President Obama lately reminds me of the father of a friend. She is 70.
When she was in her teens, her father tried to keep her from attending university. He thought higher education was wasted on women. Except for teacher training. And nursing. Her mother urged her to enroll in university.
She later dreamed of law school. Her father tried to talk her out of that. The law was no place for a woman, he told her. Her mother encouraged her to go for it.
She became a lawyer. Despite barriers to women in law 45years ago, she succeeded. Her career is one that many lawyers envy.
And who was most proud of her accomplishments along the way? Who took credit? Her dad.
Lately, President Obama has claimed credit for America’s success in oil and gas production. “…suddenly America’s like the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas – that was me, people…say thank you.”
The man is delusional. Yes, oil and gas production increased during his years in office. And, of course, production since then has further surged. But as the former president of Shell Oil put it, Obama had nothing to do with it. “The federal government had no role.” This was because the permits for drilling came from state governments. For drilling on private land.
Meanwhile, President Obama opposed the energy industry at every turn. His administration halted most offshore drilling. It thwarted the Keystone pipeline.
“He changed regulations from an average of 60 to 80 pages per permit to 600 to 800 pages per permit,” the Shell president says. He took federal lands off the list of available drilling sites. “If anything, he was trying to frustrate the efforts…” “I would say he was not a leader when it came to energy.”
Don’t take his word for it. Check out the website of the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources. The site is www.naturalresources.house.gov. You will see evidence of a blizzard of barriers against oil and gas producers. Restrictions, regulations, delays, denials, costly requirements. The Obama administration introduced all of these. You will see a step-by-step war on oil and gas.
The truth is that Obama tried to hinder oil and gas production wherever he could. He appointed energy czars who were committed to punishing the petroleum industry. He called for discouraging production by withholding tax breaks.
To the public he scoffed about our oil and gas potential. “We can’t just drill our way out of the (energy) problem.” He said his opponents had a stupid plan: To drill, drill, drill. He told us that was not a plan. It was a bumper sticker.
He had a better plan. Green energy. He told us we were importing less oil because of his grand plan to stimulate green energy. That was a lie. We imported less oil because our new drilling had increased our own oil production. By over 4 million barrels a day.
Obama was like Jimmy Carter. He had no faith in American ingenuity to find and recover more oil and gas. Like Carter, he poured billions into alternate fuels. Both tried to reduce our use of fossil fuels. (When Reagan took office he did the opposite. He slashed regulations on gas and oil production. Our production surged.)
The pessimist Carter had restricted producers. Because he felt we were about to run out of oil and gas. Pessimist Obama had similar beliefs. But he another reason to try to slow oil and gas drilling. He bought the argument that oil and gas are bad for our environment. That they will cause global warming or climate change catastrophe.
Okay. Understood. Many millions of Americans believe the same.
This being his belief, Obama’s boast today should be that he tried to slow down oil and gas drilling in the U.S. But he does not. Instead, he wants a lot of credit for our oil and gas success.
He deserves credit for trying to do what Greens wanted then and want now. He tried to thwart our oil and gas drilling.
Ahh, but we did drill more. We did increase our oil production. Dramatically. And to the point that we are now the world’s largest producer. Which gives us tremendous economic power and advantage. We are virtually energy independent.
This is an achievement to admire, in the eyes of many. Something to boast about. So, President Obama is boasting. He is taking credit. “…that was me, people – say thank you.”
The man is delusional.
From Tom…as in Morgan.
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