Obama Has U.S. Over a Barrel (of oil)

The world is in turmoil. In the Middle East there are uprisings, in Japan natural disasters, in Mexico blatant lawlessness, and in Europe the slow but certain death of Western Civilization at the hands of Muslims who have learned to use a combination of fear tactics and appeals to western guilt to their advantage.

As a result of these things, there is international uncertainty that has caused commodities like silver, gold, and black gold (crude oil), to skyrocket in value. And although this isn’t a bad thing for investors who began stockpiling gold when it was $200 an ounce and silver when it was $14, this is an absolutely terrible thing for lower and middle class families who have to fill up the SUV with gasoline twice a week in order to get to work, church, school, and the grocers.

In other words, while rising gold and silver prices may contribute to the increased wealth of a few, rising crude prices threaten to decimate the savings (and savings plans) of the many. (As I type, crude is approximately $108 a barrel, but predicted by some to go as high as $200-300 a barrel if Middle East unrest continues.)

Sadly, in the midst of these rising crude prices, and the resulting higher gas prices Americans have faced at the pump, Obama has stayed the course on green energy alternatives with bans on offshore drilling and a continued refusal to broaden onshore domestic production. Remember, oil formations in North Dakota alone contain enough crude to raise that state to the status of one of “the 13 or 14 largest producing countries [in the world].” And the amount of oil lying in Alaska’s outer continental shelf (OCS) is so great that tapping into it “would make Alaska the eighth largest oil province in the world – ahead of Nigeria, Libya, Russia, and Norway.”

I hate to say it folks, but Obama doesn’t want us paying cheaper prices. If he did, we’d not only be drilling in North Dakota and on Alaska’s OCS, but we’d also be constructing pipelines like the Keystone XL, “a…feed [36 inches in diameter] linking Alberta’s oil sands fields to the refineries of Texas’ Gulf Coast.” The Keystone XL would transport more oil into the U.S. each day than we currently import from either Saudi Arabia or Venezuela. (All that needs to happen to get the XL up and running is for the president to issue a directive to the State Department, but don’t hold your breath.)

Obama has this nation over a barrel (of oil). The candidate who admitted that his green approach would cause energy prices to skyrocket has become the president who’s proving the veracity of his admission. As a result, we are at the mercy of the tyrants and terrorists who use OPEC to control the flow of oil into the world because our own president is denying us access to abundant resources of oil here at home.

By the way, the socialist paradise called Cuba is slated to start drilling in the Gulf of Mexico soon. They anticipate having five deepwater wells in place by 2013. We, on the other hand, are still wondering if Obama is ever going to allow American companies to open new leases in the Gulf again.