The Absurd Report

THERE IS A REASON I chose “Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here” as the subtitle of the study of energy policy I just completed under the auspices of the Washington-based Hudson Institute. That reason: decades of listening to politician leaders of both of our parties promising “energy independence,” and an end to America’s “oil addiction.” Such promises must be music to the ears of domestic environmental groups and our foreign friends who feel that our cars are too big, our houses either over-heated or over-air-conditioned, and our consumption of fossil fuels the source of the global warming and its cataclysmic consequences predicted by failed presidential candidate and successful pursuer of a Nobel Prize, Al Gore.

I have bad news for all those who think that the retirement of George W. Bush will somehow initiate a golden–or green–age in America. It won’t. Just take a close look at the promises being made by the two men who have now been formally nominated as their parties’ standard bearers in the fight to control the White House.

Barack Obama promises that he will lead us to independence from imported oil in ten years by spending $150 billion of taxpayer money. Never mind that such independence has been the nation’s goal ever since Richard Nixon set it for us in his 1974 State of the Union address. Since then, imports have doubled as a portion of our oil consumption. There is an old saying among economic forecasters: give ‘em a date, or give ‘em a number, but never give ‘em a number and a date. Obama violated that rule–$150 billion over ten years–which would be laudable in a candidate famous for his lack of specificity were it not that the forecast is utter nonsense given the other planks in his energy policy platform.

Read more from The Daily Standard

Tags: Energy Policy

Trackback URI | Comments RSS