Here is how you know Republicans are on the winning side of the
oil drilling issue. It’s not that two-thirds of the American people
support offshore drilling. It’s that the Democratic response has
been to simply point at Republicans and shout, “Big Oil!”
Earlier this month, Sen. Barbara Boxer gave this genius
explanation for high gas prices: “You want to know about my
conclusion about $4 a gallon gas? Just divide eight years by two
oilmen in the White House and you have your $4 a gallon.”
Ah, that must be it. Of course, no one challenged Boxer on this
nonsense. No one noted that oil prices did not skyrocket until the
tail end of Bush’s presidency, right at the time worldwide demand
shot up. No one noted that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
concluded this summer that worldwide supply and demand had caused
the rise in oil and gas prices.
Unchallenged, Boxer went on: “At the end of the day, you have
two oil men in the White House and they represent Big Oil. The
Republicans are doing the bidding of Big Oil.”
ON MONDAY, Speaker Nancy Pelosi — the third most powerful human
being in America — said oil companies “rule” Washington. She said
they were in charge, that they controlled the White House’s and
Republicans’ position on drilling. This is the woman who could have
given the word at any time in the past eight months to vote on a
comprehensive energy package that includes offshore drilling and
all of the Democratic proposals, and she actually blamed the oil
companies for our not having a vote. As she was speaking to Larry
King, this of course went entirely unchallenged.
When Sen. John McCain came out for offshore drilling, Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid said McCain’s decision “represents
another big giveaway to oil companies already making billions in
profits.”
He continued, “President Bush and John McCain are not serious
about addressing gas prices. If they were, they would stop offering
the same old ideas meant to pad the pockets of Big Oil and work
with Democrats to reduce our dependence on oil, invest in the
renewable energy sources, crack down on excessive speculation and
stand up to countries colluding to shake down American
consumers.”
Barack Obama, Mr. End-Politics-As-Usual, has gone with the worst
demagoguery, saying in his new ad this month, “After one president
in the pocket of Big Oil, we can’t afford another.” The narrator
says, “Every time you fill your tank, the oil companies fill their
pockets. Now big oil is filling John McCain’s campaign with $2
million in contributions.”
Obama and his campaign staff have hit John McCain with an
endless string of accusations that he is beholden to “Big Oil,”
which is exactly the kind of character assassination Obama has
claimed for this entire campaign that he despises. Apparently, he
finds it contemptible it only when it’s directed at him.
THERE’S A PERFECTLY good reason Democrats keep using the term “Big
Oil” instead of talking about the merits of offshore drilling. It’s
because offshore drilling is immensely popular, but “Big Oil”
isn’t. People are upset that they are paying so much and the oil
companies are making record profits. By turning the debate away
from the basic economics of the issue — increasing supply to meet
the increased demand, which Americans understand — to the profits
oil companies are making, the Democrats believe they can win an
issue they currently are losing.
But Republicans have a golden opportunity here to turn the
tables back on the Democrats. All they have to do is give a basic
economics lesson every chance they get. The American people aren’t
stupid; they will get it. The lesson is this:
If the Democrats really wanted to cut the profits of Big Oil,
they would vote to…increase the supply of oil! Oil company
profits are so high because the price of oil is so high. The price
is so high because demand is so much higher than supply. Allowing
oil companies to drill for more oil will increase supply, which
will lower prices, which will lower oil company profits!
Who is really in the pocket of Big Oil here — the party whose
policies would reduce oil company profits, or the party whose
policies are keeping huge oil reserves confined underground, thus
keeping oil companies rolling in record amounts of cash?
