the primary season alone and how much more if he keeps it up and how much money was spent on his first foreign trip as a presumptive candidate.

He hasn’t delivered anything concrete yet. I’m afraid what will be like with Obama and the current congress when they get the power.

When Bush took office 8 years ago, gas was $1.46 a gallon. I think that speaks for itself as far as who to trust when it comes to a realistic plan.

In order for us to have any sort of chance of beating this energy crisis we have to put as much as we can into more research and development on sustainable energy. The oil coming from off-shore drilling isn't able to go to directly to the U.S., it will be put in the world market for sale just like everything else we buy. For me waiting seven years for a small change is not enough, if we begin developing more and more sustainable products like electric cars or solar energy the cheaper it will be in years to come.

You people keep talking about the oil leases the oil companies have now and are not drilling. the reason they are not drilling is there is no oil in these fields. Do you think the dems will lease them land with oil actually in the fields Wake up. Price is high because of supply and demand. I use to farm When demand was High Price was too. Economics still works that way today. Drill Now. then push for alternative energy. I'm all for Solar power, Electric Cars, Wind Power nuclear power. But that is a long way before it helps our energy needs. Your normal working man can't afford to buy a hYbrid car or put solar panels on his House. He has to keep buying Gas to go in his 10yr old car to do the best he can. Drill and keep prices going down.

What people don't know the Oil we drill will be going to who?? .. you guessed it the Greedy Oil Companies .. not the American People ... Exxon Mobile, Shell etc . . those who are controlling the prices of the oil ... If you think they care about you .. you all are Idiots .. can't blame you all .. you all voted for Bush (the biggest Oil's Man in America) .... These people only care about their pockets .....

You people are just pausing the Inevitable .. We will be soon investing in Alternative Sources of Energy sooner or Later .. why not sooner ....??

Mc Cain, Bush, Cheney are all in the Tank for the Oil Companies

hey, what if we were to just close our eyes and pretend where we wanted to be and then when we opened our eyes we'd be there!! that would be totally awesome!! okay maybe if we closed our eyes with an ear of corn and a windmill – awesome!

i wonder if obama's car runs on gasoline. i bet it does. or the private jets he flies all around in.

he's just kowtowing to the pipe dream treehuggers who are clueless about economics.
there is absolutely no way oil will not still be a main energy source 10 years from now. you can invest in other sources of energy all you want, but you just won't come close to replacing oil in 10 years. nobody tells a heroin addict if he just stays sober today, he'll be clean forever right?

oil companies do have land for use. unfortunately all the best spots to drill for oil are on restricted land. oil may come from the ground, but it's not EVERYWHERE.

we need to start building nuclear power plants NOW, and drilling for more oil here in america NOW. these are long term problems, and a quick fix is exactly what WON'T work. drilling for more oil in our own country, keeping the money here and providing jobs for americans, is a LONG TERM piece of puzzle. it's not going to completely cure anything, but an issue as complex as national energy will never be resolved overnight or with 1 fix.
if we had started drilling 5, 10 years ago we wouldn't have continued digging our hole deeper now would we?

obama and his obamaniacs are just stick their heads in the sand when it comes to the facts about energy use in america.

Why can't we drill for oil and explore alternative energy possibilities at the same time? Democrats are to focused on satisfying the environmental extremists, and not focused on what will help the citizens. If the US said it would drill for oil, then the market would realize the supply will get larger and prices will go down. I guess the Democrats didn't pay attention in Econ 101. Pelosi's vote blocking scheme is just another example of partisan politics in its purest form.

Change isn't always for the best. Progress is what makes our Country better!
Bob Barr 08!

John McCain's answer to this will be "Senator Obama opposed the surge, I didn't. The surge has worked and senator Obama will not acknowledge the fact".

That has been McCain's "message" for close to a month now.

If he's not comparing Obama to Spears and Hilton, he is touting that the "surge" has worked.

Now that's straight talk. This is what he meant when he said that we may have to deal with some things that we may not want to hear, but it's for our good. All the experts are saying that we won't see the benefits of this for at least 10 years. I've heard some say 20 years. And the benefits will be PENNIES!

The answer is not more drilling; we need to break free from this dependency on fossil fuels!

Thanks, Sen. Obama for having the courage to be honest.

Are you kidding me? This guy wants to take our reserves so we will never have them again. Ya, he's a great visionary. We need to drill for new oil and work on alternate forms of energy
It wasn't important before because we didn't need it. We need it now. Stop the stupid bickering. We need all forms of energy.

With trillions of dollars to be made in the transition to renewable energy resources, I can't figure out why the Republicans want to stick with the fossil stuff. Obama will go in there, support renewables, and balance the Bush deficit with tax revenue from these new industries before the Republicans will realize that this sort of vision is what made us #1 in the world. If we want to keep that spot, we'd better catch up and start to lead in this field.

The republic party scream machine is at full-throttle howl pretty early in the game. They are worried. They are very worried. It, and the pink elephant in the room (closet racism) are the only reasons Obama does not have a 30 point lead.

But mark my words... as loud as they are screaming now... it is about to be DEAFENINGLY loud before this "campaign" is over.

listen for it.

remember, a Bush person is now running tha mccain campaign. The drumbeat of attacks has been consistent since he took over on July 2nd.

I want to know what people out there are thinking when they say Off Shore drilling will lower gas prices? Like in the next month or year we'll see Gas back down to $2 a gallon?

I don't see how Obama saying that by opting into off shore drilling won't help our situation is him twiddling his thumbs – but more so focus on what he wants to do with alternative energy. however we all know that Oil companies are freaking out about that thought!

Maybe we should invest in off shore drilling for some future use, because lets face it for the next 100 years we'll still need it – however for the next 1,000 years we'll be needing something else – so it's time to focus on alternative fuels.

No McBUSH

Experts have estimated the total reserves of the world oil can only produced 800 billions of barrels left with us, world consumption: 76 millions per day, it looks like planet Earth has have oil for about 10,000 days left, Its about 27 years from now.

Obama is VERY right to Prepare Americans of the REALITY before it's too late.He has the Vision of the Future,unfortunately many Americans still dont realise.

Alice? Alice? is that you again? I thought the guys with the white coats came and got you a few weeks ago....listen, take your meds, lay off the Johnny Walker, ( you thats a contradiction, cause it might cause retardiness in outspoken gibberish).... on election day....do us all a favor and double up on your medication and just lie down.

Cincinatti girl, excellent post. If you all truly want relief from the scourge of high energy prices, Americans need to wean themselves off oil. My gf and I bike 5 miles to work everyday and we have lost weight & saved [a lot of] money doing it. Until people realize that it is not sustainable to live 50 miles away from work just so you can have the big house and big yard and drive your SUV to work, until then you will all have to deal with this. Offshore drilling or not. Obama has proposed many ideas to help with this, please stop saying he's doing nothing just because he's doing nothing for big oil. It's about time someone had such a mindset as president. Thank you.

We need to stop using so much oil and focus on clean alternative energy. I just don't see that happening with a republican in office.

Same old BS from the Dems, including Obama, and it appears most of you responding to this article have bought into that BS. They keep saying don't drill here, don't drill there because it's not going to give us IMMEDIATE relief at the pump. WELL OF COURSE IT"S NOT GOING TO GIVE US IMMEDIATE RELIEF, these things take time, everyone with half a brain knows that!! Dems lie about another fact and that is how long it will take before that oil would impact us as well ... they repeatedly say 10+ years ... it's more like 5 to 8 years depending upon circumstances. Fact of the matter is if we had started to do something on ANWAR 5-10 years ago, we would be enjoying the fruit of our labor now and oil wouldn't be $140 a barrel. And if we don't start drilling for oil off-shore now, gas WILL be $10 a gallon in the near future because we didn't do anything to prevent it.

Rethuglian McCain wants to do is Drill, Drill, Drill, kind of like his bomb, bomb, bomb Iran recommendaton.

McCain is just another Repuker sycophant who has no solutions, is clueless about the real issues, uses slimy political tactics because he has no vision, no answers and is useless as "tits on a boar hog" ,as my grandfather would say.

Thank you GOP (Grand Oil Party) for siding with the oil companies. Open as much land as you can for the oil companies before Bush and Cheney leave. Don't make them use the 68 million acres they already have just give them a few more million acres so they can sit on that too. What a scam.

I am sick and ******* tired of the Democrats stonewalling the development of domestic nuclear and oil resources. The French get 90% of their power from nuclear, so why can't we? Nuclear has no emissions. Oil is in everything – energy, fuel, food and plastic products and we can't just stop using it. Oil has a part in everything that you see, touch, hear or taste. The cost of everything will go up as it goes up! How can we develop alternate technologies and "save the environment" if our People can't afford to buy food or clothing or drive to work?

There are people on this board stating that we should do this now. Excuse me, where were you in the 70's when we had long lines of cars waiting for gas? There were gas stations that really did run out of it.

There have been NO gas stations in my town that has put out the signs saying "Out of Gas" let alone closed because they didn't have any in their tanks.

It has been 30+ years and we still depend on other country's for our oil so, don't blame the Democrates or Republicans, they all share enough blame to go around. No one wanted an alternitive fuel because they didn't want to spend the money needed.

Education is a terrible thing to waste, so is not using fact check about all the b.s that has been slung during this campaign.

Now let's see - OB want's to WAIT. WAIT for what – the next crisis ? Is this how he plans to handle any situation that comes up – WAIT and SEE? We will be going down the tubes real fast if that the case. Do we really want this kind of thinking in our PRESIDENT? I believe we NEED A MORE DECISIVE LEADER. We need one with some hands-on experience. Let's think our VOTE. THINK THINK OR write in SOMEONE. THIS IS Sooooooooooooooooo IMPORTANT !

The GOP under the rule of George Bush and Dick Cheney will say anything to get the American people to believe that opening enviromentally sensitive land will bring down gas prices.

The real plan is to get as much land freed up for the big oil companies before George Bush and Dick Cheney leave office.

So what the latest polls are saying is that we have a bunch of naive Americans willing to believe the lies coming from the Republcan party. Haven't they fooled us enough? How much more of beating can we take?

Why didn't the Republicans open up for offshore drilling in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, or 2006, when they controlled all three branches of the government?

Oh yeah, that's right, it's because then they wouldn't have been able to make it a phoney baloney political issue for idiots to salivate about.

Some of you Dems are stupid beyond belief-
Let's give the Oil $$$ to people that hate us rather to those we can have some control over–
In 1996 the Repulican Congress sent a bill to President Clinton on drilling-
Dems said no need-but in 2001 in 5 years we would have decreased our depenedency–
It's easier to get Oil 100 Miles off our shores than 5000 miles–

Connie–Please know your facts–
Clinton Vetoes you idiot-
They allow you to vote–
That in itself makes this a great country-

He is Mikle NOSTAR,,,,. He know oil will be 12 p.g. KING OBAMA. Fell like Africa. People idiot.

He is right!!

There's only one question Americans need to ask themselves on this issue: Are we really the United States of Ignoramuses?

Obama '08 or revolution because another boot straps republican is the end of America...the world!!

There have been reports that it might only take 2 yrs. But the point is that this idiot does NOT understand that we have to start someplace to get out from under being the puppets of forgein oil. Also we keep lining the pockets of the obscenely rich while we keep biting the bullet. With out being self sufficient we are at the mercy of anyone that wants to cut us off and that is the first step in loosing OUR AMERICA. It is called NATIONAL SECURITY for the USA. Stop and think if Iran decided to close or tie up the straights over there. the whole world would be in trouble. We need someone that understands and has the best interests of America in their heart. Not a power player with all the visions of grandeur.
Independent thinking Granny.

Wow,

Did Senator John McCain said Big Oil don't tell him what to do..... Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.

Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month — three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban — compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May

Not sure why one part of the issue never seems to come up:

Every dollar spent on one source is NOT being spent on something else.

So, you can't just "do everything" in a world of limited funds – the equation that we should be trying to solve (and I admit, I think O gets this), is for every dollar we spend on the next part of our energy strategy, what is the nature of payback we're likely to get? Short-term, long-term, etc.

I'm actually in favor of ALLOWING the drilling, but if it's so easy and profitable, then Big Oil should have no problem with agreement terms that allow America to be sure that some of the money is getting funneled toward renewables IMMEDIATELY. They're asking us to bet with our environment – we should ask them to bet with their predictions of abundance.

THE REPUBS ARE PROTECTING THEM FROM THIS KIND OF TOUGH DEAL – AND THAT'S WHAT OBAMA IS SAYING WHEN HE SAYS WE'VE SLANTED POLICY TOWARD THE OIL COMPANIES.

THIS IS THE KIND OF LEADERSHIP WE NEED!!!

This is exactly like the ridiculous gas tax "holiday" that McCain supported and Obama exposed for what it really was.....ANOTHER SCHEME.

But when the dust settles and they find out the truth about this as well -of course they won't give Obama the credit he RIGHTFULLY DESERVES for making this known as well.

Obama 08/12

Obama is telling the truth even though it's not what the majority wants to hear. McCain is lying about offshore drilling to win an election.

Does any one wonder why now in his last few months in office Bush is pushing for offshore drilling? This is an issue that could have been easily solved when congress and senate were republican. He is now turning around and blaming a democratic congress for the oil crisis – excuse me – who has been in charge for 8 years?? Over and over again it has been said by people in the know is that offshore drilling will not help in the short term and in the long term it will make very little difference. Why is America so scared of alternatives? is it because the conservatives are so far behind in understanding technology that it scares them? We have a sitting president that speaks of 'internets' and we have a republican incumbent that doesn't know how to use the internet and can't send e-mail – so what interest in moving forward? what interest in new solutions or technology? I fear for America if McSame gets elected....

OBAMA 08 OBAMA 08 OBAMA 08

Obama., aka Dr. No
speaks again with no solution only a "No"

Drill now for the shot term,
then develop Wind, Nukes, Hydrogen Cars, Alternative Fuels

Most Americans want offshore drilling. Obama thinks it's a scheme. Seems like Obama is the scheme, as most Americans aren't suckers like that.

Obama is a fool. Oil prices are determined by speculation within the futures market. It's real simple. The idea that more oil from another source upping the supply would drive speculation for the "future" of oil towards a decrease in the price/barrel of oil set by OPEC and other oil exporting nations. You see the impact by just floating the idea that we will be drilling and producing our own oil has done to drive prices down already on the price of gas at the pump? Nevertheless, implementing policies that would make us more dependent on ourselves and not foreign nations is smart and in that interim time we can carry out more r&d on alternative/cleaner energy options. People, there doesn't exist wind powered automobiles or inexpensive electric cars or H2 fuel cell vehicles. Speaking about what ought to be and what is are two totally different things. What is is that we live in a world "driven" by petroleum at the moment and we should be maximizing our own resources to keep prices down at the pump while implementing r&d on cleaner technologies and putting to use already existing technologies like nuclear and coal. I"m voting for the only man who has a talked about implementing a "manhattan" like project approach to solving this energy problem, and not the man who is part of a group of people who are doing everything in there power to keep oil prices high to affect a substantial level of control over your lives and to hinder your basic economic freedoms. That person with the vision is John McCain and not Obama. I don't understand how this isn't evident to the majority of you guys.

The Republicans cannot take the high ground on this.

Jimmy Carter, often vilified even today, started tax credit programs, installed solar panels on the White House. As soon as he was out, Ronald Reagan cancelled the programs (didn't want to upset his oil company contributors). So, let's not kid ourselves that coastal drilling or a gas tax holiday is the solution.

It's the speculators driving up the prices and the oil companies are doing well also. But, the development of China and India is important, too. It's time to starve big oil.

Every day Obama delays off-shore drilling is another day Americans will pay more than they need to for oil. A new kind of leader... not. Just another crazy tree hugger but with a deep voice and a smooth schtick.

To all the people that didnt click on "read rest of article", cnn buried Obama's main points there ... "To a standing ovation, he said, "And let's get serious about alternative energy sources like solar and wind and bio-diesel. Let's raise fuel efficiency standards on cars. Let's get plug-in hybrids all across America. Let's finally free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. That's the direction we need to go."

Those that thought he wasn't offering solutions were duped by the way cnn chose to hide the key points.

There you go again Barack sounding all reasonable and presidential . Keep telling the truth, while we watch McCain flip flop to keep up with you. Did you hear he is for the 16 month Iraq timetable if conditions on the ground are right. Since he keeps telling anyone who would listen that the surge worked I guess his buddy Mr. Bush can begin the timetable now. Score another one for you B.

OBAMA 2008!!!!!

TIME OUT!!!!!

If we would have drilled 8 to 15 years ago, would we be in Iraq? ...

Isn't this the main reason we went to Iraq, to secure more oil for the USA?

Now that Iraq has put us in the position of fighting $4 gas, now it is "unAmerican" to not want to drill? It was DADDY's idea to stop drilling in the first place!!!! And GW's go ahead for Iraq.

America, Republican leadership has done THIS!!!!!

Econ 101: supply and demand.

Congrats Senator. You fail.

Hello,? if drilling was the answer don't you think Bush SR. , and JR, would have been drilling years ago. Please wake up and smell the coffey dont let them fool you, something doesn't smell right. Listen to Obama the oil company's along with afew politians are running a scam.

Even McCain has admitted that his plan is for "psychological" help to help us through this "mental resession".

We needs REAL plans for the future! More oil is not where it is at. Every country in the world will need alternative energy increasingly over the next 20 years. We only help ourselves by investing in Research and Development.

The entire globe can buy our technology if we seize the moment and get proactive.

Obama said:

""To a standing ovation, he said, "And let's get serious about alternative energy sources like solar and wind and bio-diesel. Let's raise fuel efficiency standards on cars. Let's get plug-in hybrids all across America. Let's finally free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. That's the direction we need to go.""

Is that going to give anybody immediate relief????

How many years is that going to take????

Gawd, Obama is an idiot!!

"And let's get serious about alternative energy sources like solar and wind and bio-diesel. Let's raise fuel efficiency standards on cars. Let's get plug-in hybrids all across America. Let's finally free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. That's the direction we need to go."

The Democrats have picked someone that uses good judgment and knows what it will take to fix the mess the Republicans have us in. We need to quit worrying about the trying to get lower prices for oil and starting coming up with solutions to get rid of our dependence on oil and think about the future. People need to quit driving the SUVs and Hummers and start driving more fuel efficient cars so that the oil industry doesn't have us in this stranglehold anymore.

Isn't it nice to finally have a candidate around that speaks about issues and doesn't attack the competition?

Bush and the republicans started pushing the issue of drilling a few weeks ago and just the talk of it has lowered the price of gas nearly .50 cents on the gallon in alabama. Wake up Obama what you really fear is the fact of when you agree to drill and the price goes down You will look like once again you made the wrong call again. Won't even admit now that the surge worked.

I don't care if gas goes down to $2.00 a gal. I have permanently changed my driving. I sick and tired of giving the big oil companies my money!!!! My extra money has gone to Obama's campaign to fight the smears and pandering of McCain's campaign.

It's oo simple people....supply and demand...supply and demand. Once American realize that we don't need to drive as much...and stop driving as much...gas will stabilize.

Polls show that 2/3rds of Americans want off-shore drilling that will help stop our dependance on foreign oil. To this Obama says no! Okay Senator Obama what is your answer because you seem to spend a lot of time saying no and I seem to be spending more and more money for gas and with winter coming in Boston, I can't afford to have a President with no ideas.

At least Sen. McCain is putting out ideas and again based on the polls 2/3rds of the people seem to agree with him and not you.

Laura, Boston, MA

Biodiesel is a big lie. The US only has so much farm land, and if you are growing corn for fuel you are not growing it for food. The price of fuel and food will both go up.

Yeah, Obama, supplying Americans with more domestically produced oil is a scheme, but apparently withholding oil from America so they will have to go out and buy a new government mandated car to help bail out your union buddies in Detroit is not a scheme???

Obama is so freaking crooked, I cannot believe 40% of American's are supporting him.

For those of you who think drilling, by anyone, in this country is going to offset gasoline prices...you're a complete idiot. Your failure to understand how crude oil is processed is without comparison, please, for the love of all that is holy, shut your mouth.

Just what would be Husseins plan? I mean he has so much experience dealing with the issue and all. He has taken so many votes and presented so much debate on the issue during his extensive time in the senate--NOT
Just more talk from a man who has no record to back it up.

PUMA.
Mc 08
Hillary 12

Didn't Obama vote no to all of the recent bills trying to explore alternate energies? Now he is saying this is what we need? Why the change> Oh I forgot, he needs our vote now. FIipFLOP

bob July 30th, 2008 1:55 pm ET

this guy is completely out of touch…does he realize we have to do it at some point! if clinton would have done it 8 yrs ago we would be seeing the effects already! obama wants to do nothing to fix anything ..just likes to hear and see himself
____________________________________

hmmm.... are you so lacking of substance that you resort to the slinging of b.s.?

If CLINTON did it eight years ago, we would be seeing the effects already! And what about your cowboy?? Oh, I SEE he is off limits because you voted for him two times.

'concerned in alabama' is gutter snipe. grow up and leave the mcmaggot name out of the conversation.

He and the democrats are dumber than a bag of rocks. They DO NOT WANT to lower gasoline prices. Increasing supply always puts downward pressure on prices. The last issue of Parade Magazine (not exactly a political rag) said that oil companies were making around 7-8 % profit – less than most american companies. Taxing the oil companies more WILL NOT increase supplies, WILL NOT LOWER the cost of oil, and WILL NOT curtail inflation. It will just inflate the government's coffers at OUR EXPENSE.

no one responded to my question, so i did my own research.Obama said in 04 he is for decriminalizing it, in 08 he mistakenly said he was against it( misunderstood a question)his campaign said he is still for it.

McCain is for legalizing pot and taxing it like we do with alcohol and smokes.

just posted this info encase anyone els was wondering.

Every time he opens his mouth without a teleprompter in front of him, he shows how much of an idiot he truly is. 10 years? BS! They can have it within 2-3 years. And it's not OIL at $12/gal, it's GAS at $12/gal. And this economic wizard has it all figgered out to the PENNIES we would only save. Whataloadofcrap! My God, the arrogance and ignorance of this man shines as beacon to all on the left!

Just yesterday, California, Oregon and Washington states' governers stood together to oppose off shore drilling. It's time for the Atlantic Coast states to stand up.

We all know off shore drilling is the lamest "solution" we can come up with. It's a political trap set by the republicans. See the truth, folks. Do you're homework and see the real answers for yourself.

In 2006 when the Republicans control Congress gas was $2.50, since the Democrates took over gas is over $4.00.

This is a fact...who gets the blame?

If we drilled for oil today and we would not be able to process it into gas because we don't have enough refineries. We stopped building those about 30 years ago and the ones we have left are at full capacity. So ... first you have to build the refineries here in our country or we will pump the oil from the ground in the "good ole USA" and then send it off to Nigeria or some other foreign country for processing....therefore....still paying a kings ransom for our fuel. Have we totally forgotten what the process is for being self sufficient??

I think he should hammer this reasoning / logic down bush and mcbush's throats over and over again! The word "scheme" is particularly perfect!

OBAMA '08

Thank you Mr. Obama for having principles and not take a position only because it seems to be the popular choice. You are definitely the man I want as my president and we will be honored to have you in office. Finally a man with principles!!!

Oil willl be 12 dollars a gallon? Didn't know we were buying oil by the gallon....Interesting Obama. Get a clue!

STILL FOR HILL, JA Cook,

You must have missed my post. So I'll repeat. All you have to do is demand that your candidate put forth a bill for the gas tax holiday if he has such a great idea. He is a senator afterall.
I'll repeat, the summers wasting.............

McCain was going to do a offshore drilling even the other day but had to cancel because of an 88 mile oil spill! Not to mention that it will not help gas prices, because there isn't enough of it and it would not go into global markets...hence not changing the global price of oil.

We need to work smarter, not harder.
Obama 08!

So where was McCain 10 years ago? He keeps running on his record so where is it???

More than two thirds of Americans say they favor increasing drilling efforts while only 30 percent disapprove of such action.

Obama's ideology is obviously ahead of us in line...

Randy
where is the leadership when had two oil men is charged of this country engery policies for 7 and half years and gas went from around $1.50 a gallion to where it is now.We can not drill our out this
talk about someone who or wouldn't see the big picture.

Don't think for a minute oil will be drilled off the California coast. The only polls that matter are polls from the states which would be affected by offshore oil drilling. All you fly over states don't get a say. End of story!

I view offshore drilling as GWBushs parting gift to the big oil companies.

look at gold, platinum prices-when global citizens see a major nation 'ruled' by a stolen election, start a major war on lies? what would you do with that nation's currency, only paper as it now is? i'd both dump it fast for metals, and start 'ripping' the chumps any way possible. if Americans are so inept at thinking straight-they will be robbed-at the pump, grocery, pharmacy-time to get smart-thieves love dumb people-

People who are claiming that the mere thought of America announcing that they may be drilling for oil if the states involved agree to it are plain silly. India and China will step right in and buy any extra oil that is available.

And to out of thin air to claim that because Bush lifted the presidential freeze on off shore drilling lowered the price of oil have no idea about the global market and supply and demand.

People in other countries are not as uneducated as Americans think they are!!They know how slow Americans are at making decisions and how frozen all levels of gov't are.

Looking for a quick fix is what has caused the foe closure mess, the invasion of Iraq and the freetrade agreements which has lost jobs.

Now thats some straight talk my friends obama08

This all Repubican Political Gimmicks game,they wasn't serious about Offshore drilling,this just Political stunts.We Know the Cost of Off-shore drilling the figure around US200,000 a day, it's wasn't cheap,that any Oil company going to take this lightly .

They Just want excuses to reserve the right of the Whole USA rather then 68 million hectres given to them.When the Best time to Ask for more ?if Not Now.

IF we allowed and given permission to any off exploration US drilling I'm sure the doubt of any takers lightly. This just political game played by Republican on high agenda on expensive Gas prices hit the voters.

Texas Trail Pup!,
Again, I like the use of facts that you use to support your arguments. Do you know Mike from Texas. Maybe you both listen to the same radio shows.
Why don't you try and use less opinion and more facts to make your points. People would probably take you more seriously. Oh, and take the tinfoil hat off, there are no alien beams trying to read your thoughts.

I agree, if we can't see results from drilling immediately, then we shouldn't do it. Why wait ten years?

Using that same logic, I say we also stop funding cancer research, aids research, research into "alternative energy" (found in the dictionary under "rainbows, unicorns, sunshine, leprechauns and other things which will never power your car"), and the big Kahuna, we should stop doing anything to counter so-called "man made" global climate change because the earth won't really warm for another 60-100 years.

And as a matter of consistency, I say all higher education programs should be halted too, since you won't really begin to see a return on your investment for at LEAST five to ten years. Wow, what a great world to live in when we just think about right now... I mean "now"... no, I mean now... Now... now...

I'm really really happy that Obama will not take the easy pandering way to get votes. Wake-up..this is an honest noble man that will tell us the truth! He has said ,you may not agree with me , however we can disagree without being disagreeable. How refreshing! A leader that will be honest and truthfull. They are wrong to call him arrogant. He is confident ,and thats what a strong leader must be. Obama is brillant and his vision for our nation and the world, is the world I want for my grandchildren. God bless Obama and his family.

Oh Barack your the one thought now is the time and your the man of the hour. your a self annointed ultra liberal not even a democrate you just are using the party like you do with everyone. one burp and will be under the bus too.

Your campain will spin out of control soon and you know why once people start to really look at your record i.e. what record and the tactics you use and the company you keep. Nice try Barack you should have let Hillary take the lead. and learned from her , but no thats not big or flashy enough for you, so the Dems lose the WH again well at least we will have the congress.......:-

Meanwhile....., out in the real world.

"Crude posts biggest one-day gain in nearly 3 weeks on surprise decline in supplies"

"Get rid ov your Hummer and buy a ford escape hybrid or buy an old mercedes and have the engine converted to biodiesel."

Spoken like a true, affluent liberal with no clue about real Americans

Obama is absolutely right-by the time McCain's offshore oil hits our pumps in 10 years (and at only 2 cents cheaper than what we're paying now) we will have moved on to hybrid, solar and electric cars. Who is falling for McCain's plan?

I'm reminded of an episode of the Simpsons where Flanders' parents plead to a doctor, "Doc, you gotta help – we've tried nothign and we're all outta ideas!"

If offshore drilling won't help, then why has oil dropped more than $20 a barrel in two weeks since Bush rescinded the executive ban (a purely symbolic gesture given the Congressional ban)? Simple – it scared the speculators enough to think that oil prices might come down, so they started bidding them down.

But hey, let's say Senator Obama is right and it won't help – what's his idea?? I see nothing here. If he wants alternative energy, could he at least ask his pal Ted Kennedy to stop blocking Cape Wind??

Obama running for presidency is a scheme.

So Senator Obama believes it is MUCH better for CUBA AND CHINA to drill 50 miles off of the Coast of Florida than the United States.

Senator Obama can call McCain's plan a "scheme" all he wants, but Senator Obama VOTED FOR Bush's plan!

At least McCain is coming up with temporary AND long term solutions to the energy policy. Obama would RATHER stick the taxpayers with a $150 Billion dollar RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT plan with NO Guarantees.

I still ask Senator Obama instead of the R & D bill, why doesn't he look to ONE country in South America and MIRROR that plan? No need to waste $150 Billion in R & D when we could use it to implement a "like" plan when technology is ALREADY THERE!!!!

Creating more oil supply is a scheme!? Evidently Obama hasn't taken economics 101.

Obama= no false hope
Obama= truth
Obama= no gimmicks
Obama= Not just another politician
Obama= Our President

Most Americans that want off shore drilling don't live near the shore. So they say of course, why not, it doesn't affect me. For those of us that do, when I go to the beach I don't want to see oil rigs on the horizon. It's that simple.

Get used to it folks ... the price of gasoline is NOT going down significantly in the future no matter how much we drill .... anyone thinking we can actually get back to reasonably priced gas going forward is simply naive or ignorant.

Observation: Texas Trail Dog is deranged and needs help soon before his/her head explodes. It must be very tough to live with all that nastiness trapped inside. You can feel the hatred and bitterness in every post. Has to make those of us with happy, positive lives feel blessed that we are not so afflicted. Nothing he/she writes can be considered to be a reflection of Obama or anything external to the Trail Dog, only of the ugliness within.

lol oil is a scheme?...so the oil to power his plane. ??the oil powering his bus. ??the oil powering his almighty europe trip.???.the oil spilling out of his caravans (all at tax payer expense) is a scheme? because all that oil is coming from your truely over in the big mid east. so while we develop renewables why dont we stop that oil coming from yours truely and start making it come from the north carolina and florida coast....for heavens sakes i dont care what his plans say..they need to be actually plans not hot air...Hillary in 2012..Rverand wright, rezco, bitter white people who cling to guns religion and antipethy, typical white grandma (whatever a typical white person is), and "this is the moment that we have all been waiting for? are you kidding me. im waiting for someone who will talk to me without the cameras..not ditch american soldiers because the pentagon said no cameras senator barack. grow up and become a real person of the people

Give it up Obama!

You are dead wrong Dr. No, and 76% of the American people disagree with you.

Don't let China suck up oil off our shores while we sit on our hands! It is all about supply and demand, and the demand is growing big time!

We need to get with the program and utilize many sources of energy – including oil, natural gas, coal, ethanol, wind, nuclear…!

Bill Clinton blew it during his tenure! Stop the dumb Democratic political pallaver.

I am a former Democrat who will not vote for the arrogant Obama who speaks like a Greek Sophist but does not engage in reality!

Yo Mike, TX – So, I guess you think if we allow the offshore drilling the gas prices will come down? If that was allowed, any oil found would go in the the pool and more than likely head to China. America wouldn't see any change in gas prices. Obama is finally telling you guys the truth. He has nothing to gain from being in the pockets of the Oil companies and Auto makers!!! I mean really in the last few months since we have stop using so much gas the prices have dropped. Uh, just think if we start using other sources of energy what they could drop to.

The key word here is "immediate". Why does every solution have to be immediate? What solution do you have that will provide immediate relief Obama? I saw T. Boone Pickens discussing building the largest windmill farm in the world in the central U.S. with Joe Lieberman. All I've heard from you is to raise taxes on oil companies? What!?! Reduce the price of something by taxing it? Sure sounds like you believe in more government control over the means of production and that is the definition of socialism. You have all the wrong answers for all the wrong reasons.

if we increase oil supply here in america, what's to stop opec from reducing their output of oil supply to maintain the current price of oil.

They can eaisly reduce their output to match our output maintaining the same demand and supply.

Also If we drill offshore I'ts my understanding that the oil would go onto the world market not just the US market.

Does anyone know for sure?

We don't need more oil when addicted to it. Oil companies investment in exploration for the 1st and 2nd quarters was flat. But their profits were of skyrocket disproportions. We need more alternate energy investment. Like hemp for example, the product outlawed at the demand of DuPont so they could market rayon. Hemp is a far better source of solving energy problems than any grown product and it is capable of producing 2 and 3 crops per year. The idea of making a food product (CORN) into fuel is ludicrous and about the dumbest thing that has ever been done for the alternate fuel business, and the worst for people who eat food.

Think about it people. Senator Stevens just got indicted over his involvement with the oil companies. Sit back and chill about this off shore drilling. If you care anything about the next generations, don't rush to that decision.

It doesn't matter what all you haters say about Obama, no matter how many nasty names you call him it won't change the fact that he will be our president and in 2-3 years from now once we start to see turnaround for the better it will be you, the same ignorant people who will be glad to have him as president.

As far as Rove goes, he needs to be behind bars, he is nothing but a criminal and the truth will come out soon.

Obama 08

@Vote Nader....How sad it is that you and a majority of people know so little facts. Gas prices didn't drop b/c he lifted the ban. They fell b/c people are driving less (due to high gas prices) and we had a 3 million surplus of oil. (economics 101: less demand=lower price). Also pointing out that oil went up $5 today b/c a report came out saying the supply was going down, so what Bush did has no effect on the price of oil. I wish people knew facts before they posted on these boards.

McCain needs to fire all his advisors because they are giving him HORRIBLE advice. It may be humorous to attack Obama with such drivel in some circles, but I'm positive it won't have broad appeal. He'll keep the rabid republicans, but moderates and independents are being turned off daily by the lying and negative attacks. He's looking at the same fate as HRC. I didn't have to be this way. He could actually have a rational discussion about their extreme differences.

Obama said he would attack back, but he doesn't have to now because this stuff is so pathetic.

I agree 100% w/ Obama on this one. this isn't going to solve a freaking thing.

Go ahead and start drilling.
No prices will drop.
Obama is right on this one, guys. He is wrong about other stuff. But on this, he is on the money.
It is not the environmentalist's fault we have high oil prices. We have had an oil company friendly administration and, for the most part, conservative oil friendly congress for the last 8 years. We let these guys rake in record profits and exist with little regulation. Also, car companies pushed stupid giant idiotic gas guzzlers on us when we should have been federally mandating fuel regualtions.
Drilling in the Gulf won't do a thing. And what is scarier, no body is pushing for this with any sort of oversight. Bush's solution is, basically, let's give oil companies free reign. He is just exploiting another bad situation for the personal gain for oil men. He exploited 9-11 to invade Iraq. He is now exploiting high gas prices to give his buddies more land to drill.
I say the hell with that.
Besides, there is not anybody with any credibility on energy issues saying it would help. Bush's administration is made up of OIL MEN, people. What makes you think they are looking out for our interests?

President Bush remains focused on producing more oil as if it is the solution to our energy crisis rather than recognizing it as the symptom prescribing the need for real comprehensive change in our energy policy.

But what else can one expect from an "oil man" when addressing the need to reduce gas prices other than for that oil man to call for "more drilling"?

The broader question to be asked is will Americans go back to consuming more gas if gas prices go down thus in the end perpetuating our dependence on oil whether foreign or domestically produced. The point is that if we are to clean-up our environment as part of any real effort to start seriously dealing with the problem of global warming, then we must prepare ourselves to consume less oil regardless of its source.

And if we do not lead the start on the path to consuming less oil while seriously seeking to replace it with alternative sources of clean energy, we can hardly expect the world-at-large to follow suit.

Drilling offshore is not the new path to be followed because it will lead to the same old path which has brought us to this critical fork in the road in the first place.

For those of you asking for judgement and leadership....Here you have it. Someone who doesn't allow the politics of the moment to align the interest of our contry with the big oil company.

This guy will be an absolute great president.

Republican for OBAMA 08

10 Years...That's also how long it will take to make a difference with alternate energy sources, so why not do both. Besides, if we had started 10 years ago, we wouldn't be having this conversation now and gas wouldn't be $4.00 a gallon.

Dear John (McCain) STOP WHINING!

Maybe he doesn't need it but we do. He's too busy taking overseas trips on campaign donations to know and understand what's best for us dumb folks here......

We will see in November.

Also I want to mention that while we are all over here complaining that our leaders are or are not doing anything to help the problems, I have to say I think that for the first time in a while the American people will step up to the plate themselves and drive the cost down by lowering demand. Sure it is nice to have a parental like figure you can feel will try to solve the problem but really, in the end it will be us that does it. Stop with the waste, the big cars, etc. And I'm not preaching, I think people looking out for their best interests will eventually lead to a steadier energy market. One more thing, I hear many people say things to the tune of 'it is my right to drive a big car, or to own a large boat, etc." It is your right, what is not your RIGHT is cheap gas, cheap labor, cheap products, cheap materials. Do what you want, everyone will, and we will see that people start to change their minds and this time for once it will be in a great way! Thanks

Someone needs to tell this idiot that offshore drilling is meant to help us 5 years from now...not right now. As if for someone reason, Lord Obama is going to blink his eyes and slow the demand of oil in China and India.

The man has had perfect judgement about this stupid Iraq war. Judgement that said we SHOULD be in Afghanistan, judgement against the stupid gas tax holiday and now this. PEOPLE can't you see that this man is using his brains????

Obama is on point on this one and here's why:

1. It takes several months of seismic data acquisition, data proccessing, petrophysical analysis, geohazard coordination, and well/resevior simulation before you can even determine if you have a drillable well site.

2. It takes 18-24 months to build a "Deep Water" oil rig, or 12-18 months for a shallow water rig.

3. There's still a considerable of amount of refining capacity that remains off-line from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

So in truthfulness we wouldn't see any impact for at least 4 to 5 years, with the exception of the environmental impact.

NOBAMA July 30th, 2008 2:43 pm ET
____________________________________________________
No its not working. We are in the middle of an election year. As soon as all the elections are over the gas prices will rise faster than you can blink. The Oil Companies were making there Rethuglican buddies look bad with the high prices and they were coming under increase fire by congress as well. They knew If they didnt do anything fast there would have been a lot of Repubs out of office next year. Which will be the case anyway

Obama 08

Something that keeps getting missed (along with the 86 million acres, capped wells, etc) is the fact that only about 20 to 25% of domestic oil is kept in the US – the rest is exported.

So all of you "I'd rather buy American oil" folks should actually ask this question: Why do we export most of our own oil only to import foreign oil to use?

After all...there'$ got to be a good rea$on, don't you think?

YOU OBAMA supporters on here are being hoodwinked. WHAT HAS HE DONE that makes him quailifued to be president. OBAMA IS AN ARROGANT SOB. I once was a supporter, but I have closely monitored his body language, things that he says, and I don"t like him. HE WILL NOT, LET ME REPEAT, WILL NOT WIN THIS ELECTION. YOU OBAMA ZOMBIES ARE CLUELESS IF YOU THINK THAT THIS MAN WILL WIN...............

Yeah, those dems are so clueless, they're crazy enviros who have refused to budge on this issue for a decade. If we don't do this, our gas could be $12 in a decade, and that's another 50 cents per gallon I'm not willing to pay.

If only those crazy liberals hadn't written that executive order banning offshore drilling. Who was it again? Wait wait don't tell me... it's on the tip of my tongue....

Oil companies don't plan to drill. There aren't even enough oil rigs for drilling and they aren't drilling now on land and offshore rights so who's kidding whom? Besides, oil resources are being rapidly depleted. Even if they did drill, it will only deplete the resources that much quicker. We had better stop burying our heads in the sand and get real about developing renewable sources of energy or our children and grandchildren are going to curse us in the darkness!

I hate to say it but will some kind commentator, pundit or journalist hold the American voter to task. The problem with America is most voters arent very smart. The same voters who are hurting and complaining are the ones who voted for Bush, the worst president in this country's history TWICE!! Now, after 8 years of neglegance, corruption and incompetence these same not so bright voters are considering voting for John McCain who is offering the same thing Bush has given us over the last 8 years.

Now, if you vote McCain and we start drilling offshore, 4 years from now, in another election year they still will not have brought one drop of oil to market from offshore drilling.

The problem with this country is stupidty (see G. Bush) and racism (see Obama just slightly ahead in the polls).

Vote McCain and get what you deserve. I just dont want to hear you complain about it our see polls stating 80% of the country is heading in the wrong direction.

OBAMA is RIGHT ON! quit supporting the greedy oil companies, open your eyes people

Obama in '08

Yes, let's attack Obama instead of dealing with the real problem: our obsession with consuming as much as we want of every resource we have and not wanting to deal with the consequences.

This drilling business is a political scheme...this is NOT going to help us in the short term or long term...just look it up! This is an issue because the Republicans know that it SOUNDS bad for Obama to be against it and they are hoping that we will be dumb enough to not think past the headline.

Obama's website lays out a very comprehensive energy plan... I recommend that you read it before making a snap judgment. Oh, and it's funny how once McCain uses an adjective and the media picks it up, all of a sudden the anti-Obama crowd starts using it like it's going out of style. It shows where you get your ideas from. And you call US "Obamabots"? OPEN YOUR MINDS AND THINK!!!

There are already plenty of contracted sites in existence that haven't yet been explored, oh by the way. This oil will NOT stay here exclusively but will go into the foriegn market as well. D'uh!

Obama is right: it is a scheme. Voters please don't think the oil companies have nothing available and need more. The oil companies already have millions of acres in oil leases and off shore drilling. Insist the oil companies use what they have. I'm not going to buy into an argument that they need more. Hullo: Oil Company's Want And Need More? No way. Use what you have and when you've drilled out every drop and can prove there is nothing more, then come hat in hand and request offshore drilling. It's a scheme and I'm not buying it. Obama has these guys pegged.

To the former Hillary Supporters, I too was devastated when Hillary lost. However, I am constantly reminded of how bad the republicans tactics and ideas really are. Daily I receive e-mails with fake stories or untruths about Obama. They are once again trying to do exactly what they did to Gore and later Kerry. They would have told the same lies about Hillary. The drilling is the latest example. Mcsame gets huges bribes from the oil companies to get them even higher profits at our expense. Democrats must unite to stop them. Our children's futures are in peril if we don't stop Mcsame.

The analogy goes like this. The Democrats faced off in the primaries like two pumas to see who could later face the republicans. The republicans are the big ugly gorilla. The American people are the pumas' cubs. The Hillary puma barely lost in a close contest. Bruised but ready to fight, the Barock Puma must now face the Gorilla. If the Hillary Puma is to join the Gorilla in attacking the Barock Puma, if will be at the peril of her cubs. We'll plug our nose when we vote for Barock, but we must save our cubs!

This is why obama should be President. he is honest even when it may cost votes. McSurge on the other hand just lies and panders and acts like he thinks the voters are idiots (and whiners).

Again, you are a liar, Barack. Do your home work. Or why don't you just get lost.

McCain is not pushing drilling because it's the right thing. He's pushing it because the polls tell his campaign it's a good wedge issue.

Obama, on the other hand, is looking at the real pros and cons of energy policy and making an informed decision. I might not completely agree with his plan, but at least it is formed based on logic and not on his campaign's ability to criticize his opponent. If you haven't noticed, that's all McCain's got anymore.

This is a lot like the gas tax holiday pushed by McCain and others. It was a political ploy all the time. You want to know how I know? Because neither McCain nor the other former candidate EVER introduced it in the Senate. If it was such a good idea, why would they just use it as a campaign slogan and never try to get it done?

Offshore and ANWR drilling would be Bush's final gift to the oil companies (who's families are into oil big time?) before he leaves office.

Good energy policy would have us off foreign oil in ASAP years and exporting most of what we produce in 20 years of so. A major comprehensive plan to do so would reduce oil speculation and have a major impact on the price of oil very soon.

If we get the price down now with supply, we will be right back in the same mess in 5 – 10 years. T. Boone Pickens has good ideas, too, even if he is the scumbag that financed the smear campaign that stuck us with this Administration for the last four years.

In 10 years:

We could get 200,000 barrels of oil a day from ANWAR.

In perspective, China's demand for oil alone will increase by about 5,000,000 barrels of oil a day in the same 10 years.

Also, the military is using oil at a rate of 395,000 barrels a day right now, a larger than normal amount primarily because of the war in Iraq.

We (the US) currently consume oil at a rate of 20,687,000 barrels per day. About half goes to transportation, so the increase in fuel efficiency standards will have a far, far greater effect than more drilling. Currently we average a meager 20MPG over-all. If we increase that to 25MPG, we would reduce our oil consumption by 20%, which would be the same effect of 20 ANWARS. Also, the 200,000 number for ANWAR is a peak amount. Oil will not last forever, and all oil fields eventually decline. ANWAR is not only a temporarly band-aid, it is not a particularly good one.

A continued reliance on oil benefits only countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are also the two largest sources of money for Islamic militants. The font line in the war on terror was never Iraq, it has always been the gas station. John McCain will do nothing to solve that problem, but rather continue the policies that brought us the problem in the first place.

Find the gorgeous rock star and bring him to the DEBATE!!!

You can't hide forever – even if the media is ok with it, a lot of the American people see through the emporer's new clothes.

Give it up Obama!

You are dead wrong Dr. No, and 76% of the American people disagree with you.

Don't let China suck up oil off our shores while we sit on our hands! It is all about supply and demand, and the demand is growing big time!

We need to get with the program and utilize many sources of energy – including oil, natural gas, coal, ethanol, wind, nuclear...!

Bill Clinton blew it during his tenure! Stop the dumb Democratic political pallaver.

I am a former Democrat who will not vote for the arrogant Obama who speaks like a Greek Sophist but does not engage in reality!

RE: Comments by “Nancy in San Jose” Weather or not Mike drives a truck is irrelevant and reflects the arrogant California and New York democratic view points that sour many in the fly-b/w states and in the state of TX that could so easily go Dem this year, if the more moderate Texans can become aligned with the loud, naïve, liberal extremist that continue to keep the Dems out of power. If Obama is willing to talk with the head of Iran, then maybe he can talk to people knowledgeable in the oil business as well.

Of course it is a smoke screen. It is not in the best interests of the oil companies to drill off-shore. Their best interest are to collect as many claims to acres of lands where they are allowed to drill. Sit back while the competition runs out of oil, then have their own reserves to sell. Once they run out of reserves, they are out of business.

Funny how they have millions of acres already claimed are not drilling, testing, nor exploring. Working off-shore is riskier than working on land, and more expensive too boot.

Is it coincidence that the GOP got a million dollar donation from the oil industry when they announced the initiative to drill off shore?

Now, only if John McCain could tell us his plans.....He is to busy attacking Obama with lies. Watch out McCain, all this attacks are going to back fire. Asked Hillary!!! LOL

The American People have proven Obama's positions correct on almost every decision. When the American people were tempted by the Republicans that going into Iraq would make us safer, we bought it and then later we realize after the dust settled that it was nothing more then a political game a shift to get oil which would pay for the war cost. Now that we are in another election year we have high gas prices and somehow the american people are being dupped again by the political people who be (republicans) that drilling off shore will help. You know what, American people need to see that being reactionary at our most desperate times will not solve any problems.

How is giving a state it's rights to determine what to do with its own natural resources a scheme? If you ask me banning the drilling in the first place was a scheme to drive up the price. They wanted to see how far they could go in the name of environmental saftey. Now the liberals are taking about a national tax to contribute to the prevention of global warming. Tax, ban, tax, ban and around and around the liberals go until you wake up one day and the bleeding-heart cause you've been fighting for has left everyone else around you just a little less free.

So many do not see that the environmental consiquences of this far outweigh the the pluses. J you are right we are talking about billions of dollars. Spread out over billions of people. The damage it would do would be far more expensive. Obama is right.

I work in the Alternative Fuel/Energy industry!

1. Unknown to most people in the world, is that we have the technology NOW to survive completely without dependence on foreign oil!

2. If our government spent just 45% of what they are currently spending on foreing oil, on Alternative Energy..America would be completely green within 2-3 years!

Obama is right. Offshore drilling is a just another Bush/Cheney/McCain scam to benefit big oil companies.

Now.....if I can just get somebody to buy my SUV............

Lie, cheat, DENY, kill, spread fear.....a REPUBLICAN!

Stop!!!! Don't listen!!!!

WE CAN DRILL OUR WAY OUT OF THIS FOLKS!!!

McStupid

Barack's energy plan is to provide tax credits and rebates. How is that supposed to address the root cause of the problem? That's only treating a symptom, and not treating it very effectively at that. We have to plan further out than just November. If we won't realize the benefits of taking control of our own energy future for another 5 or 10 years then so be it. That's a helluva lot better than not taking care of it at all – as we've been doing since this began to emerge as an issue in the '70s! During the Carter administration. This is back to the future but somebody is going to have to act like an adult and start planning for the future or we won't have one!

NObama N'08 (fantasies don't work!)

Then why does Nancy Pelosi want to release 700MM barrells from the strategic reserves to help offset the price? How do you think it got into the startegic reserve in the first place? BHO isn't concerned with the price anyway, he thinks it SHOULD be high to force conservation. He was concerned with how fast it rose, not the overall price. The dems were kicking around another tax increase in the congress anyway. Supply and demand people, supply and demand. Conservation and responsible use is a huge fcator as well and developing alternate and renewable sources. But, we're not there yet.

Let's see, Bush bathes in oil, Bush gets elected with the dollar bills from big oil. Bush has been pushing for more oil resources since he's been in office. Oil fluctuations are inconceivably as volitile as they've been in history. Now Bush wants more oil to bathe in. Can't anyone see the scheme here? I scratch your back you scratch mine. Big Oil wants Alaska, big oil wants the continental shelf. Big Oil and Bush decides to get the American people in such a crunch that they will beg for more oil in Alaska and the continental shelf. So Bush pays back his campain financiers by opening up more land to drill. I wonder why now that the curtain's falling on Bush's stupidity servitude that he's pushing so hard for more oil? Hmmmmm.......

Shilpi.....it isn't an interpretation.....it is what the result is if we do not act now to become self sufficient.

But thanks for your insight....it was very enlightening.

Mike I am sorry some obamamanic is trying to high jack my name but that is okay. He or she is probably more white trash obama supporters.

Mike you couldn't be further from the truth in your thinking. I think we should conserve but also drill. We need more sources of oil and not just from the Arabs.

Wake up Mike and put your thinking cap on.

The Bush, McCain had 8 years to address this. They just want to drill now. You know why? Political pandering. They really don't care for Americans, they just want to say the democrats opposed it.
Don't worry. With the friendship Obama established with the middle east, if he wants, the Saudis will personally bring oil in their luxury jet to America. What are friends for. Noone in middle east wants to help Bush or Mc Cain. Two oil men in the WH couldn't do anything.
It is too late for them to drill anywhere anyway. They can drill their heads, still nothing good ideas will come from them. Let someone fresh in the WH to take a fresh approaches to these issues .

He's right. It will take our industry well over a decade to produce only a negligible amount of oil. Everyone in the industry knows this, but the CEO's want to push this initiative for a meager profit. Oil is a dying industry ... even people in the business know the real future is in renewables .. they are just trying to squeeze out every last drop.

THIS MAN IS RIGHT! again!

T Boon Pickens is already leading the way! He may not be a nice guy (financed the Swift Boaters in 2004) but he knows how to make money. He says "there is no way to drill our way out"... and has put millions into a wind farm in TX. Smart folks pick up the signals from the T Boon Pickens of the world. Lots and lots of money and jobs in the alternate energy business.

Also, they aren't going to send that oil to the US, it goes right into the world oil trade and off to other countries.

"Most Americans Want Offshore Drilling" because they have NO IDEA of the facts!

the fact that they believe this offshore drilling nonsense is a dead giveaway that they let the someone else think for them.

it's funny that WE are obamabots, when THEY are the ones who dont think and read!!! if you're TRULY educated on today's issues, there is no way you would vote for john mccain!

Good ol' Obama. NO to offshore drilling - but YES to higher gas prices, and YES to higher electricity costs, and a big YES to higher taxes. Just what we need to really jumpstart the economy.

Yeah, right.

I'm glad to hear Obama getting closer to the truth I'm surprised most Americans don't know. Drilling our 'own' oil does absolutely nothing but add to the WORLD MARKET supply. It does not necessarily stay here in America thus reducing prices only a few cents worldwide like the Senator said. Let'em have it Barack! Why doesn't the DNC put out an ad campaign to inform America about how the world oil market works and is priced?? Maybe with background contradictions from Republicans??

Obama,
If drilling off California and Florida will not give us some immediare relief.

What are YOUR plans to give us some immediate relief.

When will you give us Sun powered, or Wind powered
or Nuclear powered planes.

How long do I need to wait to get your cost effective and energy saving car or boat or train?
Certainly not in one term or two terms of any presidency.

What have you got to offer in the way of some relief during your term
if ever you are elected.

What? In specific and CONCRETE terms.

NOT WORDS>>>>>>> What?

Kudos to Obama for not letting McCain own this issue. I personally agree that offshore oil drilling here in the U.S. will never be worth the investment. Even if it does save us some money at the pump in the long run (a proposition which is dubious at best), it is not worth the huge potential environmental risk involved. Moreover, our energy and creativity is better spent developing sustainable energy technology (wind, solar, tidal, etc.)

I agree with Obama on this one.

McCain is a desperate old man, atttacking, grasping at straws, and will soon be a TWO-TIME LOSER come November.

That ugly green monster called JEALOUSY has bitten McCain (McBush) just like it did that "so-called" Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Seven to ten years from now will we be wishing we had done something in 2008? Hindsight is always 20/20. We must think ahead and the auto industry will come up with fuel efficient cars when the need is so great, and people are willing to pay for the increase cost of vehicles. We may have to go through another depression before we realize our current ego system is not working. We need better transit options then we now have. I have yet to hear a candidate mention public transportation that is efficient and fast. We need a few options that are better then we now have. A few straight shot transit systems to the most needed areas. Point A to B without 100 stops along the way.

Lets see if offshore drilling was the answer, why did Bush 41 suspend it ?Why don't you ask Senator McBush why the house, senator and white house was controlled by the dear old repubs and it was not important then.Why don't you ask Senator McBush why if we were liberators in Iraq and he knows them so well , why are they paying 58 cents a gallon for gas and not even building up there own country with their own money ?
McBush a man of no judgment and dishonest to boot. OBAMA 08

Connie from Indiana

The threat of offshore drilling has nothing to do with the price of oil coming down – it's because we're using less oil and stopped feeding the pig.

I have no interest in what megalomaniac Obama has to say about anything. I am sick of the sound of his voice (thank God for the mute button!) My vote is going to McCain, and it will be the first time in my life that I will vote Republican. I'll go back to voting Democratic if Hillary runs in 2012.

BHO Not my candidate July 30th, 2008 2:00 pm ET

I think buying oil from foreign countries is a scheme… I would rather buy oil that supports American workers… not the middle east… Obama please explain why you would rather support Middle East Oil Workers over, good American Oil Workers… because obviously you would rather buy oil there than produce it domestically….
-------------------

You're clueless. Oil goes into a world bank. In other words, oil produced here wouldn't necessarily stay here. Either way it would do little to help our situation. The problem isn't creating more oil, the problemis our oil dependence.

STILL FOR HILL- I guarantee you that Obama is a lot more intelligent than you and your decisions, besides you were going to vote for Hillary Clinton, that makes you less intelligent.

PS- Hillary is still looking for money from you, she needs $3 million dollars. Since your so smart, help her out and donate to her defeated campaign.

Why are the Republicans making this an issue now? Could it be they are trying to steal the election? People, do some research.

NIGHTINGALE SINGS – HE'S AN IDIOT. OBAMA IS AN ARROGANT BEAN HEAD. HE HAS PROVEN HE'S KNOW NOTHING ON ECONOMY, FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND MILITARY TACTICS. NOW HE IS MUMBLING SOMETHING ABOUT OFFSHORE DRILLING BEING A SCHEME. BUT YET, HE HAS NO ANSWER OTHER THAN HIS DESIRE TO KEEP THE U.S. BEHIND THE OPEC NATIONS. THAT IS HIS MAIN GOAL. HE MAY HAVE FOOLED YOU BLIND MICE FOLLOWERS ABOUT HIS PRAY ON THE WALL BIT. BUT ANYONE WITH HALF A BRAIN KNOWS THAT WAS A PLANNED SOAP OPERA.

The democrats will say anything, promise anything, to get elected. And you people are lapping it up. Obama is a junior senator with no experience at anything. But you are willing to hand the country over. Unbelievable.

Obama is nothing but an arrogant, elitist, selfish socialist who has a short-sighted view without any ability to grasp the concept of consequences and accountability. It's because of tools like him that we aren't ALREADY drilling offshore. Ten years ago they said "well, we won't be able to get to the oil for ten years", and now it's ten years later and we need that oil. Do stupid politicians like him expect us to fall for that again?

Who, going against the crowd to tell it like it is. Seems like Obama is the Maverick now. That's why he gets my vote.

Oh, you mean a scheme like wealth and private property confiscation and redistribution? You mean like that sort of a scheme?

Drilling is capitalism and the basic law of supply and demand at work. Propping up the dusty failed bones of socialism for another "go-round" is a scheme.

But hey, socialism has only killed 100 million people... let's give it another shot!

@ Still for Hill.....GET OVER It!!! Your anger is showing. Just out of curiosity, why is Obama arrogant?

Obama does not understand the value of your money. With a show like in Europe, arriving with his huge plane when we are in energy crisis, don't expect much out of him. He is all talk, no action. And by no means a MODEST man.

I think it's pretty clear that there are enough acres of land leased for drilling already, the problem is that it is too expensive to reach the oil on the land already leased, so the oil companies just want a cheaper solution to keep their margins up. They need to explore and drill what they already have leased before we should even consider opening up any offshore drilling opportunities. This is simple greed at the expense of the environment and the American consumer.
Obama clearly stated that if he saw offshore drilling as a long term solution to our energy problems he would support it. However, it seems that in the long term we need to develop alternative energy sources that will be renewable and more environmentally friendly. Guess what folks? New technology in energy will be expensive for a while also as it is developed and mainstreamed over decades. Get used to paying more for the forseeable future no matter what direction we go in. The simple solution? Reduce demand. Use less. Economics 101. We can pull that off if people wake up to reality a little bit and stop whining about the high prices. ADAPT, folks!

Obama claims that we will not see any near term benefits at the pump . Question.....since oil futures are traded on the commodities exchange, I would imagine prices would fall with news that the US is opening up its supply which would have an impact at the pump. TRUE? or FALSE?

Hey Mike, hate is not a family value. Great comment with no substance.

McCain's new commercial slogan:

All attack, all the time!!

Cindy McCain stated on the Today Show, May 8, 2008:

"What you're going to see is a great debate. Which is what the American public deserves. None of this negative stuff, though. You won't see it come out of our side at all.”

Seems that you can't believe anything this family says.

Hey, "Still For Hill", get your facts straight, you ninny. Obama was absolutely correct in being against the gas tax holiday. Dozens of economists (yes, yes, I know Hillary is an expert in everything and can ignore the advice of other experts) said it was a stupid idea. Did you not notice how the idea was quietly dropped by both Hillary and McCain after the facts came to light?!?!!? A gas tax holiday would do absolutely NOTHING to drop the price of gas more than a few pennies. If the oil companies were taxed instead of the consumers, as Hillary suggested, what do you think they would do? Raise the price of gas to cover the new taxes. This is not rocket science (to anyone but a rabid Hillary supporter).

And by the way, electric cars use petroleum too. It's just burned at the electrical generation plant instead of in the engine of the car. Please, for the sake of an IQ point or two for yourself, read a book or a magazine (other than "People") once in a while. While you're coming up to speed with real facts, I'll pretend you aren't dumb as a box of rocks. Geesh!

Thank you Senator Obama for telling the truth, oil companies have been reporting record profits for consecutive quarters and we want to remain depend on them to do what’s best for this nation. Alternative energy and fuel is America's next industrialization and the Republican presidential candidate supports drilling for oil… Brilliant!! It’s time for this country to become independent of oil if Brazil can do it why can’t America?

He is absolutely correct. Bush's 3rd term McSame wants more drilling so that his buddies in the Oil Industry will continue to get rich. What Oil Companies have done to find alternative ways of solving energy crisis. Obviously they want to drill for oil so that Americans can continue to be dependent on oil. Pahetic McCain. Obama is right, it is time to get out of Oil Companies' stranglehold.

Think about it. How do we as a nation stay in power? We use up every other countries resources first...then we tap into our own. Why drill now? We will regret it in the end. Plus, this is an opportunity for renewable energy sources to make their way into the market.

Don't give in Obama. We have to suffer a little now, so we don't suffer even more later.

Here is one American that is telling Congress TO HOLD THE LINE.

This is a smokescreen for oil industry. Do some research and you will find that:

1)Most of the oil these guys are producing is being sold overseas.

2)Most of the oil profit is going into the buyback of shares on NYSE. PATHETIC. They spend more on stock buyback than alternative energy research.

3)T. Boone Pickens, he who just sold all his Yahoo! stock, has even come out and said this "drilling" push IS A SHAM. Mr. Pickens is one of the few who has actually come out with a plan to use wind. And yes, he hopes for a 25% return on his investment, which I think is fair.

4)There are no plans for refining expansion, no plans for improving the derricks they have, and they have THOUSANDS of acres leased to drill on already. They don't want to drill on them because IT IS TOO EXPENSIVE. Well, TOUGH MUFF. Spend some money for the good of the American public instead of trying to worm out what is being carefully, and RIGHTFULLY, protected.

5)And today, the article on Bush's speech mentions that speculators were allowed into the market by (and this is the article's quote) "a THEN REPUBLICAN CONGRESS". You want to blame speculators? BLAME THE REPUBLICANS BECAUSE THEY LET THEM IN.

6)Any oil will take SEVEN TO YEARS to get to the public. FACT. The next person who says we have the technology to drill safely, then ask them why they don't use this technology to drill on the lands they already have leased from the government?

Enough smokescreens. Enough garbage. Enough Republican trainwreck policy. SAY NO TO DRILLING. SAY NO TO BUSH.

The Swift Boaters have brought out their big guns. It is extremely important to defeat these Rove-like lying evil men.
I know that many people were terribly disappointed that Hillary did not win. I was fortunate because I decided early on that I would support the one that the majority wanted. We had two excellent candidates and they both fought very hard.I believe that she will be given an important job in Obama's administration and she will do her very best.
This was more about the popularity of each candidate. Now let us get back to the importance of the fall election. Remember WHY it is so important to beat the Republicans. Let us all stand together and WIN. Because Hillary did not win, would you rather have more years of this frightening war? Do you want to worry constantly about losing your home or your job? Do you want more years of high gas prices, and $4.00 a gallon milk? Aren't the worries about our huge deficit more important than the candidate? The loss of allies, the secrecy of this administration,the cover-ups and torture and constantly being lied to? Do you want to allow more terrible things like New Orleans. It was his slow and uncaring action that I criticize. Do you want to have to worry about your Social Security being terminated? McCain wants privatized Social Security. Think what those rich people have already done to the average citizen.That was one of the things Bush wanted . Do you want to continue with the arrogant administration breaking every law in the book , AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT. The Democrats should be held responsible also because many of Bush's offences should have called for impeachment and Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the house. stated that
Impeachment was not on the table. Obama is a well educated man and I ask every Democrat to put aside their disappointment and fight for the election of a Democrat.The recovery of our nation is truly at stake.

I can't believe some people can still be pandered to with this gas tax holiday. Thousands of people will lose their jobs because the tax going to bridges and roads would go away.

Yeah, great for the economy. But I guess some people would rather save $20 for the summer for themselves and let THAT happen! Give me a break. Start car-pooling, walk or a bike a little. That would save you more money then your precious gas-tax holiday would!

People are too lazy!

Obama doesn't care that American's are paying $4 a gallon. Ideology before the poor. Change you can believe in..

All I know is that McCain does not talk for McCain's Campaign.

The real reason Oil Men (Bush and now McCain) with the BIG Oil companies behind them are pushing for off-shore drilling is to simply get their hands on the off-shore leases and in ten or 20 years that's around the time they would get any oil from drilling. Then the Oil companies can sell the Oil on the open (international) market and make hugh amounts of Oil, because other countries will be increasing their demand for Oil, then the Oil companies here can lay claim to being big foreign Oil suppliers. While we here in the U.S. will not see any relief from our dependence on Oil. WE WILL PAY THE PRICE JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD!

Senator Obama has the future vision to take us in a new and better direction.

It is.

OBAMA 08

He's completely correct. The only short-term fix is for consumers to curb demand. It would take years to find more oil and drill for it. Not to mention having to deal with the states on environmental issues. The biggest opposition to increased off-shore oil exploration and drillinig is Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. And don't forget the total lack of additional domestic refining capacity. Yes you could replace foreign oil with the domestic, but it wouldn't get you any more gas or lower prices.

True, it's granstanding on the part of the same McCain campaign that called Obama a celebrity; can they spell "charisma"? They can look it up under "leadership".

right on, we have been scammed b the republicans for 8 years. If you vote McGramps it will be the same Bush/Cheney rerun– power to the rich and oil eaters.

To Ex-Republican for Obama; "You give me the chills". Is that you Senator Craig?
The mere mention of drilling off shore has started the process of falling oil prices. We're not going to be able to stop on a dime and eliminate our dependency on oil any time soon. I would love to see solar energy expanded along with nuclear energy. However, we're not there yet and won't be for a couple of decades. Until that happens we have to stop giving away billions to the Arabs who dispise us and who in turn give arms and materials to the terrorists to murder Americans, and devote our attention to securing our own energy sources within the borders of America. If that means drilling off shore for now until the other avenues for obtaining energy are in place, so be it.

Obama is not out to fool the poeple. Oil drill now ..is a scheme...but is funny how poeple with get suckered into it. The right wing noise machine making all the drama.

What we all have failed to understand: Obama has NO answer to high energy prices. Alternative fuels are not going to be realized in the next administration, no matter who is in office.

INCREASED DOMESTIC DRILLING WOULD HELP IMMEDIATELY, IF ONLY THROUGH SPECULATION!!!! Anything would help.

Andy J, NY July 30th, 2008 2:00 pm ET

Are you serious, You sound like the Joke. Did you not hear what he said. The Oil Companies Have over 60 Million Acres of land that they are sitting on and doing NOTHING with. So They are the ones that are a JOKE. If they want to drill so bad and lower the prices then why cant they use the land they already have. YOU KNOW WHY? Because they are greedy and they want to destroy what little area we have left thats clean and free from there toxins. You Need to get a clue.

Oil is a global commodity. If we drill here, the oil doesn't "stay here"...it becomes part of the "world pool".

Why are people, some in this very blog, clueless to this fact?

Do Americans really think we're gonna drill off of Florida and in 5 months have barrels full of "U.S." oil to turn into gas somewhere in Nebraska and send straight to "our" pumps?

People are laughably out of touch with the facts on this issue.

Obama 08'

Why isn't Arizona leading the way in solar power? Big oil profits! Republicans in their pockets. Republicans will lie to take your money. And 50% or more of americams will fall into this trap like sheep to the slaughter. If McCain is elected, they will get what they deserve, a corrporate fascist state led by oil barons. The skys will blacken with coal smoke and the seas will blacken from oil spills. There will never be relief at the pump until we have a Democrat for President. Energy competition is what they fear, they are trying to wring out every last drop before the US changes.

Obama 08 Democrats forever.

Obama '08

Read Obama's books, if you haven't.
He is the real deal and so intelligent. A solid individual. We should all be proud someone such as Obama wants to lead our country. Thank goodness he has the confidence of a celebrity with the intelligence and clout to back it up unlike our current CIC!

McCain and his camp are only hurting themselves, in my opinion, with such negative ads. It's insulting and a waste of time and money. We should remember the about-face McCain did recently with big oil concerning offshore drilling. It was quite disgusting to hear all that ego-stroking from someone so revered for his integrity.

Offshore drilling is going to be a coastal states issue. California already has limitations laws that the voter enacted.

Can you imagine your Florida vacation on the beach with the smell of tar and oil and deposits in the white sand and a view of a line of oil rig along the horizon? Through in a few dead seagulls and residual other pollution.

Alternative fuels is the key – look at Brazil – sugar cane ethanol. We can do this. Yes, we can.

Why do you all think gas prices are going down?? It is economics, the demand have gone down because we have been forced to make changes in our habits.
Can you imagine what will hapen if Demand went way down because we have alternatives?????

Think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- To Mike TX,

If anyone is clueless, that person is you. If you truely believe that spending valuable time and resources over the next 10 years only to save a few cents at the pump then you are obviously a mindless nit wit. And just so you know, most of the commercial quantity crude recovered from drilling are not useable in the US and would have to be exported out to be refined.
Amazing how a clueless person like u would think its okay to come on here and refer to people that know more than you as cluess.

mike from TX your an idot wake up and smell the coffee.do you know why people are lossing there homes. let me spell it to you BUSH MCSAME

EVERYTHING IS A SCHEME AS LONG AS O.B. DIDN'T BRING IT UP. O.B. IS JUST A MEDIA CLOWN AND A BIG JOKE. AMERICA WILL FIND OUT WHEN ITS TO LATE. O.B. THINK'S HE IS ALREADY PRESIDENT. HE RATHER SEE AMERICA NOT DO ANYTHING FOR THEMSELVES LIKE DRILLING OIL ETC. AMERICA NEEDS TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR OWN INSTEAD OF MAKING OTHER COUNTRIES POCKETS FULL. YOU DONT SEE THE OTHER COUNTRIES HURTING ,BECAUSE THEY USE THEWIR OWN RESOURCES. AMERICA BETTER WAKE UP AND STOP PRAISING O.B. AS HE WAS THE MESSIAH, BECAUSE THINGS WILL BACKFIRE.

I, for one am getting angrier every day at the Rove ads for McCain. What are McCains policies? All he does is pick apart a man far superior to himself. You ask how far they can go? My niece got an e-mail saying terrible things about Obam. She said she is very afraid now if Obama gets in. The Swift Boaters have arrived. I pray that all this dirt will backfire.

So let me get this straight, if we chose not to drill for oil in, and around our country, other country's will drill any way (off our shores, and charge us to buy our own oil). So we buy oil from them, until we can come up with a National fuel alternative (which could take 20 years). So until then, we continue to depend on foriegn oil. Or, we can drill off the shores of our country (which will give us new fuel of our own within 3 years under US control) while continueing the research of alternative fuels.
Obama keeps saying if we drill it will take 10 years before we have usable oil. What a lie! But he has no solid plan for fuel alternatives and never mentions how many years it will take to get the alternative source started. So until we have a nationally productive alternate fuel source, we continue to relly on other country's for their oil, and those other country's will continue to control us, and make all the profits.

Yeah, makes perfect sense! Just like outsourceing American jobs, Lets Outsource American Oil until, God knows when we will actually have an Alternative!!! We need relief now, not in 20 years!

Scam would be the word i would use, to describe Obama's media campaign that is...

Yep, Obama sure knows about schemes...his whole candidacy is a stinking sinking scheme.

What people do not realize is that the demand for oil is NOT decreasing, Instead it is increasing. Therefore, even if we drill for more oil and get the more oil the demand is just going to outdo the supply. This is because crude is a limited supply. Well you may say so what they are drilling for America. Well you are wrong. They are drilling in american waters but the oil they find will not be only for America. If it was you could be sure that oil prices would drop drastically for Americans in such a case. But NO, they are derilling to find oil for the chineese and the indians. Thre economies will quickly gobble up any new reserves found.

Amazing, he takes a position holding the oil companies to the task of exploring offshore leases they ALREADY have, while seeking to develop alternative energy resources and raising the fuel efficiency of cars made and imported into this country.

And you people still criticize him for having no plan. People this is not a complicated issue, the answers are presented by this man in very simple terms.

THE PROBLEM is you! You want a quick fix which is exactly the mentality the republicans pander to. A quick fix isn't coming and, just like all the healthcare and social security problems, no one is going to pay attention to those issues either until $$$$ being paid out (or lack thereof) comes into play.

This is a wake up call people, you McCainiacs need to wake up. Substitue "Medicare Cost" instead of gasoline in about 10 years and you'll be screaming just as loud, but the fix won't be quite so easy to take!

Can't believe that No-bama said that oil will be $12 a barrell in 10 years. That means as President he vows to triple the price of oil.

Gosh! I wouldn't even DREAM of casting a vote for No-bama.

What's with the polls showing that a majority of Americans want off shore drilling but they're split on whether or not it will reduce gasoline prices. If they are looking for relief at the pump, then that doesn't make sense to me. If half the people don't think it will reduce prices, why are they in favor of drilling? Why not clamor for putting a lid on oil speculation? That would make a big difference right now and it wouldn't cost us a dime. It would cost the McCain campaign though, with their ties to big oil. Of course they're pushing for it.

A scheme would be releasing oil from the stratigic oil reserves. A very temporary price relief. Drilling may not produce oil for seven to ten years, but that is why we need to start NOW so thatin seven to ten years we will have the oil. Congress (all of them from both parties) need to cancel their upcoming vacation and deal with this issue. They haven't done the job while in session I think it is high time they do some work for the American people. McCain and Obama are still employed in the Senate and need to get in there and work as well.

I am not aware of any legislation proposed by Obama or McCain to further the cause of altermative energy, increased fuel efficiency, or getting plug-in huybrids all across America. What makes you think they will do anything about those issues after they become president. Face it. These guys are a bunch of hot air!

I agree SDunn. To Bob – I agree that we will someday need to drill offshore. But we need to try all of these other approaches first. It will cost FORTUNES to drill offshore, and the people benefiting the most for 10 years will be the oil companies. So let's give creative people a chance to invent alternatives and be the leaders who help reduce our dependence on foreign oil completely. Spread the money around instead of giving it all to oil companies.

I have no interest in what megalomaniac Obama has to say about anything. I am sick of the sound of his voice (thank God for the mute button!) My vote is going to McCain, and it will be the first time in my life that I will vote Republican. I'll go back to voting Democratic if Hillary runs in 2012.

As an avid watcher of the A&E show Intrevention I wonder what will it take for us to realize that the oil industry has bottomed out and it's time for America to get clean. Just like a junk looking for another vein to inject a potentially lethal hit of dope we are searching for another whole in the earth on the hope that a windfall of new environmentally toxic oil will renew or faith in a fix. We are far more innovative as americans than that. Let's not bottom out after we loose valuable coastal lands and beach fronts, destroy our ecosystem and wildlife in pursuit of that next fix. The time to change is now it's truly time for an energy intrevention. At sometime the voice of the drug dealer needs to be silenced now is as good a time as any to go cold cold turkey.

Mike – Texas,
I was talking with a friend of mine and he said you're an idiot.

Remember BBBBBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF....

Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates.............

Call it like it is Barack!!! The oil companies now have thousands of leases on oil rich land they are not drilling in. They do not need more oil leases. This is a thinly-veiled attempt to get more leases and more control that they do not currently need. I've lived on the coast near "clean" oil wells. Oil and tarballs ruin the beach and the environment, poison the wildlife, and make people sick as the gunk gets into the food and water supplies. There will most definitely be a time when we may need to drill just off shore. That time is not now. Drill in the leased land you have, first, then tell me you've got problems after that land starts to go dry on you.

What is actually going on here is that the oil companies use these leases as "money" with each other. Buying/selling/trading them for profits on future prices and availability of oil. All they want is more "chips" in the game. It's utter nonsense, and Bush and the rest of his nasty little oil men know that very well. What's the best thing we can get out of the White House? Bush.

I would like some one you that support drilling EXPLAIN to me WHY the oil company have not drilled 68 MILLION acres that they have leased!!!!! Has is ever occured to you that they're just going by supply vs demand, For the past few weeks demand and declined by 3%, and that's why gas prices has declined by $.15 . Oil is a global market product. The oil produced here is being used in other countries and vice versa. If the car companies increase the fuel efficiency to 30 MPG, how much would the demand go down? Imagine if we could cut demand by 10%? Boones is right, we cannot drill our way out of this. It's all about mentality, if you think drilling for more oil is key, then tell the oil company to drill the 68 MILLION acres they have untouched. OIL if finite, SOLAR & wind is INFINITE, which do you think would be good in the long run?

I am not surprised that this Administration is looking after the oil companies and other big businesses. No more repubs this year

Obama 08/12.

It is a scheme. The oil companies hold leases on 68 million acres in the lower forty-eight states including thousands of off-shore acres they can already drill. They also hold hundreds of thousands of acres in Alaska where they can already drill.

The media SHOULD be asking, "why are the oil companies not drilling in the millions of acres they have?"

It is a scheme

the only scheme here is obama
for give him for he does not know for what he speak

McCain is just looking at any gimmick to win the election. It is easy to announce something and attack someone else who doesn;t agree with you. Bush won on fear and McCain is trying to win on pandering.

His announcement lacks details, safeguards and guarantees on the oil companies. His campaign coffers will get larger, he may garner enough votes to win and the states who have to approve drilling will vote it down

Facts:
The Bush administration's ties to oil and gas are as deep as an offshore well.

The Bush administration's ties to oil and gas are as deep as an offshore well. President George W. Bush's family has been running oil companies since 1950. Vice President Dick Cheney spent the late '90s as CEO of Halliburton, the world's largest oil services company. Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice sat on the board of Chevron, which even naked one of their oil tanker after her name. Former Commerce Secretary Donald Evans in GWB’s 1st term was the CEO of Tom Brown Inc. - a natural gas company with fields in Texas, Colorado and Wyoming - for more than a decade.

Is an IDIOT!!

How do we know that John McCain is ready to lead? How do we know his plans are right? He never tells us what he would do as president, all he says is " I know how" but he never says how to what ! Most of his time spent in Vietnam was as a prisoner as sad as that is, does that make him ready to lead? Senator McCain 's speeches are all about what he thinks Senator Obama doesn't understand. But I don't understand what McCain would bring to American as president. What is John McCain telling us? He has no theme.

I knew it was full of KA KA when G.W. BUSH AND MCCSAME were for it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As long as there are gas cars on the road – and that includes hybrids – we are going to need crude oil. If the only cars being sold or resold today were hybrids or alternative energy vehicles, it could take 20-30 to get gas only cars off the road. But they aren't the only cars being sold, so it is going to take longer than that. If we cut our consumption, while drilling for more oil and developing alternative sources, then we would only need the crude from this country, and could stop depending on the Middle East for it.

I think the Republicans should use the $12 a gallon gas sound bite to gain leverage on the issue.

It seems that our candidate John McCain wanted to run a clean campaign and as far as I can see their is nothing clean about it. It makes me think does he really tell the truth or has he sold his soul to the devil. Makes me want to vote for Obama even more, I cant trust his word and many of you republicans out there need to think about pulling the lever for him. Lie now and we will get lied to in the future. Sounds like another GWB.

So what is Obama's solution?

John McCain finally found a campaign topic. He choose the wronf one, unfortunately. Unfortunatley I wont vote for him. With this stance he is driving me in Senator Obama camp. I am not that smart but I know when I am being panderd. Once bitten twice shy. Not this Senator. NOt this time!

Oh by the way thanks CNN for letting me type all that stuff about MCSAME'S ad and then tell me this site won't take no more comments!!!!. ............ Barack Obama will tell the truth no matter who don't want to hear it. YES I wish there was a way to cut gas prices in half!!! I do not want the rich to get richer in this country or endanger wildlife areas. We need to tap into our oil reserves or place some kind of sanction on these oil kingpins to pressure them to stop making these HUGE profits on us struggling hard working people!!!

We need BARACK OBAMA to finnally tell the truth and restore integrity in the "WHITE HOUSE" !!!!!!!!!

You have states in the south-west that have millions of un-used federal land. The place is a desert. Why not put in solar panels and wind turbines in these places for energy?

IT IS A SCHEME!! How can anyone with a brain not see this!! Experts have been saying for years that it is not the answer, that we need to focus on "OIL" independence! Listen to Pickens!!! These attack ads of McCain's really show the kind of person he is-a phony liar. He and his cronies truly think the American public is stupid. And I am beginning to think they are partially right if people buy this is even part of the solution. It isn't!

Go Obama-keep telling the truth about the Republicans. What a selfish group of liars. How do they sleep at night.

Obama 08!

I agree when was the last time the oil company's or Bush did anything to really help working american 1st red flag.. 2nd if the oil companies and there rich friends want it watch out . I grew up with this saying if it looks to good to be true (you know the rest). Why hadn't they did this before. John McCain has been around for a 20 + years why had he not gotten this done before. Now politically it might help him, and his buddies are trying to help him and themselves at our expense .Don't believe the hype. Just think they will control the oil in the middle east through there Iraqi oil deal with that accomplished they are ready to drill here.
Funny how this war worked so well for just a few .....Poor judgement was a vote for war.....Say your sorry Sen. McCain and Bush.

It seems that our candidate John McCain wanted to run a clean campaign and as far as I can see their is nothing clean about it. It makes me think does he really tell the truth or has he sold his soul to the devil. Makes me want to vote for Obama even more, I cant trust his word and many of you republicans out there need to think about pulling the lever for him. Lie now and we will get l

If Obama becomes President.........we will see just how fast they can get new drilling going ..........but not until then, thanks Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for holding America Hostage.

well, now we know who the "Real Straight talk express" is.
Barack gives u want u should hear and not what u want to hear. I hope people are sensible enough to elect him

America has to have some of the outright dumbest people in the world. Offshore drilling is not a quick fix and it doesn't serve American interests. Why isn't there a focus on building our public transportation infrastructure? In Florida, where building more congested highways when I'm sure most people would rather enjoy the comfort and ease of light rail and a more robust public transportation system.

End the Drama, Vote Obama!!!!

Offshore drilling is dumb.

There's no polite way to dress that up.

Will it decrease dependence on foreign oil? Maybe. Maybe not. If the oil companies get to drill all the places they're having the Republicans demand they be allowed to drill, it will add up to about 2% of the oil our country takes in. We'd still be pretty dependent on foreign oil.

Moving off of our oil addiction to other forms of power, now, that will decrease our dependence on foreign oil, it will cost far less in the long wrong, and it will have much less of an economic impact. How many carcinogens do you want your children and grandchildren to grow up with?

As a nation, we need to follow the lead of all those Texas former oilmen who can read the writing on the wall and are investing in wind power. Wind, solar, geothermal, nuclear, hydroelectric, these are the way of the future. Instead of drilling for more, we need to increase fuel efficiency standards and provide incentives for hybrid cars, and use less oil, and then slowly wean ourselves off it until we are using no oil.

So, are they lying again? Where did they get their "international celebrity list?" I have a feeling that Britney and Paris are hardly thought of anywhere but here, and mostly thought of here by McCain supporters.

wait a minute now...can we really be SO sure that the oil companies have THAT cozy a relationship with the GOP...; i mean,is that really fair?

(YES...that is meant to sound COMPLETELY RETARDED, much like the average republican voter)...

Hey STILL FOR HILL – No it was your girl who was lacking common sense when she couldn't manage her campaign or its finances. Shame on you for wanting her to run our country. Have you contributed to her debt??????????????????

We need to do all of it, wind, solar, nuclear, and drill. Being off oil in the near future is a pipe dream. We should be more efficient and use alternatives but not at the risk of having $12/gal gasoline. Look at it this way when we eventually do not need as much oil, we can export it. That would be nice for a change.

I am all for expensive gas prices......Keeps teens and broke liberals off the road. That in its self is worth the extra $2 dollars. Please dont drill I agree with Obama my commute to work has almost been cut in half

Anyone else noticing, how much Obama is talking more and more of President Bush's policies and ideas? Obama would drill himself.............President Bush said there is no magic wand he could use or he would.............Obama is an empty suit, using whatever, from wherever he can. Even President Bush's policies,..you know those 'Bush failed policies" he used to tout and trample the President with for so long.

Sorry SDunn. But that was not his question,they all vote. I believe the question was how many of those intiatives they voted on had thier name on it as the Author of it.

WE SHOULD LISTEN TO WHAT BUSH, MCBUSH & CHANEY

WANT. AFTER ALL THEY HAVE DONE SO MUCH FOR US.

THEY HAVE PUT US IN RECORD DEBT.

THEY HAVE DESTROYED OUR ECONOMY.

THEY HAVE SINGLEHANDEDLY INCREASED THE LEVELS

OF POLLUTION & FOOD CONTAMINATION BY MORE

THAN ANY ADMINISTRATION EVER.

THEY HAVE DESTROYED OUR WORLD STANDING.

THEY HAVE INCREASED THE LEVEL OF HATE WE HAVE

FOR EACH OTHER IN AMERICA & THE WORLDWIDE.

THEY HAVE MADE ALL OF US WAR CRIMINALS.

WHAT'S THERE NOT TO LOVE ABOUT THEM?? EVERYTHING!!!!

Hey "STILL FOR HILL", you say that Obama has no "common sense", your name suggests that you yourself lack common sense. Isn't that a pot calling the kettle black kind of thing?

People, off-shore oil from U.S. waters will not go to the U.S. market, it will go the world market, as it already does. There is not enough oil in the U.S. to impact the world supply. Unless McCain also proposes that we put in trade restrictions so the "new" off-shore oil can only be used to supply American refineries, at below world-market prices, off-shore drilling will NOT MAKE GAS CHEAPER! I have not heard ANYONE propose this. Off-shore drilling as proposed is another big-oil lie for their own enrichment.

Seems that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Venezula are making money hand over fist too.

Still for hill....

OLYMPIA - The gas tax holiday proposed by Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton would save the typical Washington driver $28 this year but cost the state about $126 million in lost highway money and more than 4,300 highway-related jobs, according to a recent report.

maybe you should ask the people that could have lost their jobs, how they feel about the 'holiday'.....

Every little bit doesn't always help everybody.....

STILL FOR HILL:

If you want the $13 that the "Gas Tax Holiday" would have saved
you over time, give me your address and I'll mail you a money
order. Then, in turn, you can donate that to Hillary's debt and you
can be right back where you started.

No one is saying we aren't going to need oil. Gosh, some of
you people are SO narrow minded. Look at the big picture:
things AREN'T going to happen overnight, but we have to start
NOW so that LATER we're not completely EFT.

I think you might be lacking the sanme common sense you
accuse Obama of not having. Yet, I'd venture to guess he's
MUCH more educated than you.

Why is it that the TROLLS (A Nightingale Sings in Berkley Square, Randy, Canuck, BHO Not my candidate, Annoy the Media, say NO to Obama) cannot pick up a book, go to the internet to educate themselves....the Republicans have done nothing for 7 1/2 years do you really think that McShame is going to do something about offshore drilling now.? None of the above mentioned ever have facts, guess that is why they are McShame supporters(LIARS)...the FACTLESS CANDIDATE .

John, you might have just had the most intelligent comment ever posted on these CNN ticker boards. From these moronic Obamabots, to some of the far right-wing posters...its amazing how much hate and bile is exchanged. It is almost a given that these politicians crave the support of these deranged and ignorant folks who have no respect for anyone with a different view. I support John McCain (although I don't think he is a great candidate) over Barrack Obama because of the issues and I support drilling and am educated on the issue. I respect that there are other people with different views on the issues and don't have a problem with those people. My only problem is with idiots who denigrate anyone who differs with them in opinion. This includes the morons who think their MISSPELLED, ALL CAPS POSTS WILL MAKE THEM STAND OUT MORE. Or the fools calling the candidates McLame or Barrack Osama. However, my ultimate disdain is for people who believe that anybody who doesn't share their political values is necessarily "ignorant" or a "dupe" or "voting against their own interests." These degenerates are a true cancer to the political process and to quote a famous phrase, should "kill selves" Support who you want, but don't get personal JUST BECAUSE you disagree.

At this point I am still trying to figure out who to vote for. Just a thought, at this time we are spending approximately $700 billion dollars a year on oil. Lets say it does take us 10 years to see some sort of return on our investment and see oil. Couldn't we take that oil and sale it to the rest of the world as we focus on renewable energy. For cars it would be and electric engine that runs the car then the gas engine only kicks in to charge the battery and keep the car running. Then we could take the oil that we now don't need and sell that to the rest of the world. We should be about reducing our reliance on foreign oil while in the same process creating additional income to put towards the economy and our childrens future. I believe it is very short sited to say we won't have use of the oil for 10 years so we shouldn't begin. It takes a real leader to look at the present and not plan for our tomorrow but to plan for the next generation. The oil companies have millions of acres that they can drill upon and the question is who is holding up the drilling, is it the regulatory process that congress subjects them to or is it the oil companies. We can continue to bash the oil companies and not look towards the future or we can find a way to reduce our reliance on oil altogether.

You never know who is telling the truth. The only clear fact is, your beliefs are contingent upon your party affiliation. Is off shore drilling just about price or also dependency? Obama says off shore drilling will take 10 years to see any results. Some say 5 years. Who do you believe? Regardless of the time frame, what happens if we do not act; drilling in conjunction with other forms of energy. For those that remark about all those people with their big SUV's, although I do not own one, there are many people that do, that would love to dump them, but cannot, as their value has dropped. If you feel that they should suffer and are at fault for purchasing gas guzzlers, then as a modest proposal, I suggest you take the same position with welfare, disability and all the other forms of expenditures, which more often than not, are the result of people making bad decisions, just like buying SUV's when gas is rising.

Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.

Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month - three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban - compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May.

This is why Senator John McCain is getting "PAID" and he fooling some of us to think he truly cares....

Obama says it like it is ... as always

NO NO NO to additional offshore drilling

BP,s profits [ profit !!!! ] was 6.4 billion this past quarter

And thats just BP

Do you want to know the real reason for high gas prices

It's about profits ... period

Which equal Greed and Selfishness

There is a comment above from "Joel" that accuses Obama of doing "Nothing." This seems to say a lot more about Joel seeing what he wants to see than anything about Obama. When I read the article, Obama cited a half dozen very specific things that we need to do. It's just that drilling isn't one of them.

STILL FOR HILL and every one said it would have done nothing, neither Hillary or McCain have even tried to make it into a bill, so they were /are just pandering.... Federal are cutting 8 billions to our bridges, so why would we even consider taking the rest of the money away ?? (the gas tax is for repairing roads and bridges)

OBAMA you are full of yourself. So no to drilling, but you don't have a better idea. Here's a idea, why not drill and do other stuff, something is more than doing nothing. God forbid if your president you will be the biggest do nothing president ever.

Former Democrat

Even oilman T Boone Pickens is saying "We can't drill our way out of this mess."

Anyone who agrees with drilling offshore is not paying attention. The fact is the oil companies already have millions of acres of land and off shore sites inwhich they can already drill. The question should be to them why aren't they using them why are they asking for more when they aren't using what they already have. Sure more drilling could help ten or twenty years down the road but the thing is they could already be drilling in leased lands to them. Funny enough they want to drill in protected lands in Alaska when in reality they already have the rights to drill in lands just outside those areas and they aren't doing it, Use it or lose it

I'm totally against offshore drilling. We will not see the fruitions for years to come. Let alone look at the oil spills that we've had over the years that have killed off the wildlife. Does anyone care about the detrimental effects to our marine life?

I think on the long haul we need to really start expanding our options in energy. Eventually the natural resources do come to an end. When that happens, what's the game plan?

This is so right! Offshore drilling is not the answer. Consumption will continue to increase as more of the world's population increases their use of oil for fuel and energy. Offshore drilling is the bandaid easy approach because it just pushes it back a few years. Doesn't resolve anything, just puts the problem on the shoulders of the next generation. What we need to do is make fundamental changes in our behaviors. We should be exploring the ability to find and mainstream the use of alternative forms of energy and save offshore drilling as a last resort. Recycle, become more energy effienct, do more walking/biking, use public transportation, increase mileage standards....if we can continue to make phones and computers smaller and more powerful, we can surely do this.

Andy J:

We all know we can't just abandon oil as a duel source tomorrow.
We're not as stupid as you would like to believe. But, answer me
this: why should we open up MORE areas for offshore drilling when
there's already MILLIONS of acres of leased area for drilling that
currently isn't being used? It just doesn't make sense. It IS a scheme.

Its pandering to the people. "Oh, if we tell them we're opening up
more areas for offshore drilling, maybe they'll THINK that gas prices
will go down!" That's the mentality of the GOP – tell them what we
think they want to hear. It just doesn't make sense. And your
commentary about how we need oil so we might as well drill is
foolish. Knowing we HAVE to drill does NOT mean we have to
open up NEW areas off coast to do so.

And what about out 400 billion barrell reserve of oil? What's that
waiting around for? The apocalypse? If we're SO intent on not
buying oil from foreign countries, why not tap into that well?!

And drilling in the ANWR shouldn't even be an option.

So, to summarize: new leases for offshore drilling are unneccesary.
Investing in new souces of energy is definitely necessary. If we had
been doing THAT for the last I don't even know how many years,
we might not be in this pickle.

And, I'm willing to bet we have PLENTY of knowledge and
technology when it comes to other sources of power and
fuel that our money hungry government has kept hidden
so that they could get rich by way of Big Oil and the Middle East.

Your argument is extremely one-dimensional.

CNN, why keep filtering my messages???

doesn't have any offensive, inappropriate words in it.

Is Monica Goodling working for CNN now?

A Nightingale Sings in Berkley Square: You took the words right out of my mouth.. thank you.

And Nancy in San Jose: I both laugh at and kind of take offense to the truck comment, being from Texas myself.

Randy: Is your terrible misinterpretation purposeful? Of course that's not his plan, it's a prediction of what will happen if we do not invest in alternative fuels immediately as well as hold oil companies´ feet to the fire.

Oil that comes out of offshore drilling has to go into the international market. We then get to bid on our own oil bidding against China. Oil companies (such as the Bush family owns) receive incentive money just for holding on to the oil leases. They don't even have to drill and they get money from the government. So why drill? There have been no new orders for drilling rigs, nobody is doing anything in the areas that we have leases in.

We need a President with a good solid energy policy. Obama is that person. We need alternatives such as solar, wind, safe nuclear, plug in cars, CNG and LPG cars, and wind power to run all the electric companies in the US. I live in NW Iowa, about 30 miles from the most beautiful site in the world– a whole bunch of wind towers spinning slowly making electricity for my electric company. If a little company in Iowa can do that, why can't all of them do so.

Obama 08/12

And Obama is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!

See how people talk who are not OWNED by big Oil?

Didn't big oil give McCain HUGE Money??hmmmmmmmmmmm

I don't know about you guys, but I am following Obama.
I do not trust anything the republicans do or say.
Bush+McCain+Cheney+Gramm+Carly+Tucker = Stupid

Biff....perhaps re reading the article 14 or 15 times will help you understand what I meant.

If you would like I can highlight it for you

If off-shore drilling will do nothing to the price of oil, then why has it dropped 15% since Pres. Bush lifted the executive ban?

I still haven't heard a good arguement as to why the Congressional ban should continue. Every liberal screams about a different time before the oil will hit the market. You guys might want to get together and pick the same number. And, just because there is land (leased) does not mean there is oil.

Oil is and will be the major source of energy for many, many years. Nobody is arguing against alternative fuel sources. Some of us are just realistic about it's possibilities now and in the near future.

This guy is a tool...

Ten years ago there was legislation... stating we are going to have a problem by 2010... here we are and saying the same things.

Alternatives are great... sadly I can't afford a 100K electic car.

So lets wait ten more year... pay 12 per gallon... and say drilling will take ten years to fix.

The profits by the way are because of 140 dollar barrels of oil... where the companies sell what they find.... and this guy is the great thinker? Supply and demand... you drill and the futures go down... MORON!

Obama is right on target. American cannot drill itself out of this energy crisis......alternate energy sources and their development are the "long term solution." America needs to reduce or become less dependent on oil..

Just because an oil company has been granted a lease does not guarantee there is/was oil or gas there. Those fields most likely have already been explored and tested and shown to have uneconomical reserves. At least open up other areas to explore while the US comes up with an "alternative" fuel. What will that standard be?

Come on Obama....come up with a plan rather than being a nay sayer.

How about a gas tax holiday? That sounds like a really good idea to solve the problem!!

McCain 08

Why obsess with oil? when the alternatives are better cleaner, what's wrong with solar or wind turbine? Let's China and India create their own jobs with their offshore drilling.

OBAMA, you elitists need to get a life!!

It's a little late for the Holier Than Thou crap. The Democrats have the majority, remember? Maybe if you showed up once in a while, you would see that your Democratic peers have done NOTHING.

YOU have DONE NOTHING to avoid the oil crisis.

Americans overwhelmingly want to drill, Moron! Your self-serving solutions will take TEN YEARS to produce anything.

You arrogant selfish elitist racist, go do something about AIDS in your "community."

What a crock! The leases that he says the oil companies should use to drill on now don't have any oil under them! Believe me if there was oil they would be drilling, after all aren’t they the so called “greedy oil companies”? This is the tactic the liberals have been using to fool the idiots who keep voting for them. They make you THINK they want drilling but what they really want is the oil companies to waste their time drilling DRY HOLES!!

The next big lie is that "it will take 10 years to get any oil" That is TOTAL crap. Ask anyone that is actually IN the oil business, we can have oil ready to go in a year to two. This isn’t the dark ages, we have good technology & we can do it environmentally safe. Then while we are using our own resources, we can pursue the alternative energy sources like solar & wind. They all must happen at the same time.

His big plan is to tax the oil companies more. All that is going to do is RAISE the price of gas at the pump even more and if you don’t believe that you’re a total idiot. I know it’s hard for you liberals to use logic but this simple example will hopefully make you think. Just imagine you own a company & every year you make about $100,000 in profit. The government comes along & says to you “we think you make entirely too much money, we’re going to tax you 10% more” Now you’re only going to make $90,000 in profit. Are you going to A) be happy with that and say “Aw shucks, they are right I was making way too much money” or B) are you going to raise the price of whatever goods or services you provide to make up the difference? If you say A you’re a liar! If you say B, welcome to the Republican party!!!

NO BAMA!!

The poll earlier suggested that a majority of those polled favor drilling off-shore. This tells me that they either don't understand or they don't care. They have been drinking the Kool Aid being served by the Republicans and their Oil Company puppeteers.
Drilling off-shore will have no immediate effect and little long-term effect. In the meantime, a major ecological catastrophe is in the offing. It's not a matter of if: it's a matter of when.
T. Boone Pickens is an oilman and a conservative Republican. Even he has said "we cannot drill our way out of this". If Pickens can recognize that, why can't the others? Oil is the problem, not the answer.

a taxpayer vote for obama makes as much sense as chickens voting for Col. Sanders. A tax and spend president (obama)with a tax and spend democratic congress. Oh how the pork barrell spending would go out of sight.

How do you know when an ad is effective? When the opposition lights up the message boards. Bravo, Team McCain. This ad is genius, that's why the resentment on this site is off the charts.

(BTW, ridiculous that CNN cuts off comments after only 450 on such a hot post as the commercial one.)

The oil companies enjoy being middle men. Why do you think they want to be producers?

Obama the socialist you are so out of touch. Dont drill now and in 10 years we will still be dependent on terrorists supplying our oil needs. Our oil dependency will never stop. I say develop alternate sources now, drill now and in 3 years we can start to become an independent USA again. I think Obama doesnt want to drill for new oil because of his ties to known terrorists like his preacher et al. I hate the oil companies and if I was able I would say lease the offshore oil to somebody other then the existing oil companies. Fund a start up company and sell them the leases and get some competition back in the market.

"T-Rex" McCain and gang are trying to pull a fast one.

Can CNN continue to do reporting about the huge oil spill on the Mississippi river? The same one that has boats lined up by the hundreds because they're stuck... and costing the American public millions of dollars??

As a concerned citizen of Florida where they want to put huge machinery in our sea... this is HUGELY important to me.... can we get an update please?

That's a hard line to take when people are desperate. But it is going to be tough to break our dependency on oil. Barack, you are doing the exact right thing. You are quite the visionary!

OBAMA 08

Once again, Mr, Obama is for "change," but he knows nothing of what he's talking about. Where are we going to get oil if we don't allow the drilling of our own known reserves. This is a scary, ignorant man.

Mila July 30th, 2008 1:56 pm ET

He didn't mention that:

1) There already are 60 million acres of offshore area in which the oil companies already have permission to explore and drill, but they're not doing it.

2) Even if they wanted to begin drilling today (you have to find the oil first), there are no drills available that aren't already in use, and not enough skilled people to operate them if they were available. Most of them have been shipped to Brazil.

He's right. A majority of people might want to drill because it sounds good, but they don't have the facts.
------------------

He did mention your first point, but I think he used a larger number of available acres.

Hi Campbell you are doing a good job after Paul Zone you are the best on that time (8 ET) 2008 is worst year for people who is covering the politics in neutral. I know you are having tough competition . Some time I don’t agree with your pundits.

Sen. Obama are you going to give the same statement after 10 years then please quit the politics
Shame on you Obama you don’t under stand us
Hillary 08 or Mc Cain 08

I love how all the liberals on here stick their fingers in their ears whenever the idea of additional drilling is mentioned. They should know that the bull Obama is throwing about it taking 10 years to matter is all bunk, why not just say it'll take a thousand years to materialize, or a couple millenia?? No matter what, you Obama zombies will listen to nothing but what you want to hear, so go back to living in Never Never Land.

oh...GOD help us. if McCain is elected we will be able to ask you in person.

Jimmy Carter tried to sell the alternative fuels energy policy to Americans 30+ years ago and the re-thug-licans shoot his ideas down. Reagan even tore down the solar panels on the WH roof when he moved in back in the 80s. Brazil back then picked up on the idea and now they have fossil fuel freedom. Re-thug-licans are at it again pandering to the Americans this election season and some of you are falling for their tricks again.

john mccain has totally lost all respect i had for him. his conduct is scarey for me thinking of himin the White House. this sleazey way he is behaving because of Obamas populaity is sick. Afrustrated old man he cant know how silly his behavior looks.

its true

It's a sheme and a scam by McCain camp to divert attention from the facts.

Big Oil Rushes Money to McCain After FLip FLop on

— Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling. The amount given? $1.1 million. $892,000 more than the month before.

Guess John mcCain knows how to get the gusher going!

John R July 30th, 2008 2:33 pm ET

There really is no need for name calling. Both Republicans and Democrates have not done a good job managing the energy issues in America. That includes Obama and McCain. Both are current Senators who have been in office for the past couple of years while the energy issue (like the housing issues) have dropped before us.

Before we jump on the 'bandwagon' of either of these two gentleman, we might want to ask, What bill have you presented to Congress over the past couple of years to get ahead of this problem?

-------------------------------–

Sorry John R. but McCain has been in office a lot longer than Obama and he has voted no on increasing fuel efficiency on cars and he has voted no on increasing research for alternative fuels. Obama has voted yes for these initiatives....Now all of a sudden John McCain is for offshore drilling. Hmmm I wonder why? As soon as he said he was for it, he began to receive millions of dollars in contributions from big oil companies! Doesn't sound like a coincidence to me.

I know Obama is doing something right – the propaganda rolls into my in box faster than I can keep it cleaned out.

The more lies I read and hear, the more I like Obama.

I'm so sick of the fear-mongering, putrid, hate-filled machine that calls itself republican.

This is coming from the same guy who was against the "Gas Tax Holiday". Doesn't do enough for the people.

I'm sorry, for the majority of Americans, every little bit helps.

What an arrogant jerk.

Sorry, even if we move to electric cars, we are still going to need oil b/c everyone can't afford to go and buy a new car right away.

I've figured out what Obama is lacking: Common Sense.

******Randy July 30th, 2008 2:09 pm ET

So Obama'slan is to make gas $12.00 a gallon???????????????????????????????????????????

Woww…brilliant leadership!******

You can't be serious......HIS plan????? right.......
If we continue on the course we are right now.....without looking for other forms of energy, we WILL be paying $12.00 a gallon or more in 10 to 12 years.....

some people are to stupid for words...

I wonder why the McCain supporters aren't demanding that he put a bill forward for his gas tax holiday. He should put his senate power where his mouth is and put forth a bill if he thinks the gas holiday is a such good idea. He won't though because he knows it's just another political trick for the low info voters out there.

I'll be waiting.....better hurry McCain the summers wasting......

Obama is the typical lying democRAT.

He is like Gore, make everyone else suffer so that HE can live the way that he wants to.

I was talking to a friend of mine in the oil business and he said that if the government would just get out of the way with all of THEIR red tape that we could see more domestic oil flowing to our refineries in as little as 6 months to 1 year.

The democRATs have a VERY narrow view on what needs to happen, and that is for US to conserve (while THEY live high on the land) and to invest in ONLY alternative fuels. WHAT IDOITS !!!!!

We not only need to conserve and invest in alternative fuels (that will take 15 – 20 years) but we also need OIL, COAL, and Nuclear .

The democRATs are extemely far sighted on this issue. They do not have a clue.

iT MAYBE A SCHEME BUT JUST THE THREAT OF OFF SHORE DRILLING HAS BEEN KEEPING THE SPECULATERS FROM PURCAHSING AND THE PRICES HAVE BEEN CONSISTANTLY COMING DOWN. CALL IT A SCHEME, CALL IT A GIMMICK CALL IT WHATEVER YOU WANT BUT IT'S WORKING. THE BOTTOMK LINE IS IT IS WORKING

Yes.............He is smart and is telling the truth

McBlame is a liar.........

OBAMA.........08 AND 12

CM - If you got a life maybe you too can drive an SUV-
Otherwise-Quite Frankly Barack-75% of the voters think we should use all our sources-
Your plan will get us oil independence by 2030 you said-
What do we do in the meantime-
Your job-as I understand it –if you become President is to do what the people want-not what your inexperience tells you-
Thank you for making my choice for President easy-
Your an elitest from the Guns and Religion Comment and the comments you made to the Dems last evening - to think you even know whats best-
You will lose !!

To you people who say they would prefer to buy american oil. Great go tell them to start drilling in the millions and millions of acres that they are already aproved for drilling, 30 million of those approved acres are off shore. Nobody is stopping them from drilling there.

What you didnt know that? Maybe fact check before you sound stupid. There is no need to open up more places for drilling, they arent using what they already have.

Have to agree here – oil co's are making it out like bandits. Record profits of only Exxon-Mobil last year translates to about $12 paid by EVERY American EVERY week.

What does this add up to? Roughly some $600 per year – but don't complain, we got the stimulus bonus to pay for this. Now, where does this stimulus come from – the government, that is – our taxes.

Either way – Oil Companies get it from us – directly at the pump, or indirectly from our taxes via stimulus bonus.

With all the talk of how inexperienced Obama is no one talks about how dishonest everyone else is.

They guy is right alot of the times and he is not BSing uslike Mccain is.

I would risk anything to have a leader who tells the truth to the people.
That leader is Barack Obama

To all those Repubs claiming Obama doesn't know what he is talking about. You are missing the point entirely!!! He isn't suggesting that we continue to buy oil from foreign hostile countries, he isn't suggesting that we destroy our shores by drilling....HE IS SAYING THAT WE NEED TO FIND A NEW SOURCE TO POWER YOUR HUGE F150 SITTING IN YOUR DRIVEWAY!!! So please, for the sake of this country, you had your Bush years, now it is time for some real leadership and innovating thinkers!!!

Obama 08 & 12!!!

And he is right again. This man is such a breath of fresh air. Call it what it is! President Obama is just exactly what we need. I'm fired up and he's ready to go!

What many people don't get is that even if we were drilling, The oil goes into an international pot. It's not our oil.

"First of all, let's make the oil companies drill where they're already got leases, let's increase supply by making them do what they're supposed to do."

Duh! It's about time Big Oil is held responsible.

I agree with Obama.

We need to realize that gas will probably never go back to prices of even a year ago. No matter how much we drill. What we need to do is realize that this country is addicted to oil just like addicts are addicted to meth or coke. They'll do ANYTHING for their next fix!

It's time to have an "Intervention" and just say no. Or, in this case, just say "yes we can" and figure out a better way. There's no better time to start than right now.

By the way. We import more oil from CANADA than ANY other country.
The Republicans just want to bring fear and revenge into this equation. That's why they always talk about the Middle East and the oil we get from them.

No "Joel in Corona"...I think what he's suggesting is that we think and find the real problem before we act...there's hardly any sense in spending millions on useless solutions just because you want to appear busy.

Mila,

He actually did mention the millions of acres not being drilled on. I watched the townhall meeting.

Honestly-....if it wouldn't take 10 years I'd give it to you!!!!

Yep...that's exactly what the Congress told Ronald Reagan 20+ years ago and look where we are now?

Change is so good.
And so predictable when it's liberal.

What good is more drilling in our coastal areas going to do if our refining capacities are already running at maximum capacity? That's where the bottleneck is. How about building more refineries to make use of the crude already available?

Oh yes Messiah, you are right... Not...

Bush just lifted the executive ban drilling for oil two weeks ago and gas prices have fallen 20 cents a gallon.

You people need to put down the cool-aide.

Still for Hill, but voting McCain

ex-dem, now independent

Everyone needs to STOP AND THINK, when someone or a country has an ADDICTION to something the answer or the cure for their ADDICTION is not MORE SUPPLY OF WHAT THEY ARE ADDICTED TO, they need an alternative so that they can be wheined off of their ADDICTION............THINK AMERICA THINK.............

Where's the main stream media in reporting why the oil companies are not drilling in the 60+ million acres they already have access to drill (I have yet to hear a good answer to this critical question)? The democrats are NOT against the so called "drill more, drill now", they just want them to drill in the areas they already have access to. This appears to be nothing more than a political ploy by the Republicans (that I think they are winning right now). Wake up America! I wish the media would stop just reporting "talking points" and start analyzing.

why do the dems and repubs insist it must be one way (drilling) or the other (conservation and alternative energy) why dont they have the good sense to see we need both. one for the short term (again, drilling) and others for the long term. oh wait, sen mccain HAS been saying that!!! the congress and obama need to stop playing god with our lives and finances and listen to the man who has a plan.

It saddens me to see idiots like Joel in Corona and Andy J on here and knowing these people actually vote and breed. By your logic, had we listened to Carter 30 years ago about conserving and moving to alternative fuels, we wouldn't be in this mess either. How stupid could you people possibly be? You sound like junkies in desperate need of your next fix that have yet to acknowledge that you have a problem.

Where's the main stream media in reporting why the oil companies are not drilling in the 60+ million acres they already have access to drill (I have yet to hear a good answer to this critical question)? The democrats are NOT against the so called "drill more, drill now", they just want them to drill in the areas they already have access to. This appears to be nothing more than a political ploy by the Republicans (that I think they are winning right now). Wake up America! I wish the media would stop just reporting "talking points" and start analyzing.

The price of a barrel of oil recently dropped dramatically - because many believe the Enron Loophole is about to be closed. Some of the speculators are selling off, fearing Energy will be regulated again. Speculators have been inflating the price for Energy since it was de-regulated. For five years Democrats have tried to change this. After blocking Democratic bills for five years, the Republicans NOW want to close the loophole - but they want it tied to a bill for offshore drilling. What a scam. Estimates are that the price of oil will drop very quickly 25% to 50% when the Enron Loophole closes. So the Republicans want to take advantage of that and say "see, we told you offshore drilling would make a difference". But it will really only benefit a few rich oil tycoons. (and their friends in the White House).

Wow! You people really are clueless! Go get in your cars and drive to an Obama rally somewhere, the rest of will deal with reality!

What lead to Iraq War?
McCain and Bush should tell us.

Lets see he thought the gas tax was a political stunt, and now he thinks off shore drilling is a scheme, but yet he hasn't proposed what he is going to do about lowering the cost of oil and gas other than raise taxes. I think Mr. Britney Spears better get out of the public eye and start working for the Am. people if he wants this job.

You know... it's really hard to feel sorry for the Oil Companies right now, considering how they've been economically raping us at the gas pumps. They can just shut up and quite whining, and drill for oil where they're allowed to drill for oil. They've done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help out the American Public, and have done everything in their power to run up gas and oil costs.

The Oil Companies will receive NO sympathy from me, because they give none in return.

Obama is right! Notice how the republicans only tell half the truth. Not to mention they are the ones who did not wont to dill all this time, but now it is an election year they are all for it. Here is the problem I have with my former party, they think that the American people are stupid; they think they can throw us a bone and we will be all over it. I don’t want another President in office who just talks a good game.
McCain is a grumpy old man, he is bitter, and plan mean. We are hurting and it is not in our minds. The truth of the matter is, I need lower gas prices YESTERDAY not in 10 ys by the time we get oil from the ground in the US I will be homeless and carless

Yes ALL HAIL OBAMA ... rookie senator has all the answers! He is as bad as Bush and will make things worst. Come on people do your homework, he has no record .... how can you trust someone that has no record and no leadership!! he is nothing more then a DNC puppet

"Scheme" indeed election time repulicans have nothing to offer ,but pretend they're doing something about the energy crisis, only the oil companies and Republican Conservatives will profit from this deal. Like obama said we are all desperate would like to see some relief, but this proposal is not real, watch out American let go for the alternatives like solar and wind and bio-diesel. Let's raise fuel efficiency standards on cars. Let's get plug-in hybrids all across America. God Bless Obama and the United States. Free at last from dependence on foreign oil.

So what is your argument, Mike from TX?

According to the many sources-oil could be running from off-shore and ANWR in as little as 24 months.

Wonder where Obama is getting his estimates from? The same hat he uses for gleaning statistics of U.S. healthcare (conveniently leaving out the impact perhaps of milliions of illegal aliens and unemployed in his calculations–conveniently.

Why drill offshore when there are tons of areas on land with drills already in place? That's right, that's not what the oil companies want.

Finally! Obama has to be this to-the-point, clear, direct and forceful in this and all the other points on which McCain lobs his political grenades.

I think he could be simpler still: he should say "The oil companies and politicians pushing the offshore drilling and promising lower gas pump prices are CONNING YOU!"

Wow!
Other than being arrogant and deceitful he is not very smart either.
GAS IS OVER $4.00, why not drill? We need to drill and drill NOW.
We don’t drill so we stay dependent to the likes of Ahmadinejad of Iran?
That would give Obama a lot of leverage so he can meet with him unconditionally!!!

My god this man is so clueless and dangerous for this country.

Hey Messiah-drill were they already have leases? Whats stopping them? Why is off shore drilling preferable? Maybe because OIL is there and not on the land were the leases are. I honestly think if the oil companies could drill more, sell more and make bigger profits, they would. Just my opinion!

Although I agree that politicians tend to look out for thier future first before those of thier respective parties (in some instances) and definately before us the tax payers. I can't help but wonder who paid for the jet fuel and the secret service (remember they've asked for more) while Obama was speaking to 200,000 (democrat figures) who aren't even allowed to vote for in our election. Offshore drilling only postpones the enevidable and that is sooner or later it's gonna dry up.

To those who think offshore drilling will help the energy crisis: please, I understand where you are coming from. But offshore drilling will not solve the energy crisis. It will worsen it. Permitting offshore drilling will only put more money in the pockets of the oil companies, take more from the consumers, and continue to destroy the environment. Oil companies are sitting on millions of square miles of excellent oilfields – why aren't they drilling there?

Don't be naive. Offshore drilling will help the oil companies, and no one else. If anything, it will hurt us, the consumers.

So now Obama is an expert on energy and the US OIL INDUSTRY?

WHAT ELSE DON'T WE KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD"S GREATES CELEBRITY?

I won't call "Oil for Beacher" a "SCHEME". It is pure and simple "SCAM". Obama is just being "politically polite".

Twenty years from now our grandchildren will say off-shore drilling was one of the lamest ideas that characterized 2008 politics. They will be saying things like why did our elders burn up all that petroleum so fast when we need petrochemicals now for plastic IV bags in hospitals or other life saving technology? We could reduce the demand for crude oil now if we would switch to higher mpg vehicles. The oil we save could be used for materials, mostly plastic, for which we have no viable alternatives.

Who gains when oil is drilled? The Big Oil Companies. Who owns most of these companies? Lobbyist in the Bush administration and those running the Mccain campaign. Do the know that the oil will be at the pump only 10 yes from today? Yes, even President Bush and Mccain say so but that it will give a psycological boost so people can vote for Republicans and maintain the status quo. So why are they pressing this issue so hard? Because after winning in Nov. they will remind us that we were warned that oil will only be available after 10 yrs when drilling starts.
So why do they oppose renewable energy sources and biofuels? Because it will take money out of their pocket and will disatisfy the lobbyist who are running Mccain's campaign.

Oilman T. Boone Pickens says this is a problem we can't drill our way out of...He has had a lot more success than some clown who ran Arbusto Oil into the ground...Get a clue, kids!

Mike, TX
I am an idiot because I know he is right. America has to stop being reactive and start being pro-active.

What is Obama's short term and long term plan for Energy? I don't believe he's articulated it, or perhaps he doesn't have a clue.

Latinos for McCain.

A mexican joke on Obama:

¿POR QUÉ LA ALTA POPULARIDAD DE BARACK OBAMA? Sencillo, 8 de cada 10 Negros lo prefieren!!!

Mike, TX is clearly one of those fact-challanged neo-cons who bows to his corporate neo-masters and spreads the [R] dogma. Its worrysome that such goons are allowed to procreate and vote.

I'm clueless on most of the facts.......CHECK
I've never seen evidence of corporate wrong-doing.......CHECK
I believe everything I hear on the FOX channel.......CHECK
I need more guns for my anti-gov't arsenal......CHECK
Spaceflight is illegal; it doesn't appear in the constitution.....CHECK
Only Democrats evolved from apes......CHECK
I don't like big government.....CHECK
I like what Bush has done in downsizing gov't and the debt.....CHECK
I support invading Mexico to confront terrorits abroad.......CHECK
I know America has enough of its own oil to rule the world....CHECK
A "Dick Cheney Christmas" is my all-time favorite album........CHECK

[R] voting checklist: $1.52. A barrel of oil: $130. [R]ightwing cluelessness: PRICELESS

There really is no need for name calling. Both Republicans and Democrates have not done a good job managing the energy issues in America. That includes Obama and McCain. Both are current Senators who have been in office for the past couple of years while the energy issue (like the housing issues) have dropped before us.

Before we jump on the 'bandwagon' of either of these two gentleman, we might want to ask, What bill have you presented to Congress over the past couple of years to get ahead of this problem?

We may find that both of these gentleman are typical politicians who only talk about solutions when the problem is critical but do nothing when the problem is clearly seen on the horizon.

Shouldn't we explore all options before throwing any one option out? Let's look at off-shore drilling along with nucular, geothermal, wind, solar, shale, existing lease drilling, and biofuels (from non food). All of this should be on the table. Some will long term solutions while others we can take advantage of right away.

What we can't do is pretend we are something we are not. We will continue to have are cars and our roads. Out nation was build on the backbone of an infastructure of roads. We will not bring everyone living in the rual areas (more than 80% of the country) to live in the nations intercities. We will not build all the trains necessary to get someone from a small town of 500 people to the grocery store 5 to 10 miles (or even further) away.

Let's get real and talk about the problem of keeping this economy growing and maintain the strongest economy in the world. The US is the best nation in the world and we can correct these issues if we stop yelling at each other and sit down and solve the problems.

Well.....what do you know?

A Presidential Candidate that speaks the truth.....even when we don't neccesarily want to hear it....

Now THAT is what I call change.

Randy...
I missed the part in the article where Obama said his plan was to make gas $12/gallon.

oh.. that's right... IT WASN'T IN THERE !

I truly wish that America wakes up and realizes that Bush/Cheney and all of their big oil buddies are just trying to line their pockets off of our money. They have access to millions of acres of land and offshore sites that they have legal rights to for drilling but have not done so.

we should be growing hemp not drilling for oil. thank Barney Franks maybe we will get smart and take this opportunity to start growing it again

Look at the economy and oil prices when Bush took office, now look at the economy, and oil prices now at the end of his two terms!! Americans have been robbed!! And this offshore drilling scheme is just another way for Bush and the oil companies to continue racking in the cash even after he leaves office. Obama is the only one telling the truth about this and other topics.

McCain received a whopping $1.1 MILLION DOLLARS from big oil companies donated to his campaign!!!! That just tells you where his loyalties lie, not with the average american but with big oil.

Obama '08/'12

He's right. It won't help us in the long run.

Obama '08

Hussein Nobama is a true moron! The only people more stupid than Nobama are his supporters. Nobama wants higher gas prices to inflict more controls on the United States
. He hates America and Americans!

Oil is traded on the international market. Any we "produce" we don't get to "keep it" for ourselves. Shease people, pay attention.

Obama is on the mark with this. McCain reminds me of someone that uses candy to shut up noisy kids. The kids like the candy, but in the long run all that happens is they get cavaties and then get noisy again. Drilling off shore might make people feel better for a short time, like we're doing something, but it does nothing to solve our problem long term.......and it gives us more cavaties.

Energy problem solved!

Harness all the hot air in Congress (specially them dems) That should tied us over until they figure out that it is going to take a multi-layer approach.

By the way, other than those who don't want to drill, who exactly is saying "10 to infinity years before we see anything"?

This blog would make your Hero Karl Marx very proud.

It is not hard to see how socialism has killed millions of people, socialist liberal Democrats are by far the most hateful people in America.

They can sream and foam at the mouth all they want about how a few republicans have made comments about gays or whatever, but look at how they treat people each day on an individual level, truly the worst thing in America hands down for those who get to witness it by living in blue areas.

If you vote for Obama then you support censorship, rewarding hate and laziness and punishing hard work and love, want your fellow Americans to suffer for not having views that conform to liberalism, a press that hides information from the public and spreads lies to advance the goals of an evil ideology. I just want each and every Obama supporter to study Nazi Germany. The man who spoke there last week has goals, dreams, and ambissions that are not that much different than the man who did 65 years ago.

While MLK was a quasi-socialist, his heart was in the right place and wanted the best for America. We owe him for all he did and his sacrifice, please don't distort and destroy his legacy by comparing Rev. Wrights programmed robot to this American patriot. Thanks

Obama knows the real definition for that word....it is what he is! It is no scheme to tell people it will take up to 10 years to develop...it is no scheme to make a step forward on behalf of our nation and it's relationship with the world.

It is a scheme to think that Senator Obama has the correct judgment or that his words can be trusted. He did not with Trinity, Uncle Wright and flip-flopped on FISA, campaign financing and more. That people is no scheme....nor is it any change.

Welcome back home!!!

You tell 'em! Nothing but a mind game!

McSame didn't know what to do other than watch and attack Obama last week!

Now with Obama back home... we can get back to the real issues!

Go Bam!

Drilling for oil now is just a way for Big Oil to once again hold the energy levarage in America. They can careless about the American people. It all about the bucks people. Think about it for a moment. Why would Big Oil willingly embrace alternitive energy when thier entire infrustucture depends on drilling and production of oil. This is simple business 101. So instend they are pressing the repubs to buy them time by drilling. I would hope that most Americans can see through this trash.

Don't worry Senator Obama, we're onboard. We've got McCain's number and we know it's a sham. We will vote for you, support you and celebrate when you become our next POTUS.

God bless and keep you, and see you in November.

Obama 08

My thoughts exactly, CM.

even if we let the oil companies drill wherever, we still wouldn't see any of it. It would go to China, who has the money to buy it. We need an energy policy that is not dependent on foreigh oil and fast.

We can do this if we get the american people behind it.

That's right brainiacs, we should drill and drill for more oil, instead of working on alternatives and reducing consumption, that way when we completely run out future generations will be screwed. How can people be so short sighted and stupid?

Obama =TRUTH ,intelligence,educated,judgement ,peace, a movement that includes people world wide that carry American flags welcoming Obama.

McWar = blank slate ,loss of memory,outdated ,Jealors,short stemed thats exactly what we need" no sutbstance spends his time making up LIES,Town Halls w/rest home crowd,dislilked here and worldwide where burn American flag when McCain is present.
Is it hard to choose ?

Finally, someone telling Americans the truth. But, I wonder, can he change the minds of the dummies that we have in the US. Probably not , that is why this election is about the idiots and the intelligent, independent thinkers. When will Americans start thinking and using common sense on these issues. It is not that difficult, my 18 year old understands that this is a scam. I really want Obama to be president, then more Americans will go to college and get the education they so desperately need. We cannot continue on the path we have been on for the past 8 years, how hard is this to figure out? Are we that STUPID!

Obama is a SYMBOL!!! LOL!! He is the new Prince!!

Substance over the "SYMBOL"!!! McCain '08!!!

The Messiah doesn't understand that the day Bush removed the federal moratoorium on offshore drilling, prices dropped 5%. When Congress let's the offshore drilling ban expire on September 30th, the price of oil will go down to 60 dollars a barrel. Once we start drilling again, oil will go down to 20 dollars a barrel. Then the oil companies will no longer be making a profit. What happens then and who will Obama blame??

Canuck I know we should listen to advice of old focks, however, these same old focks expect us to take care of them at that age. There are so many 70 to 90 year old focks in the senate who need to go home and leave it the the younger focks to take over.

John McCain go home and play with your great grand children

By not drilling, we are showing the oil companies we are going for alternatives. The oil companies will panic and drop the prices to deter this from happening

the "math" behind more drilling:

Less () profit for oil companies

THIS IS BUSH LEGACY (FOR BIG OIL)

Maybe we could get some non-politically affiliated petroleum engineers and geologists to discuss this issue instead of politicians who no nothing about oil reserves or extraction.
Another note: The republican lie machine is trying to trick the "average american" into making a connection between offshore drilling and "energy independence" so that come November they can blame Democrats for not allowing us to become independent and blame them for high gas prices. Based on the numbers I've seen, even a best case scenario would only provide about 6-7% of annual US oil consumption. This ploy should not be confused with energy independence.

Why hasn't anyone pointed out that McCain's maternal side of the family was in Oklahoma oil? Doesn't that make anyone suspicious of his attempt to get more profits for big oil?

LADIES & GENTLEMEN MCSENILE HAS BEEN

BOUGHT & PAYED FORE BY THE SAME GOOD PEOPLE

THAT GAVE YOU BUSH,THE CHANEY OIL MACHINE,

FOR THE GOOD SUM OF $1,100.000.

EVERYTHING THAT IS COMING OUT OF MCMORON'S

MOUTH IS A LIE. SAME LIES THAT WERE USED TO LAUNCH

THE IRAQ WAR, AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR ECONOMY & BLOOD.

Obama is right. The bandits are the oil companies, McCain, Bush and Cheney. They are the ONLY ones that will benefit from offshore drilling. Obama is the only one that is telling the truth about this. McCain received a whopping $1.1 MILLION DOLLARS donated to his campaign from oil companies!!! That alone shows you where McCrazy's loyalities lie.

Bush all his big oil cronnies/bandits will benefit from offshore drilling. This is not a resolution.

I think the RNC is being paid off from the US Oil Industry, and this may'be been one item they want on their checklist. Notice how McCain stands weekly in front of an American Oil industry image. It's like he's doing commercials. We don't need our precious coastline ruined for big industry profits.

I don't agree. If the American people were not screaming about the oil prices, the oil companies would not be doing a thing, in my opinion. All these years, they have been allowed to pocket their profits, and let the refineries break down and not replace them. They have not built a new refinery in decades. The oil companies are not shoving this down the throats of the Congress, the American people are! Of course, the Congress wants no part of this. They need to raise taxes first, so they can bask in the glory of all the money taken from their consituents. Here's a thought though, if people are saving gas, then there will be less sales tax, and oil tax collected. Has anyone in Congress thought of that little tidbit? Someone needs a good dose of common sense.

Nancy from San Jose

whats wrong with a pick up truck? Can i haul my garbage to the dump in a little hybrid piece of crap plastic car? Can i put the limbs from the trees i cut down into that piece of crap hybrid?

You do what is good for you, Mike from TX, me, and the people like us will continue to own pick up truck and do things for ourselves, not relying on the government for hand outs.

People don't like liberals like you because you are so snide and elitist. God forbid some one owns a pick up truck and works hard. Maybe we should all live in california and be elitist morons who think they know how to live better lives than everyone else. Shut your pie hole, lady.

Heck, I don't know, and you all don't either. We saved the spots for a rainy day, and it's thundering like heck right now, but will we kick ourselves later? Only the experts have a 'real' opinion, and they aren't economists. Most times I know what to do, but not today, and neither of the candidates know, and the prez is just doing what Mr Cheney says like always.

The majority of American's are lemmings and will follow whatever trend appeals to their lower IQ. Remember when the majority of American's were for the war in Iraq? That's why a president can't just follow a majority poll on every policy. Great leadership Barack, and perhaps once your in office we can spend some money on education.

How refreshing it is to hear a Politician be honest. I'm sure the reality didn't make anybody smile, but I'm grateful for the truth.

Go Obama !!!!!

we send 700 billion dollors a year over to saudi arabia and other oil rich countries because we need something that they have, something that fuels our economy, something that would mean our destruction of our country as we know it if we were denied it. oil. common sense dictates that if we, AMERCIA, can get our own, then why shouldnt we? who cares if it takes years! the fact is that if we dont start drilling now, we will always be dependent on the middle east. this means that THEY have control over whether we (AMERICA) survive. in the meantime we can look to clean coal, nuclear power etc. we can actually put AMERCIAN people to work building refineries and nuclear plants. how can that NOT be good for this country? went to scotland once, fell in liove with this ladies rasberry preserves...so much so that i begged for the recipe (she wouldnt give it up) and ended up buying 4 jars to bring home. dont have any more, enjoyed it while it lasted and now wish i had more. do i go back to scotland and buy more or do i just make my own? big difference between oil and preserves but why must we be dependent on others when we CAN be independent? those that want us to continue to rely on the middle east are, in fact, giving over this country to people (nations) that would, oif they could, wipe us off the face of the map. "never give up so much of yourself that you could not get it back if you wanted too" (selling america and all that it means to be AMERICA).

If Barack told all the libs to jump in the lake, they would be falling all over eachother trying to be the first in line. No Obama!!

Instead of continuing to destroy our environment by drilling for oil off our coasts, why can't we invest in renewable energy? It would immediately create American jobs that cannot be outsourced to China and eventually eliminate our dependence on the Middle East. Why are we so far behind European countries who get much of their energy from wind and solar resources? I don't know what the people in this country are thinking. I enjoy living on the coast and want to continue to enjoy it 50 years from now!

"To a standing ovation, he said, "And let's get serious about alternative energy sources like solar and wind and bio-diesel. Let's raise fuel efficiency standards on cars. Let's get plug-in hybrids all across America. Let's finally free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. That's the direction we need to go."

This is why the Republicans won't win this year. The Democrats have picked someone that uses good judgement and knows what it will take to fix the mess the Republicans have us in.

Isn't it nice to have a candidate around that speaks about issues and doesn't attack the competition?

Obama '08 – NEVER voting for a republican again!

Why won't the oil companies drill on the enormous amount of land where they've already got leases if they want to drill for more oil?

Why is McCain supporting them in their greediness instead of protecting the American people and telling the truth about the scam of offshore drilling?

Demand has been falling for the past few months which has already dropped the price in oil. McCain is not only about oil if, close minded Obamaniacs did any research they'd realize this.

If demand continues to drop and we begin our offshore drilling now our foreign dependence on oil in 10-20 years will be minimal. We will be able to be near self sufficient in terms of energy if we continue our innovation. And a big way to reduce our oil usage is to substitute heating homes with oil to safe nuclear (which McCain has been pushing) and natural gas which we have an abundance of that can be drilled (also pushed by McCain). What oil we may need in the future we may not even have to seek out overseas.

McCain's energy policy is clearly superior and more thought out, especially in terms of this country's future.

Senator Obama,

Thanks for telling the truth!!!

Obama is right on the money on this issue! Even long time oilman T. Boone Pickens has said we CANNOT drill our way out of our oil problem, and that we must shift to other fuels, and do it QUICK, or we will go bankrupt! As in 99.999999% of all other issues, Bush is DEAD WRONG on this one too. I CAN'T WAIT FOR JANUARY 20, 2009 SO WE CAN RID OURSELVES OF THAT TERRIBLE MAN!!!!

No Obama, you are the biggest scheme, with Axelrod's elaborate and

systematic plan of action to get you elected)

You were created and developed by Axelrod, Plouffe and the other

partners in Axelrod's company AKP&D Message and Media.

All of the conservatives on here are amazing....

READ THE FACTS!

70 million acres! Use what you've got, fools!

Pollution! (I swim in the ocean so F you if you think we will allow it to be polluted. Check out all the recent spills with "today's technology")

Open Market! The oil will be sold world wide, Big Oil won't keep it here.

I'll gladly pay 5 bucks a gallon to keep Big Oil out of my backyard.

Yeah, let's please destroy the rest of our coastlines with oil platforms and hazardous activities. What is wrong with people? Oil is a FINITE resource! It is time, NOW, to move beyond fossil fuels and towards a renewable, sustainable society. It can and will work with the help of all of us. Offshore drilling IS a scam. Thank you, Barack Obama, for having the marbles to say the unpopular thing; the thing that just might save this country, and therefore the world, from further environmental disasters. It is time for REAL progress! This should have happened 30 years ago.

I think we can all see a pattern. He was the only one to oppose the gas tax scheme, which was a bad idea in the first place. Both Hillary and McCain jumped on idea thinking they were going to get votes. They basically lied to the American people so they can get a few more votes from the uninformed. If you do some research the oil companies don't drill on the land they are supposed to. The oil companies are in the pockets of speculators and vice versa.

I wish Obama would at least provide an alternative to increasing the supply of oil by drilling offshore. he has not given one legit plan to use alternative energy sources and completely ignores the fact that switching to alternatives sources would in fact take a similiar amount of time to implement. Most of you democrats are spending so much time falling in love with this man's prepared speeches that you forget that he has no real plan. Obama is complaining that oil companies make too much money, and indeed his response to that is to raise taxes on them, which if you are educated at all you know that the reason that petro in Europe is so expensive is due to taxes. So Obama really wants to make gas prices higher. Get Real People.

Agreed! And have the proponents of drilling for oil off CA and FL ever thought about what it will do to tourism? People come to CA and FL from all over the world and spend a lot of money. I doubt they would be as excited with oil rigs on the horizon, or maybe a petroleum film on the water . . .

Obama is right. The bandits are the oil companies, McCain, Bush and Cheney. They are the ONLY ones that will benefit from offshore drilling. Obama is the only one that is telling the truth about this. McCain received a whopping $1.1 MILLION DOLLARS

Let's think about this for a minute. Bush announces that he will push for offshore drilling and for releasing some of the oil reserve. The day he announces this, oil shares drop by $14 and the price goes down at my local station. Cause and effect? According to a lot of Democrats, "No!", it just miraculously happened and the White House had nothing to do with it. Back in the 70's people were pushing for more drilling here at home. The Democrats said "NO! We won't see any results from that for 10 to 20 years! It's just a scheme!" Hmmm... seems like that was about thirty years ago... I sure wish they'd gone ahead and played that "scheme" out. We might not be in the mess we're in now if they had. But, I guess in about 2038, we can go through all of this again. Why not! It's what we do...

owns a pickup truck?

mike from tx MARRIED a pickup truck (thought he would get hummers every night!)

How many times has Senator Obama shown his judgement to be correct over senator John McCain...

Iran
North Korea
IRAQ
TAX
DEBT
Loss of Lives in a needless war

A politician telling us the hard truth!?

Wow.

Never thought I'd see the day.

PS: Even if the oil companies could drill all over the US, anywhere they want, they will sell to the highest bidder. Only 17% of the oil being drilled in Alaska is coming to the US. WHY? Because they are selling it to Japan for a much bigger profit!!! We have become completely controled by big oil and the only way out is alternative fuels. Any oil drilled here will go into the profit pockets of big oil companies–NOT the US!!!

He needs an energy plan before he can criticize others, go Green is not an energy policy, just pandering to the contributing environmentalists that contribute millions to him. The answer is go Green AND drill, AND build more nuclear power. The Democrats don't understand basic economics, increase supply for fulfill the needs of increasing demand.

NO BLOOD FOR OIL, and Mike from Texas is an idiot.

it just bush setting up life after his term

The soonest you would see any drop of oil from drilling off our shores would be 10 years from now….The most you would end up saving 10 years or 20 years from now would be a few cents on the gallon, although at that point, I figure oil might be $12 a gallon."

that is bullsh!t, we can have oil wells on line in less then one year, thus increasing the supply, and lowering the costs, while we develope new technologies which are 10-20 yrs away from effectivly replacing fossil fuels. YES OBAMA IS "JUST WORDS AND SPEECHES"

Truth and facts are wonderful things and it's nice to be treated as an adult by a presidential candidate.

Why don't the oil companies drill on the millions of acres they already own leases to? This drilling proposal is nothing more than another attempt at a corporate money grab before the well (literally) runs dry.

10 years away? Would have been nice to have someone working on these issues 10 years ago. I thought that sort of long term planning was the whole point of effective government. Ignoring a problem because it's more than two presidential terms away is not what I look for in a leader.

And conservation efforts aside, I bet we're still burning at least some amount of fossil fuels in 10 years. And whatever the amount, I suspect it's better to produce it domestically than to borrow money from China so we can buy it from to the middle east.

It is a scheme. Oilman Pickens is right. You can not drill your way off of our energy problems. We need to develop alternative sources of energy. Oil companies can drill for oil now offshore. Before we let them drill even more let them prove that they can drill responsibly without having oil spills all over the place. If they do have any environmental disasters, make them pay for it and not the taspayers. The U.S. can not produce enough oil domestically to put any serious dent in the price of oil. We need to conserve energy and come up with new sources of energy.

Obama is the man. offshore drilling is a ploy by the Republicans to try and win an election we need to invest in wind Biofuels and Clean Coal if Not we are going to be worst off on of Global warming when the famine arrives and drought If we don't do somethinig now If we continue to try to find new oil we will never get ourself off of oil which is the main reason for global warming. DRILL= More Storms And Famine

Yes, the republicans are schemers and much of what they say is a lie. Yes, oil men are arrogant and greedy. But the hard stance against drilling is foolish and naïve as reflected by these comment that have outdated and incorrect information. The price of not maximizing all our God given resources could be seriously bad economic times during the transition to alternative sources of energy. The price of the hard stance that is not aligned with the American people could just be a loss in the presidential election.

I often have to tell my children that what they want and why they want it will not really satisfy thier impulsive needs. I tell them this truth that maybe unpopular because I love them. It is refeshing to see that we finally have someone willing to tell us the truth regardless of how popular it maybe. Drilling for oil at this juncture is not the answer. The repubs are just doing what they have always done Of course our collective knee jerk response to an oil crisis would be to drill but take a moment and think about it my friends<

I feel that domestic drilling combined with an aggressive alternate energy program is essential if the US economy is going to recover, and I do not care what your political belief is. We have become a service economy servicing ourselves while the rest of the world has become the producer. If our leaders continue to play their power games the only guarantee is, we will quickly become a bit player in the global economy.

Thanks for having the guts to say what people don't want to hear, Obama!

hey mike, tx in that case why don't you enlighten us on how the energy sector does work......since we're all idiots

Hey Mike in TX,
You either work for an oil company or it is you that is clueless..

Why is no one bring up the fact that the oil companies have millions in acres and permits for drilling in land they already own?

Why do they want to drill in a protected area for oil that will not keep us a float for more then a year!?

We drill now and we might reduce gas a little in a few years, but by that time, hybrid cars would be so advanced that it wouldnt matter.

Mike from Texas you are the idiot. Americans will take our country back inspite of you. We'll drag you along kicking and screaming if we have to, but so be it.

Obama 08

If I had millions of acres of oil lease and oil at $140 a barrel I think I would be drilling!!!!! no matter where it was. The thing that we need to do is push for other types of fuel that way we could tell the oil producers that they can have their oil. Lets make it here for americans by americans.

If we drill for oil and find it–it will be added to the world supply and sold on the world market. We would not "own" it–the oil companies would.

Tell me how that helps?

watch out guys by the election time these oil traders working for oil co. will bring down oil price and gas price to give victory to republican.
And for obama if he does not select Hillary as VP and ignore 18 millian voters he should say good by to presidency.

I LOVE OBAMA, HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, IT MIGHT NOT SOUND GREAT, BUT THE TRUTH IS WHAT WE NEED TO HEAR.

John McCain was opposed to off-shore drilling before he was for it. And yah, he will not raise taxes, unless its on the table, and if social security is bankrupt, then he will again not raise the table where the no-raising taxes is upon. John McCain... "Countrywide First. Whining citizens of America: Second! "

OIl companies are sitting on tons of land and oil because the Dems and their environmentalist special-interest masters won't let them drill there.

This dude is all "talk" can he give us some specifics on exactly what he will do, how he will do, when he expects to start and when we should expect the relief? Many politicians since 1963 have rode this line to the White house...and he calls himself a different kind of politician? Nonsense

THE OIL MAN THAT GOT BUSH ELECTED GAVE

MCBUSH $1,I00,000 TO REVERSE

COURSE ON HIS OWN POSITION.

THAT'S OUR INDEPENDENT HERO FOR YOU.

I say ground Air Force One....What a waste of fuel.....McShame makes me laugh..The old fart talks out of both sides of his mouth. First in a "Town Hall" meeting, a little girl asked him if he would raise "HER TAXES" and he responded NO! Yet he tell reporters that "Nothing is off the table". Also since when does a child pay taxes in this country? Little girl you have to have a JOB first in order to pay taxes. Such a delusional way to send a message to young growing minds. Also all Americans should remember that the OIL COMPANIES have access to 63 MILLION acres of leases to drill for oil. Start drilling there before wanting to drill off my my coast of FLORIDA. The Bush posse wants to ensure that their oil buddies are taken care of before the loser leaves office in January.......GO OBAMA This country is starving for a fresh new CHANGE!!!!!!!!! No more lying Republicans in the White House for the next 8 years.....

Hey, pal, your whole campaign is just a scheme and YOU are the one who is not real.

Ready to debate yet?

Thank you Obama for alerting us of scams like this. You are the true "straight talk express." McCain is getting millions from the oil companies. He's bought and paid for.

Just like that gas-tax holiday crap that McSenile is trying to pull, he's now trying to hoodwink us on this off-shore drilling. Beat him into the ground Obama. A donation is on the way right now.

Obama/Sebelius 2008/2012.

Just another DOSE of the TRUTH.

Republicans absolutely love making excuses to delay the production of ALTERNATIVE ENERGY!!

OIL DEPENDENCE IS DONE. GOT IT??

LET IT GO!!

Not pandering to the public..you go Obama!! Someone has to cut us off from this ridiculous addiction to oil. This problem should've been addressed so long ago. I'm glad that you are willing to take an unpopular stand to help us in the future. It shows what kind of man you are!

John McCain doesn't have to tell the truth, heck why start now? But Obama does, which is the reason millions of Americans will be voting for him.

Obama 08, the honorable choice.
Take care of our next POTUS Secret Service.

It is a scheme...

A reporter asked McCain what his position was on global warming:

McCain's response:

whine, whine, whine, peronal attack on Obama, more personakl attack, whine, whine , and whine some more.

That's about sums up his position on the issues.

.

This is obviously not an Alexander Mooney secret republican CNN operative article.

Joe Van Kanel reported actual events and did not slip in personal poison opinion like Mooney does. Good article Joe.

The biggest drop in oil prices will come from regulating the oil speculators, who now run rampant in part because of the "Enron Loophole" that Phil Graham, McCains covert economic adviser, put in place. Take that loophole away, and per barrel price is predicted to drop $20-$40.

2/3rds of americans want to drill oil on our cosats.2/3rds of americans supported the war in iraq ,also.everyone wants an easy fix that is never easy.i trust obama's judegment ,again.he was right on iraq ,and he is right about this.people are just greedy,and unwilling to make the neccessary sacrifices needed to solve this problem.our coastlines will look wonderful covered in oil slicks.

All of you people who are saying if we had drilled for oil years ago: Why aren't you asking that of the oil comapnies who have the leases and aren't drilling??Surely that needs to be answered first before granting them any more

Folks, please remember the gas holiday that McCain promised voters. This is another one of his schemes to try to win voters. If he really had the answer to our energy crisis, then why has he not solved the problem in his 30 years in Congress. The Republicans have had not only the presidency but a majority in congress so they could have addressed the energy question. If McCain really wanted to help us, he would have followed through on his commitment to a gas holiday this summer despite what others said. He's Bush's puppet!

This what he has been saying all along but don't be surprised to hear mcWAR say Obama is flip-flopping.

It is a scheme and anyone who tells you different either is not correctly informed or is working for an oil company.

Same old Bush McCain policy and the people- well the people be d...
you know what I mean.

No more Bush Mcain. We will salvage whatever we can in November.

Landslide Obama 08.

Amen. The ONLY ones who will benefit from additional offshore drilling is oil companies. I really wish the public wasn't so full of low information voters. It's going to be our undoing.

Sorry–Please delete previous comment due to incorrectly quoted information re "barrel" in lieu of "gallon"

So while McCain is making ads about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, Senator Obama is taking on REAL issues that affect Americans.

PLEASE POST

Exactly why Obama is looking towards ALTERNATIVE methods of resources. A little oil in 10 years won't do a darn thing us. If we follow Pickens plan and spend the next 10 years investing in alternatives like we should, the world will be a better place and we won't still be dependent on foreign and domestic oils, rather we'd be completely independent of it all!!! Let China and India fight over it!

Sorry – I meant 4th Quarter 2007. I know that because I bought the Prius in December and found out that the break had gone away.

I have said this all along!!!! Larry King had the president of Chevron on his show a few weeks ago. They can not even begin to drill because there are NO rigs available! Will take 5 years just to build rigs. Republicans are scaring Americans again in this oil thing!! Americans want instant gratification and drilling our way out will not give us a drop of oil for over 10 years!!! Listen to T. Boone Pickens, the oil companies and then decide what is right. Oil companies have over 4 million acres of leased land already and they are NOT drilling on it!!
Listen America, for once look at the truth!!! NO MORE WARS for oil. Peace is Patriotic. Go Obama!

go obama GO, ALL THE WAY TO THE white HOUSE 1600 PENN AVE WASH, DC.........SEE YAA
THANK GOD FOR THIS MAN!!!!!!!!!!

HATERS STOP THE MADDNESSSSSSSS, YOU'LL DON'T KNOW WHEN YOU ARE BLESS, SHUT YOUR MEAN MOUTHS AND OPEN UP YOUR MINDS FOR A CHANGE.

OBAMA '08/12/16

Why don't the oil companies drill on the acres and acres of "untouched land" they have already purchased and been approved by the EPA for drilling? What are they waiting for?

Mike, Joel, you must work for the oil companies

THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT WILL BENEFIT BY OFFSHORE

DRILLING ARE THE OIL COMPANIES THAT GAVE MCSLEAZO

$I,100,000 TO REVERSE COURSE ON HIS OWN POSITION.

Obama should know a scheme. His entire campaign is a sceme. But he is slipping ever so slowly in the polls even with the national media backing him.

Can't we just drill on the millions of acres leased by the oil companies that AREN'T being drilled on?

Obama is out of his league. Go back to Chicago and your mentor
Reverend Wright. He is a closet racist who will say anything to get elected. HE HAS DONE NOTHING IN HIS POLITICAL Career!!! People please wake up from the drugs that his campaign has been giving out!!!

I do not think that it would be 10 years to impact prices. As soon as there were activity preparatory to drilling my guess is that the price of petroleum would begin to fall. Obama is really out of touch on this and it will bite him where it hurts, I hope.

A schemer would only know.....

Everybody should remember that John McCain flip floped on offshore drilling.

He's handsome, he's honorable, and he's telling the truth.

I can't wait to vote in November. Come on America, we can do it.

The question is, would I cut my profits now for a threat that won't materialze for a decade? The answer, of course....... no! And neither will the oil companies.

That is why offshore drilling that Bush and McCain are proposing is not a feasible solution. It may even cause the oil companies to raise the prices while the wait for the offshore supply to come to market. By then gas prices could reach european levels.

It's the most deceptive shceme ever concocted in modern history. Obama is 100% right. The Oil Industry is fuming over alternative energy. They couldn't controll unlimited resources like wind, solar or water like they do oil. That's why they are sitting on their hands when it comes to alternative energy research. There's already technology that will allow us to utilize unlimited resources, but the oil industry hasn't figured out the business model to control it yet. The Oil Industry is using these speculators to run prices up in order to make the American People cry "Uncle!" and force congress to lift the drilling ban. All lifting the ban will do is allow the Oil Industry to procrastinate even longer, allowing more time to develop their evil business model for controlling unlimited resources. Yes, lifting the ban would lower gas prices for now, but not because of increased supply, but because the Oil Industry would take their foot off our necks, finally having what they wanted. But that's not our only goal... Our goal is to not only lower our fuel costs but to also get rid of this obsolete fossil fuel dependence once and for all, and become truley energy independant. Obama will not fold to the pressure. Now he needs to open the eyes of the rest of the country and fully expose the Oil Industry's scheme.

Obama says, "... although at that point, I figure OIL might be $12 a gallon."

Hmmm. OIL is over $100 a barrel. Gasoline is around $4 a gallon. He mixed up oil with gas. He doesn't even know what he's talking about. Not surprised, however.

What's "not real" is Obama's understanding of global economics.
1) If oil markets know we intend to extract oil on our land, the price will drop. It dropped when Pres. Bush lifted the ban and will drop further if Congress/Pelosi has the guts to put the measure up for a vote. They are selling us out for their political interests.
2) Oil companies would have to expend a lot of capital to explore, extract and refine the oil. The so called "profits" Obama cites are before reinvestment. Post reinvestment profits are basically flat for the past decade. It's called supply and demand.
3) If the leased areas were viable, they would be drilling there.
4) Refineries are running 24/7 now. Congress needs to allow them to expand in preparation for the oil we will extract from US sources.
5) Alternative energy sources aren't very efficient at this time. You can't just wave a wand and change that.
Obama appeals to the gullible. If elected, yes we will have gas at $12 per gallon.

It is a scheme. The oil companies hold leases on 68 million acres in the lower forty-eight states including thousands of off-shore acres they can already drill. They also hold hundreds of thousands of acres in Alaska where they can already drill.

The media SHOULD be asking, "why are the oil companies not drilling in the millions of acres they have?"

It is a scheme.... Obama is right. It would be nice to see some real jounalism once in a while.

We want to end,reduce or alter the dependency on OIL. Drilling is still drilling for OIL. It keeps all the oil barons in place and the public at bay feeding their coffers.

An exciting plan is that of T. Boone Pickens. Convert vehicles to natural gas. According to his plan the Middle East oil dependecy could be eliminated within 5-10 years. The Billions of dollars sent there every year will stay in America.

Drilling for oil will only delay the end of oil use and the environment will pay until all the oil runs out. then what will your children do with an even dirtier planet?

Amazing the cultish behavior that this man brings out of the woodwork. Everyone is allowed their opinion......Liberals aren't ALWAYS right....although you will shove your values down our throats without asking please.

And nancy, who cares is Mike in TX drives a pickup truck? Are you a lesbian because you live in San Jose/San Francisco? If so, who cares! It's a free country...at least unless this communist fraud becomes POTUS.

Listen America...do you hear that...it's a politician telling us the truth. OMG, it's such a beautiful sound, and one that I'm going to get accustomed to hearing.

Yes, America I will get accustomed to hearing the sound of a leader telling me the TRUTH. What a beautiful thing. He's putting Congress on notice that a new TRUTH ADVOCATE SHERIFF will be coming to town.

Obama 08, our next POTUS.

If the land that's already leased had oil that made economic sense to drill for, BIG OIL WOULD DO IT!!!! They are for-profit companies. It would make no sense for them NOT to do it.

I'm tired of hearing this idiotic arguement, about a vast evil big oil consipiracy where they money on the table. Thats quite a plot hole, but no apparently many people can't muster the intelligence to see though.

Rather if Obama is right or not, I do not trust anything the GOP says at this point. I find it hard to believe that oil man Bush has no control over gas prices. It is really sad because even if McCain would make a good President, most Americans can not trust him because of Bush. We have been schemed enough!

A scheme? Obama's campaign and Obama himself should know about schemes. The latest is that that "personal" prayer of Obama's that was supposedly taken out of the wall by someone, was actually given to the media by the Obama handler's. What a deception, what a manipulation, what a farce. And you want to vote for someone who would use a very holy and scared place to further their own professional and personal aggrandizement and popularity? This is a disgrace. Obama probably never even wrote the prayer himself – what kind of fraud is this?

To Mike, TX:

Do you know what the word clueless means?

Obama is dead wrong. If we start drilling now where we know the oil is, our supply can be augmented within two years.

Will the government, under BOs direction, bankrupt the oil corporations (and stockholders) just to make a point? The oil companies would be drilling big time if they knew where there is oil in their leases. Why doesn't the government step in and point out to them just where the oil is on those leases rather than expect the companies to drill thousands of dry holes?

Yes, you are right Obama. Let's stay depend on foreign oil. Listen, in the long run we need to look at new technologies. In the medium run we need to look at self sustaining ourselves on oil as much as possible. In the short run let's flood the market with our reserves. Once the price goes down from us releasing the reserves we can then buy back at a lower cost to refill our reserves. McCain is the man with the plan.

and calling for the release of oil from the SPR isn't a scheme???

ATTN: Mike , TX –

If Obama is so clueless and those of us who believe him are idiots, then obviously you must have the solution.

Please enlighten us as to what that is.

I believe it is naiveté at its worst for Obama to state that in a decade or more a barrel of oil "might be $12.00."

Just like addicts Americans are just looking for their next fix instead of admitting they have a problem and looking for treatment.

Great point Obama keep up the fight.

IT'S THE SAME SCHEME THE GAS TAX WAS.

IT GIVES NO ONE RELIEF BUT THE OIL COMPANIES.

The best move I made personally and for the world's oil supply last year was purchase a Prius...45-50 mpg...nice performance...and, no, you don't have to plug it in (which a LOT of people ask me).

We can effectively increase the oil supply by decreasing our consumption. The technology is there, so why don't we use it? There are small vehicle hybrids as well as large...in the long run (which is what the offshore and Alaskan oil drilling arguments have resorted to), we'll have less dependence on oil because we won't be using as much.

Heck, with the ever-improving technology, we could probably hybrid our way to affordable alternative energy sources.

So don't go out and buy a new car today...but when you're in the market, spend the extra couple thousand on a hybrid. First off, you'll save that on fuel consumption hands down; secondly, you'll wean us off of oil dependence.

One Final Thought – Why has the administration (and McCain) that bangs the drum for more oil provided tax relief for small businesses that purchase SUVs? And why, at the same time, did the tax relief for purchasing hybrids (well, the prius break anyway) go away in the fourth quarter 2008? Kinda makes you go HMMM...

As usual Obama is simply criticizing someone else's plan – with a grin.

"Let's get plug-in hybrids all across America" is not a plan – what about the cost and millions of details. Has anyone ever heard a detail from this guy, besides critisizing others and the vague "Change"?

Some people want "DRILL" because it sounds good.
Some people want "CHANGE" because it sounds good.

Just repeat "Paris, Brittany, American Idol, Obama" until you forget the real issues.

I have a great deal of respect for Obama, but in this case I believe he is wrong to take such a hard stance against off-shore drilling. If we start now opening up new areas to try and discover oil, then we will see results in as soon as 10 years – that is a good thing. We only have to increase our output a few percentage points to keep the cost of gas down enough to prevent economic collapse during the transition to new technologies that will take 20 to 30 years. We need to work on all fronts to keep the oil flowing and keep American economically strong. It is a waste to just leave these oil valuable resources in the ground and advances in oil drilling technology can make the harvesting operations safe.

Yea, Obama if its a scheme, why do most Americans want it? good luck come election day

it is .and it's a dangerous one.global warming is accellerating,and we dont need more oil to fix it.not to mention the slight chance of a EARTHQUAKE or a HURRICANE?THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IS BOTTLED UP IN ANOTHER OIL SPILL.AND THE GULF OF MEXICO IS DYING!MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST GO AHEAD AND DESTROY OUR PLANET,COMPLETELY.at least we'd be rid of stupid politicians,of course,but, we can forget about our children,too.

I worked for an oil refinery. What most uneducated Americans don't realize is that oil does not necessarily equal to gas (even after the 10 years it would take to get it out of the ground). Our oil refineries are MAXED OUT! Obama is right. This is a SCAM by the Republicans. They are counting on the fact that most Americans don't understand the economic processes that our country is built on. What's sad is that they are right.

As we have seen of late, the Republicans are in bed with the oil companies. We need a Democratic administration to fix this mess. Stop wasting your time with bitter, childish so called Hillary supporters. (I really wish you would stop using her good name to justify your selfish, purile actions). These people do not care about the issues or their country. All they ever do is trash Senator Obama.

They cannot as "true Democrats" give a sound political reason for voting for a Republican who wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and privatize health care. Most Hillary supporters are sensible pragmatists like she is. Forget the petty fools. Go to the nearest post office and get some registration forms. Register 10 of your democratic leaning friends this week!

ding ding ding. America needs to realize that drilling is not going to work. Neither now nor in the future. We need new, renewable sorces of energy. We need to stop what we currently do. We currently deplete the earth of its resources while using those very resources to further destroy the earth. It is a sickening ploy by Big Oil and its GOP cronies.

OBAMA=SENSE- and it's about time someone does!

M.S. Indiana July 30th, 2008 2:01 pm ET

"The oil companies are already sitting on tons of land and oil, if they wanted to explore for it…"

If there was oil in these leased areas that Obama and other libs are constantly referring to, the oil compaines would be drilling for it!!! They are in the business of making money.

The fact of the matter is that it will take decades to wean ourselves from oil. Why should we wreck our economy and nation for these environmental wacko alarmists?

And if you don't think Obama, Pelosi and Gore aren't getting MAJOR monetary kickbacks from their environmental lobbies, you are truly sheeple being herded to the slaughter.

A scheme!!! Its a solution you freaking idiot!

I believe him, he has a record of telling us the truth. I stand with Barack.

Obama 08

Joel in Corona, read the whole thing. He proposed a plan not nothing. Please read and stop lying. thanks.

Clinton said the same thing 10 years ago.....and now look where we're at with no help in sight. Forward thinking is necessary in a leader....obviously Obama's forward thinking is only necessary when it comes to his socialist agenda/values.

What Obama says about this makes the most sense. To say we are stupid for accepting his view of the energy sector is idiotic. 68 million acres is a lot of land. This whole crisis is engineered by the oil companies so they can wrestle all the land out of our hands. Let them finish what's on their plate before they ask for more–better yet, let them take a bite out of what's on their plate. Oil Companies are just trying to maintain the upper hand any way they can.

He's right. Thanks for tellin' it like it is and not tellin' us what we want to hear.

Queue the Dr. No ads by the mccain camp.

i like this scheme very, very much! Drill now! Do nukes, do wind, do solar, do conservation, do alternate energy, do everything. problem BO will do nothing but talk.

Bush/McCain and RNC

Iraq= oil
Drilling = oil

The oil men used our troop to get oil in Iraq and it did not work
now they want to drill on our coast areas.

Obama is right..........remember when McMaggot, I mean McBush, and Senator Clinton tried to push the "Gas Tax Holiday?" Well this is no different. McBush wants the American people to think that this will do the trick-but it won't-not in the short term. They just can't go digging and produce oil. It takes time.

McBush is trying to pander to the American people by making it seems like Obama is against what will help us.

McMaggot, I mean McBush, the American people are not stupid. You are tying to play on our emotions. Some of us are stupid like the uneducated in Virginia, PA.etc.....you know where I'm going.

The educated people will not fall to your pandering. It didn't work in the primaries and it's not working now.

So Obama'slan is to make gas $12.00 a gallon???????????????????????????????????????????

Woww...brilliant leadership!

> That's right, O… do nothing, that'll make the problem go away.
> Twiddle your thumbs, gas prices will go down

Are you naive or just plain stupid? Obama has been responsible for some of the most comprehensive alternative fuels proposals that are currently in effect. In about the same length of time that it would require offshore drilling to produce even an iota of new oil, we could be completely free of the dependence of fossil fuels. I am in the alternative fuels business so I know a little something about this.

-It is important to some voters to remember that Senator Obama has good judgement.

-The republicans tend to want to go into action without thinking of the consquences and then regret later just like they did when they went to Iraq for no reason now they are stuck and now they are starting to support Obama's 16 months time table after opposing it.

-So you ask your selves does John Mccain know what he is talking about. I don't think so.
Good Judgement matters alot.

One side has a man willing to state the truth even though 60% of AMericans support it. We have one man willing to stand with the experts and oppose the gas tax holiday even though 65% of AMericans want it.

On the other side is a man who took $1.1 million from big oil in JUne, 5 times what they gave in May. How can McAttack say we can do Gore's goal of energy indepence in 10 years and then support drilling that will not produce a drop of oil for 7-10 years?

We cannot drill our way out of this issue. We need alterative engergy now.
This oil does not become property of the US, it goes on the international market. They only benfit is to the oil company, not the USA.

Obama'08

Ok Genius......Explain why when Bush lifted the ban prices fell $17 a barrell that week. I am sure all you osama followers will say that is a coincidence.

I dont really care personally higher gas prices mean fewer broke liberals on the road. Thats worth the extra 2 bucks a gallon in it it's self

American media are the worst. They talk about patriotism but they are not patritotic.

For God sake what does it cost the media to do a thorough investigative journalism about these whole drilling stuff and report the truth to the nation? What does it cost to bring experts on the networks to educate the american people? Please give me a break. It is shameful that our media are allowing the poticians and the oil companies push us around with gimmicks. American became what she is today because some people stood out and dare to stand by the truth but what we are seeing today is media that is beeing used by corporate bodies as tools for their propaganda – Posterity will leave to judge everyone's contibution to the American Project.

Wise Americans, wake up! Listen to Obama. You can trust his insight and foresight and judgement and that he has done his research thoroughly unlike McSame and McBush who are only rash in their steps. Like the timetable in Iraq, you'll see that later on they'll come around in agreeing with Obama.

This a very wise statement from Barack Obama, admit it:
"I understand how desperate folks are. If I thought that I could provide you some immediate relief on gas by drilling off the shores of California and New Jersey… I'd do it.”But the Democratic presidential candidate added, "The soonest you would see any drop of oil from drilling off our shores would be 10 years from now….The most you would end up saving 10 years or 20 years from now would be a few cents on the gallon, although at that point, I figure oil might be $12 a gallon."

The Republican Party under the rule of George Bush and Dick Cheney will say anything to get the American people to believe that opening enviromentally sensitive land will bring down gas prices.

The real plan is to get as much land freed up for the big oil companies before George Bush and Dick Cheney leave office.

So what the latest polls are saying is that we have a bunch of naive Americans willing to believe the lies coming from the Republcan party. Haven't they fooled us enough? How much more of beating can we take?

Mike,

Why don't you expain it to us then, instead of calling everyone an idiot? Poor agrument my friend.

Maybe Obama considers saving $0.18/gallon of gas is 'a scheme', but to people who can barely afford gas, it's better than nothing! An elitist, out of touch person wouldn't know this.

Excellent leadership, Senator. Thank you for holding your ground even though it would be easy not to fight the lies. Thank you for the truth,

Scheme my butt, there might be 68 MILLION ACRES on lease, but do you think they're not drilling because there is NO OIL on those leases?

Mike from TX,

Do you care to actually back up your argument or are you just another Republican parrot?

The Rethuglicans and the Bush Crime Family want to destroy the oceans, Alaska and the environment with pushing more use of fossil fuels. All you have to do is go to any large city in the US and everyone is gagging from all the air pollution. Just look at all the dirty air we breathe everyday. The brown dirty air is worse then 2nd hand cigarette smoke.

The oil companies have a strangle hold on the government and its environmental polices. I choose clean air over lower gas prices any day of the week.

Obama/Biden 08/12

I figured it out. The GOP's plan is to cut school funding so that more Americans can grow up uneducated. Do you know what uneducated people do? They believe a multi millionaire when he says a guy who just paid off his school loans is an elitist. They believe the people that make billions off of oil when they are told that drilling for more oil is the answer. In short, they believe everything the Republicans tell them. It's brilliant, dumber voters translate to more votes for the Republican Party. Keep calling Obama arrogant, keep saying he is all talk, and go with the guy that has all the experience you choose not to look at. We KNOW McCain won't do a good job, but you aren't convinced of Obama. This is the dumbest argument I have ever seen and 40% of Americans make that argument.

In response to Mike from TX: "Obama is clueless on how the energy sector works. Anyone who believes his arguement is an idiot."

What a schock! A texan spouting off, acting belligerent and calling other bloggers idiots (I know, not all texans are that way, but there seems to be a pattern). Here's a thought, maybe Obama is NOT clueless on how the energy sector works... maybe he knows exactly how it works and wishes to change it for the better.

I feel sorry for McCain. He is old-so am I. He has phisical problems -so do I. He is a good man – so am I (more or less).
His campaign is taking the wrong tactics exactly what caused Hillary to go down in flames.
Would he be a good president? Maybe so, but Obama would be much better!!!!!!!!!

Finally, somebody telling the truth, not just what they think will get them elected. McCain is running around like he is the great hope for our energy crisis but his Senate voting record contradicts his stance. Since he's been in the Senate he has voted constantly against measures to increase alternative fuels. When you have oil men like T. Boone Pickens saying we can't drill our way out, then you should know what McCain is saying is a cheap ploy. If the republicans were so worried about energy prices why didn't they vote for off shore drilling WHILE both the Congress and President were republican led! Funny how as soon as McCain says he's for offshore drilling the oil company donations flow in by the millions. Country first....yeah right!

He's absolutely right. Drilling only LOOKS like the answer. It won't do anything to solve the real problem.

I'm still waiting for the libs to explain where they're getting this 10 year mark from... pure lies.

We've already proven that we can get oil in less than 2 years once given the green light.

It's basic economics that if the future is showing signs of greater supply, then the 'futures' market will respond almost immediately.

I don't want to live on oil, but I think it's quite retarded that the dems and al goretards want to totally eliminate a proven energy source instead of using ALL available sources.

REGARDLESS OF PRICE, LETS QUITE GIVING THE MIDDLE EAST 700 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR and create some business inside our borders for a change.

The man truly shows that he is naive and does not have a long-term plan. Off-shore drilling is a long-term plan for the future. Imagine gas prices ten years from now without it! Solar and wind is expensive and does not provide all the energy we need. I think we should give Obama a solar-powered car and see if he can pack his 300+ advisors in it.

Obama is 100% right! Plus, I am sure if most Americans lived near the water in a coastal state, they'ld feel the same way.

Obama needs to get on the ball here, and put out ADs counter pointing McCain's lies...simply making speeches to groups who already support you, and putting out press releases doesn't hit the beer drinking NASCAR red necks who need to hear his message!

You Obama maniacs are pathetic. Anything that empty suit says you will follow

Someone should ask Mike from TX if he understands how demand and supply works.

A texan that is for drilling for oil. Now there's a concept.

political posturing....

always remember... they could have done this when they had control of all branches of govt for 6 of the last 7 1/2 years.

yeah, Mike in TX.. cause YOU have a better clue than Obama.

Republicans voted against two bills last week to help lower gas prices. All because they couldn't add in their offshore drilling admentments. They will block and stall any energy bill unless they can get their offshore drilling. That is there strategy at the expense of the American consumer. Get as much land freed up for the oil companies before the Bush term is over even though the oil companies currently have over 80 million acres of federal land they won't even touch. They wouldn't be leasing this land if there wasn't oil under it. Republicans have no right to be talking smack about the other side. They would rather bow to the big oil and Wall Street coorporations than help out the hard working Americans.

Well, there's seven concrete ideas of what can be done. What has McCheese Aisle said today about anything?

THANKS barack Hussein....Yes lets make the rest of the Husseins in the middle east rich by buying more oil from them.... then they would like I mean love you even more. So to hell with those "deperate" american people. lets take our money and give to the oil rich middle eatern husseins

Oil companies just want more places to go drill so they can make more money. If the oil companies really cared, they could let a little of that net profit go. Oil company's net profits are in the billions.

If congress were to REAAAAALLLLY push it, we could see oil in 5-7 years.

However, congress is not exactly known for being quick on their feet in pushing agendas, so I wouldn't doubt it would take longer.

Obama doesn't get it. We don't JUST want offshore drilling. We want alternative energy too. We want nuclear. We want wind. We want solar. He doesn't want to pursue any of those options because he says it'll take ten years to get it done. Where are we going to be in ten years without it?

Hey McArsenic-

there isnt oil under every square inch of the earth... so 68 million acres – yeah, might not have oil under all 68 million acres... otherwise, i don't think there would be an oil crisis.

How about you get a clue, pal?

He calls it like he sees it " a scheme" thanks Senator... good job, stick to the facts... OBAMA next PRESIDENT...

Mike, TX, read and learn buddy, and stop hating, it is not good for you...
The oil companies are already sitting on tons of land and oil, if they wanted to explore for it...

This man is right when is said he would tell the truth.....hopefully clear minded people are not buying McCain's claim that oil COULD be flowing in months. Surely that could be from 2 to the 12 000 months he says the troops will be in Iraq?

What are the procedures in California, Florida and NC to lifttheir off shore bans? Would it require a referendum and how long would that take??

Obama's right...drill where they already have leases!!!

Ten years? Wrong. Simple economics, folks. When producers expect prices to rise, the oil stays in the ground. When they expect it to fall, oil is pumped. The point is, plans for offshore drilling, as well as conservation and alternative energy, will lead to an expectation of falling prices and, hence, more oil pumped immediately and a price drop.

Mike from Texas, you own a pick up truck. Don't you?

Mike, TX – I like your well thought out argument and was impressed by the number of facts you used to back it up. Great work!

Obama, you give me chills of pride!

Thank you for the inspiration, the stead-fast work ethic, and the no nonsense, non pandering straight talk. Oil companies have had 10 years already and over 70 million acres to do what they say this will do. Where have they been and why is this solution being forced down the uninformed citizens throat? Because it's an election year and the Repukelicans are avoiding the fact that THEY have caused our oil prices to soar by not holding the oil companies and speculators accountable to take corrective action. It's time we take our country back.

Lock, stock and barrel, Obama is the undeniable solution to a better America.

I salute you Sir!

Those who have ears, let them hear. The truth shall set us free. We can drill to eternity, but until we decide to conserve and begin to think of alternative energy sources, we will be having this same conversation 20 years down the road.

Yeah, we need oil for the next 20 years, minimum, so lets not do anything to get all our oil here in America... lets continue to send billions of dollars over seas to countries who really don't like us... for the next 20 years. I plan on being here in 10 years when the oil starts flowing from our own lands, how about you, Obama?

Way to go. This guy is such a fricken joke.

We need oil, might as well get it here, and get it from American companies... instead of sending the money to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Russia, and other places that generally don't like us. We are talking BILLIONS of dollars, people.

There is not viable alternative to oil RIGHT NOW. We know oil works. Lets get all the oil that we can here in America, while we develop alternatives. Its not rocket science.

That is the same thing they said 10/20 years ago. IF we had done it then (drill) maybe we would be paying less to hostile lands that have oil. As for Eviro's they say it's better to ship billons of barrles of oil over thousands of miles of ocean by boat, than pump it 100 miles off shore. I'm not saying drilling is THE answer, but part of the answer. We also need to invest on renewables too. No Obama 08'

I think buying oil from foreign countries is a scheme... I would rather buy oil that supports American workers... not the middle east... Obama please explain why you would rather support Middle East Oil Workers over, good American Oil Workers... because obviously you would rather buy oil there than produce it domestically....

You dont have to be a genius to know that you must include offshore drilling as part of any energy policy. If we had allowed and encouraged more drilling 10-15 years ago, we would have reduced our dependency on foreign oil. Allowing for more drilling now will help future administrations and generations of Americans on dealing with this energy problem.

It is a scheme. I saw on CNN's website where they asked the Energy Department's best estimate is that drilling will save one to three cents per gallon. I wish that the media would actually put the truth out there so that people won't be left in the dark just believing what someone tells you.

Aren't you a tad suspiciuos America when President Bush and all the republicans are pushing for something? Specially when that thing is oil? Even if logic wouldn't say that the solution to an oil addiction is not more oil, I would still be suspicious whenever this lot pushes for something so hard.
get real people there is just so much oil in the world and the more we consume it the earlier it will run out and the more expensive it will get as we go along. We have to find an alternative.

Exactly, have the oil companies drill on the 68 million acres of land they already hold the leases to.

There is no short term answer people and drilling will just prolong the problem for another few years. We need to get off oil!

of course it's a scheme. it's a waste of energy and resources. time should be spent on development of alternatives not drilling into reefs and causing a repeat of santa barbara '69.

it is a scheme...there are 68 MILLION ACRES all ready leased for drilling. the Dems have tried to release oil from the reserves the Repubs block it...John McCain was against off shore drilling to until the Oil Comp. started gushing MILLIONS into McCains pockets

Obama is clueless on how the energy sector works. Anyone who believes his arguement is an idiot.

For once I agree with Obama on something. This is the culmination of the Bush white house plans to raise the price of oil to such levels that it would presumably make the american public clammer for the government let the big oil companies drill anywhere they want for oil. The american people are smart enough to see through Bush and his greedy cronies for once.

I TRUST WHAT HE IS SAYING . AFTER BEING MISLEAD BY THE REPUBS. I WILL STICK WITH HIS GOOD JUDGEMENT....

OBAMA.......08

He didn't mention that:

1) There already are 60 million acres of offshore area in which the oil companies already have permission to explore and drill, but they're not doing it.

2) Even if they wanted to begin drilling today (you have to find the oil first), there are no drills available that aren't already in use, and not enough skilled people to operate them if they were available. Most of them have been shipped to Brazil.

He's right. A majority of people might want to drill because it sounds good, but they don't have the facts.

A politician telling the truth! I can't believe it!

DEMOCRATS O8!

I agree. Why don't we start investing in renewables. We can do it America. We can do this as a nation. We have overcome hurdles.

The oil rich loving powerful people don't want us to get off using oil. Lets use wind energy, solar enegy, geothermal to generate electricity and lets use natural gas and a mix or oil imports and powered/fuel cell batteries to power our vehicles.

We can do this. Off-shore drilling is not the answer people. Even if we find oil off-shore, we can't lower prices. International makets determine prices. Prices all over the whole will drop. We don't have enough oil to see a drastic decrease in oil prices. Think about it.

Don't let them politicians play you. Please – wake up.

This man is truly ready to lead. He recognizes scams and schemes that the Republicans are trying to steal the election with ans he doesnt buy them and neither will the American People.

Obama/Clinton 2008

This is part of what I like about this man - common sense and focusing on what will really work, not placebos. He is so right about the timetable - even using facts and figures put out by the oil companies and much of the right wing. There's a lot of groundwork, infrastructure, that has to take place before drilling could even begin. It's neither an immediate nor long-term answer to the problem.

That's right, O... do nothing, that'll make the problem go away. Twiddle your thumbs, gas prices will go down...

Another TRUTH by Senator Obama. he odes not pander for votes, tells it like it is.1 He is more than ready to lead us out of the dark mire we are all lost in.

Its time for the Obama campaign to put together an ad showing the aftermath of the Santa Barbara oil blowout/spill. There is a REASON that drilling off-shore there is a bad idea. The geologic situation there is such that you are asking for trouble to drill there. People sure do have a bad habit of forgetting the past. It was a huge mess!!!

Alternative energy mainstreeamed is where we need to be. More drilling will not help Americans with the price of gas anytime soon. Get rid ov your Hummer and buy a ford escape hybrid or buy an old mercedes and have the engine converted to biodiesel. Sen Obama is right oil is our addiction its time we stop feeding our addiction.

No Gimmick..Just the truth!!!

Senator Obama, Your are so smart.

Thanks for being real with the American People.

I also like the fact that he's getting more specific on his energy policy.

this guy is completely out of touch...does he realize we have to do it at some point! if clinton would have done it 8 yrs ago we would be seeing the effects already! obama wants to do nothing to fix anything ..just likes to hear and see himself

He is absolutely RIGHT ! Alternative energy sources are the answer, not drilling and destroying the environment to fill up SUVs and wasting energy. Obama as President will at last change this silliness.

Obama is risky. He doesn't want us to drill for our own oil. That is no change we can believe in.

If he has his way the only change you will get is the change in your pocket.

Why do you think he has 95% of the blacks voting for him? Well he want to jump start the welfare system all over again. He wants the Welfare Queens back on the payroll.

Give me a break. Go for McCain before it is too late.

Way to go Barack!!!

The great visionaire!!

Barack 08, 12

Barack, Seriously, you need to educated the sheeple who have been microchipped by Fox News to respond in a Pavlovian manner to Rovian talking points...

Which reminds me, why isn't CNN reporting that Congress voted to cite the porcine Herr Rove for contempt?

I know : "Your comment is awaiting moderation. "

A good President makes the tough decisions which will be good for the country later. This is showing good judgement.

Great job! Standing up for the truth! Obama, keep on being real about this energy situation. We need reality not another way to pad oil wallets and increase risks to our fragile environment. Sense, finally.

Hes telling the truht. Expose the GOP for what they are. A bunch of Schemers.

Thank you for charting a new direction for us. To those who just want more drilling so they could ride by themselves in their SUVs, please get a clue.

Obama 08

thank you for common sense. The GOP just wants to whip people into a frenzy and they are good at it.