Is Barack Obama Intentionally Trying to Damage Our Economy and Security?

That may seem like an absurd question, but it’s hard to come to any other conclusion when you consider what is happening to our energy industry on the Gulf Coast. As the Wall Street Journal reports today, the Obama Administration may have lifted its ban on drilling in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, but there are still long delays in getting other permits approved to drill for oil. Why? No one seems to know. We assume that politicians do what is in their own self-interest, but in this case Obama seems to be damaging himself because he is dragging down the economy. As the Journal puts it, “The Gulf coast economy has been hit hard by the slowdown in drilling activity.” And Obama doesn’t seem particularly eager to change that fact.

There are only a handful of possible explanations of why he is doing this. (1) He doesn’t care, and his radical environmental agenda comes first. (2) He hates oil companies so much that he’s willing to have his political fortunes damaged further by dragging down the economy. (3) He hates capitalism so much that he’s determined to “gut” a leading industry such as energy. (4) There is raging incompetence in Washington.

In his recently released book Leadership and Crisis, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal recounts an exchange with President Obama during the Gulf oil drilling moratorium. (Full disclosure: I co-wrote the book with Jindal.) After telling Obama that the moratorium would potentially cost tens of thousands of jobs, “The president went on to assure me that anyone who lost their job would get a check from BP. When I explained that BP might not write them checks because it was the federal government that imposed the moratorium the president said, ‘Well, if BP won’t pay the claim, they can file for unemployment.’ I was amazed by the level of disconnect. The people of Louisiana want to work, not collect unemployment or BP checks.”

For Obama, getting an unemployment check is about the same as getting paycheck.

So why is Obama doing this? Take your pick. None of the possible explanations offer much hope for the future. Bottom line: Obama is knowingly damaging our economy, and assuring that more money goes to energy producers like Venezuela, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.