Drill, Baby, Drill

One of the most passionate refrains during the 2008 Presidential Election was Sarah Palin's cry of 'Drill, Baby, Drill!' It was particularly pertinent given the fact that petrol prices were topping $5 a gallon at the time.

'Drill, Baby, Drill!' might not have been enough to win the Republicans the election, but it did generate enough popular sentiment to make moderates question why America wasn't exploiting its own natural resources, instead of continuing to churn money over to the Saudi Arabians for their overpriced oil.

Well, we can't claim that Obama doesn't read people's t-shirts any more. On Wednesday, Barack sided with populist opinion and authorized offshore drilling on the East Coast and other formerly protected areas in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

In one fell swoop, "Drill, Baby, Drill!" went from Republican battle cry to official White House strategy.

"And see this F-18 behind me? This motherf**ker runs off biofuel, bitches."
Obama's actual statement at Andrews Air Force Base, paraphrased for comedic value.

It's a stop-gap measure, Obama's the first to admit. There's not enough oil and natural gas to make the United States energy-independent; and even if there was, it undermines his determination to move to country towards adopting cleaner and more sustainable forms of energy.

However, it's a start.

Just as I suggested in my review of The Audacity of Hope, its a move that reveals Obama to be a pragmatic realist; willing to tackle the day-to-day issues facing average Americans (high gas prices, dependency on foreign oil), rather than cast their problems aside in favor of tackling esoteric, typically Democrat concerns like promoting overly conservative environmentalism and protecting polar bears (who have big teeth and claws, so should theoretically be able to look after themselves.)

Of course, not everybody's happy about it:

"Short of sending Sarah Palin back to Alaska to personally club polar bears to death," argued Brendan Cummings, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity, "the Obama administration could not have come up with a more efficient extinction plan for the polar bear."

[Actually, in a Palin vs. Polar Bear smack down, my money's on the bear. Just sayin' - Editorial Bear]

It's also another maverick move that makes those who demonize President Obama deeply uncomfortable. How can he represent everything that conservative Americans stand against when he capitulates to one of their most vocal demands?

However, it just goes to show that this administration is dedicated to actually solving problems, instead of just cranking the meat-grinder of self-defeating political rhetoric and perpetuating the seemingly interminable stalemate that exists in Washington.