Obama's Environmental 180

During the last week of March, President Obama announced plans to open parts of the U.S. Atlantic coast, Alaska and Florida to offshore gas and oil exploration. Obama administration officials report that this is the president's latest attempt to woo a bipartisan vote on a bill to limit greenhouse gases.

Just to be clear, "exploration" means drilling, and, needless to say, environmentalists were not pleased. They are disappointed that a president supported on a platform of change and clean energy initiatives would double-back so quickly - and for so little reward. In fact it was President Obama during his election campaign who repeatedly said offshore drilling is not the solution to our energy problems.

Just like every other politician, Mr. Obama promised a great many things in order to sway voters to his side. Not all of those things were realistic or even possible and, in the end, he's still a politician.

A great movie line goes, "I'm a politician. When I'm not kissing babies, I'm stealing their lollipops." It's just business as usual in Washington. This is political backsliding at its best. Is it worth it to pass clean energy legislation that has no real teeth at the risk of America's coastal environment?

What do the democrats think? Reuters reports Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg saying, "Giving Big Oil more access to our nation's waters is really a 'Kill, Baby, Kill' policy: it threatens to kill jobs, kill marine life and kill coastal economies."

President Obama's about-face is not a step towards cleaner energies, but the exact opposite. Opening more areas for drilling may only serve to fuel the county's addiction to oil, pun intended.

For a while, it really seemed like there were great advancements in the search for cleaner fuels and alternative energy sources. Car manufacturers and energy companies were taking steps to move forward with technological developments that, until recently, were not economical and held no prospects for revenue.

The Chief Democrat isn't the only one doing a flip flop on domestic oil exploration. It has been the long-standing policy of Republicans to open more American land for drilling. Even so, most Republicans are downplaying the maneuver - if for no other reason, to oppose the President, regardless of what he says.

Finally given something they have been lobbying for since before the election, the Republicans are whining that the measure is too little, too late. Most argue that we are held hostage by the oil barons of the Middle East and domestic drilling is the only way to escape their stronghold.

In the President's announcement he referred to the measure being a step towards national security referencing America's dependence on foreign oil. Spinning the language in a speech to cover a double-standard just emphasizes how much this president is backpedaling from his campaign statements.

Perhaps most interesting is how quickly Liberals will say or do anything to defend the President's move. If a Republican had said any of the same things, and repeatedly have, Democrats would have been quick to demonize them as anti-environmental.

If the goal was to create points of compromise to satisfy opponents of a climate protection bill, it seems pointless to do so if it just means more oil consumption. Oil is burned, in whatever form it ends up, and that emission goes into the atmosphere, making further climate change legislation moot.

Instead of compromising with the enemies of a cleaner environment, the President should instead reward those who are working to protect it. Cleaner, more efficient alternative energy is not science fiction - but it will be if those who have vowed to support it give in to political greed.

Read more by Gery L. Deer at www.gerydeer.com.