Is it Just me...or is the Obama campaign Acting Very Timid on this Offshore Drilling Issue?

They have a clear issue that can put them ahead in Florida, but they don't seem to be attacking McNuts over it the way they should be right now. That tells me either Obama has supported it by either a bill or quote in the past, or high-ranking members of his campaign support it. Those are the only reasons they're not going hard after McCain over this. I really thought yesterday that today was going to be all about something the Obama campaign said about McCain regarding offshore drilling. But so far, I'm hearing a lot of the same things I heard yesterday.

Why else would Crist flip-flop on the issue?

but probably polls well with blue collar workers in states like Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Crist has clearly shown that he wants to stay viable for the V.P. spot, that's all.

They can take the time to analyse the issue.

At best, the offshore drilling proposal is another knee jerk reaction to high gas prices. It's false hope that takes advantage of Americans. McCains decision to jump on the "oil drilling" bandwagon tells me something about him. Obama shouldn't stoop to his level.

his cronies more money by drilling off shore in America. It was planned. They are destroying our economy, putting families in the poor house, so they can pass the laws that allow them to drill.

Obscene.

Unlike the gas tax holiday, this represents a much tougher challenge as far as taking a contrary stance is concerned. Gas is $4+/gallon; people aren't ready to think rationally or consider long term consequences.

Environmental groups need to do some work educating people on why offshore is a bad idea.

Obama has an excellent platform to reduce use of oil.

has been told that their pain at the pump is being caused by americas dependence on foreign oil and the consumer demand for crude on the world market.
imo with gas prices what they are many people are faced with the harsh reality of wanting to save the environment, and saving themselves and their families and jobs. wile i don't believe drilling anwr or offshore environmentally sensative areas will do much to offset the price of oil, many people are desperate enough to grasp at anything.

my uncle has just shut down his small trucking company due to fuel prices. his finacial outlook at the moment is bleak. millions of people out there are just like him. they're not just being squeezed, they're being crushed.

this will be a tricky issue for both candidates, and a misstep could cause some real damage.

Oh wait ... we don't. Wonder why that is? Maybe because ... THERE IS NO SHORTAGE and we are just getting screwed over by the speculators?

Remember when prices shot up because hurricane Rita was supposed to destroy the oil & gas infrastructure, but didn't? Remember when prices shot up way back in '79 when the Islamic Revolution in Iran was supposed to disrupt oil supplies, but didn't?

Same thing now. They are now using the Iraqi War as an excuse to jack up prices despite the fact that the rest of OPEC is making up for the lower production in Iraq. Prices will go down when either the Department of Justice investigates the higher prices (since there is no market reason for it, it is almost certainly because of illegal manipulation) or we get out of Iraq.

And we know neither of those are going to happen while a Republican sits in the White House. Actually, since both of those things ARE going to happen when Obama sits in the White House, we will see oil prices plummet as soon as Obama is elected to forestall any investgation.

That wasn't so tricky now, was it?

Let McCain and Bush talk about it to each other.

The Bush gang has attacked ANWR and the Florida coast before, and were burned then, too. Jeb Bush was directly in the center of telling Dubya to piss off; I doubt that the new gov will take a different approach.

I will try to find information on it if you like but NPR was reporting this morning that Crist is open to the issue now.

But, the Florida voters are heavily opposed.

It has no chance of going anywhere (Bush will not even recind GHW Bush's executive order) so it is just a gimmick.

on offshore drilling

please see #11.

but it went unreported

put it into this thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6383283&mesg_id=6383283

here it is again

The Obama campaign set up three different sets of teams surrogates to confront McCain on flip flopping on habeas corpus,gas tax, and off shore drilling.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/18/1153839.aspx

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones and NBC's Alexander Wall
In the latest sign of a campaign that aims to use every means possible to communicate its message, Team Obama held three back-to-back-to-back conference calls today to discuss matters ranging from national security to offshore drilling to the gas-tax holiday McCain has proposed.

When put together, the three calls lasted longer than almost any single town hall, policy speech, roundtable or retail stop the candidate makes on any given day. In each of them, surrogates reiterated positions the presumptive nominee has expressed in recent days and weeks, and sought to paint the Arizona senator as a flip-flopper who was increasingly in lock-step with George Bush and who was taking politically expedient positions that did not make sense for working families or the environment.

Rice said the court’s decision merely allowed suspects to appear in court to hear the charges against them and in no way meant they would be freed, while Craig noted that the record of Guantanamo Bay was nothing to be proud of because it violated the Constitution and damaged America’s standing in the world. “The United States government simply cannot hold people without charges indefinitely,” he said.

The surrogates scoffed at the argument made by some of Obama’s rivals that his stance on this matter would mean even Osama bin Laden would get habeas corpus rights, arguing that in such an instance it was clear any judge would find sufficient evidence to hold the mastermind of the Sept. 11th attacks in custody, with Craig calling it “a ridiculous argument.”

Gas-tax holiday and off-shore drilling
In the second call, which began at about 12:30 pm ET, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Admiral John Nathman convened reporters to declare McCain a flip-flopper on the matter of off-shore drilling for oil and to blast him for proposing a summer gas-tax holiday. McCaskill called the proposal a “gimmick," just as she did in a similar conference call in the run up to the Indiana and North Carolina primaries.

Off-shore drilling redux

In the third call, which started just after 1:00 pm ET, Democratic Govs. Jon Corzine of New Jersey and Mike Easley of North Carolina and former Sen. Bob Graham of Florida railed against McCain on the off-shore drilling issue, with Corzine declaring himself “surprised and disappointed” by what he said was McCain's “flip flop."

Indeed, the Garden State governor used the term “flip flop” at least three times, and said McCain had made a mistake on this issue. He also said he believed his state would remain in the Democratic column in the fall in response to a question about whether McCain’s stance on drilling could help him in the state, especially among independents.

That he came out in a speech and said "we need to drill" was something they did not expect McCain to do.

Saw the NewsHour on PBS last evening, where a McCain flack easily outdebated an Obama energy adviser, and made a pretty well-thought out case. Looks like McGramp's camp isn't as lame as we thought.

that went unreported in the MSM pls see 11 above

that the oil companies are not using the acreage that they already have approved.

http://obama.senate.gov/news/060802-senate_oks_gulf/

<snip>

The House measure would permit drilling within 50 miles of coastal states, but state legislatures could extend this limit to 100 miles. Gov. Bush in Florida has indicated that his state would extend the limit to 100 miles if the House version became law.

Environmentalists opposed to both the Senate and House bills said oil companies have yet to develop oil and natural gas reserves on leases they hold in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We're opposed to this bill," said Sierra Club spokeswoman Annie Strickler. She said better automobile mileage, as proposed in a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), would yield greater energy independence at less cost to the environment.

Obama voted against the bill and said the Republican leadership was being "dishonest" by believing the nation's energy problem could be solved with more drilling.

<snip>

I'm so glad his record can speak for him on issues like this.

There are no ships to drill according to CNN or MSNBC. Can't remember which one I was watching, but all existing ships are booked for about 5 years.

Therefore, there's no reason for Obama to go out on a limb. It's not going to happen no matter if everyone wants it.

I was having too much fun with the "flip-flop" coverage McBush has been receiving on this issue.

I have been spitting up a lung trying to explain it to my family.

We don't know what Obama's plans are for upcoming focus points in his campaign, whether his staff is doing more research so they can come home strongly with a crippling slam-dunk, etc.

Obama is also fairly new on the scene. If he does something that has caused him problems in the past, then I think criticism is warranted.

However, to criticize him for not immediately blanket-covering the media with rebuttals about McCain's offshore drilling, IMO, is premature.

Obama (IMO) seems to be focused on laying to rest this BS security issue (McCain's criticism of him as being "9/10") so that he doesn't have to deal with it daily during the rest of the campaign.

It would be ill-advised, IMO, to strongly attack on two major issues at the same time. It would make Obama appear combative and argumentative, and weaken the strength of his attacks when compared to if he takes on one major issue for his aggressive returns at a time.

Just because some nutcases try to make an issue out of something, should he take the bait?

And besides, it will be spun to make Obama look bad no matter which way he answers.

The right is going to be pushing the meme big time that gas would be a nickel a gallon if only the guddang vine mentalists would let us drill for all the brazillions of barrels of oil that are sitting right under our noses.

And yes, somehow the evil environmentalists :scared: are "blocking everything", even though they've essentially been LOCKED OUT of the governing process.

Offshore drilling is taking place right now off the coasts of Alaska, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Since you are from Canada it is also taking place off the Canadian coast in the Atlantic. Maybe you should discover what crackpot ideas your country is up to.

Of course I realize that there's offshore drilling going on right now.

The "BIG GOP MESSAGE" right now is that offshore and ANWR development is going to cure all the oil price problems.

But I do know with present technology there are zero environmental concerns associated with offshore drilling and with drilling in ANWR.

It won't fly here.

There are ZERO oil company operations that have ZERO environmental concerns.

There are hundreds of offshore rigs operating off my state. There have been no problems. Put up or shut up.

Since you have offshore drilling in Canada why aren't you doing anything about that?

From an engineering standpoint, there is no such thing as 'Zero Risk'. And drilling so near to a major coastline is ALWAYS dangerous.

And futhermore, we're not drilling in a paticularly sensitive near-shore environment or at anywhere NEAR the scale that's proposed by GOP apologists.

And as for ANWR, even if NOT ONE DROP was spilled, the mere presence of THOUSANDS of vehicles, roads, contruction and human activity in general would disrupt migratory patterns of sensitive caribou and other animal populations.

And even that's not the main point. ANWR is a REFUGE. A PROTECTED AREA. BY LAW.

If ANWR is opened to drilling, what objection can there be to "developing" ALL protected areas?

No.

For the LIMITED benefits of drilling in EXTREMELY sensitive areas for SUCH A NEGLIBLE EFFECT, it's a net loss.

Where there are oil pipelines in the north. This is due to increased heat from pipeline operations. There has been no study or evidence that "animal populations" will be disrupted. BTW all and any human activity disrupts animal populations. You have disrupted a animal population wherever you live, walk, drive, work or go to school. So what.Does that mean we should all kill ourselves? The drilling area in ANWR is supported by Democrats in Alaska. But you know more than they do, right? The area to be drilled is the size of the Dallas-Ft.Worth airport. A tiny patch in the protected area. Do you use oil?

It will not go anywhere.

Were you the first in the family to get out of grade school? Congrats.

Florida depends almost totally on tourism and if the beaches become like they are in Texas it will destroy the economy. It's bad enough right now with the high gas prices.