Bush Just Looking for More Votes?

Yesterday President Bush lifted an executive order banning offshore oil drilling, while pleading Congress to do the same thing.

You see Bush’s lift means nothing, unless the U.S. Congress takes action. But what is the real reasoning behind this “pointless” lift?

TO GET MORE VOTES

The debate has been going on and on about whether or not a ban should be removed on offshore drilling. There are still millions of active land leases that have yet to be touched, so why should we start looking in other places? (More TWI: He Said, She Said)

It is no secret that many people are unhappy with the current standing of anything American. Whether it be the economy, war, or whatever, this makes it hard for current Republican nominee, John McCain, to take a stance.

He can’t make his arguments look like something Bush would do, but at the same time he needs to differentiate himself from the Democrats? So what is an elephant (republicans) to do?

LIFT A BAN THAT PROBABLY WON’T GET BACKED UP

To the average voter, they don’t know the time frame it would take to discover new oil if these bans were lifted. They simply see an answer to their problem. It seems obvious that new places to drill would only result in more oil and cheaper prices, and that is what they want you to think.

If the bans were lifted, then realistically it could take 5 or more years to finally reap the benefits of that. By that time, one of the two nominees may not even be in office anymore.

So if there is no immediate result, then why can’t we just urge producers to continue searching in the millions of already untouched available areas?

With oil at $145 a barrel, there should be no worries about losing profit. According to an article on CNN:

Candida Scott, an oil industry researcher at Cambridge Research Associates, said oil needs to be priced at $60 a barrel or more to justify deep-shelf drilling. With oil now selling for $145 a barrel, companies are almost assured of profiting from offshore drilling, Scott said.

Now that makes me wonder why we would want to grant “cheaper” discoverable land to these people. They are already making more than enough money, and why ruin national parks and harm the environment for no real reason?

TO BRING IN VOTES

It is certainly an interesting debate with many different arguments. Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, strongly feels that the bans should not be lifted.

What do you think? Should the bans be lifted? Is this just a stunt for more votes?

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