How Crude is John McCain?

By Brian A. Burns

Back in 1999 John McCain lambasted the special interest groups who tried to secure offshore drilling contracts, saying he swore he would “…never lose sight of the fundamental principle that federal land management decisions affecting local communities must be made in cooperation with the Americans who call those communities home.” Now, with his proposal to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling, it appears he’d rather forego the health concerns of U.S. citizens so he could sell our environment for votes and campaign dollars. Meanwhile, the pots have shifted on McCain’s stovetop and our need for a new source of sustainable energy has been pushed to the back burner.

Even with George W. Bush admitting that offshore drilling would take years to produce any noticeable effect, John McCain’s plan to cure our energy crisis is to go ahead and drill. If we were to wait what most experts say would be close to 5 years for a price cut at the gas pumps, during which time we will still be relying on oil as our primary fuel source, we could be in serious trouble. When we consider the steady increase in population, which will undoubtedly have a large impact on reserves, and the rate at which our oil supply declines, it is easy to see why focusing on drilling offshore is coming only from the eyes of the profiteers. There is only so much oil we can reap from the Earth, and the gas companies have no intention of lowering their prices, but are increasing them instead on a day by day basis.

While it’s obvious that something as simple as the rebirth of the electric car would take a long time to overrun gas powered vehicles as our primary source of transportation, it is stupid to think we should run serious health risks by potentially poisoning our shorelines and nature preserves. The people are screaming for an alternative energy resource, and we want it yesterday. But with billions invested in their production equipment, and billions returned in profits the oil-giants refuse to change their focus, and will do anything they can to continue squashing alternatives to their cash-cattle until they have run completely dry.

With the same reluctance the Republicans have shown toward caring about the health and welfare of the American population, they are now scrambling to secure their personal investments before their time in absolute power runs out. Being nothing more than the Corporatist Party of kick-backs and cronyism, the non-conservative neo-Republicans have only ever cared about their foreign policy. Through 8 years Bush and his staff focused very little on domestic issues, to the point where he even turned a blind eye to the situation in New Orleans directly after Hurricane Katrina left bodies floating in the streets and women being raped at the Superdome. He had nothing to say when Dick Cheney ordered workers, who fought to restore power to hospitals, to divert their attention to restoring the oil supply from a downed pipeline that runs through Mississippi.

Republicans have a knack for losing focus on the American priority - whatever it may be at the time. In Iraq they sent the troops in without ever securing the border, then came back saying, “Hindsight is 20/20.” They repeated the adage after warnings from our climatologists told of the devastation that would befall New Orleans if and when a category 5 hurricane hit. “Hindsight is 20/20,” was repeated after the Iraqi population formed an insurgency, and even again when they realized that Bush Senior and his predecessor were responsible for arming the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mostly they tried passing the buck, but the beneath-the-breath-mumblings of ‘Hindsight is 20/20′ was heard after we found out that a week prior to 9/11 Condoleezza Rice was given a warning of imminent attack from Osama Bin Laden. From Kim Jong Il and “Bring it on!”, to Saddam Hussein and “They’ll greet us a liberators,” the Bush Administration seems to have less hindsight than a bat.

John McCain is following in Bush’s footsteps to where one could swear he stole the president’s cowboy boots. While Barack Obama speaks of a progressive America with a progressive energy policy, John McCain is stuck in the mud trying to score points for his cronies, while overlooking the potential disaster of an oil spill along our coastlines, and the serious health issues that would accompany such a catastrophe. John McCain would gladly risk the lives of Americans to build oil platforms off our coasts for what he believes would produce enough to alleviate the headache we currently face at the pump. It sure would be a sad day if our coasts turned black with crude muck and we had to watch our food and water supplies turn to poison only to hear John McCain speak half-brained about hindsight being 20/20. And in 5 years from now, when the gas prices are at $9.80 a gallon, just when we would begin to feel the effect of having lifted the offshore drilling ban, I would imagine that we won’t find much headache relief in the price cut from $9.80 to $9.50 per gallon. So, to John McCain, thanks but no thanks. I’d rather we spend our tax dollars on contracts that will go directly toward finding a truly sustainable energy source.