Biden's "Let Them Eat Cake" Energy Approach Proves He's Out of Touch
Leaves Consumers Hurting at the Pump
By: Christine O'Donnell, Republican Nominee for U.S. Senate 2008
Earlier this week, President Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore oil drilling, and Senator Joe Biden could not wait to shoot it down and punish drivers everywhere. Seemingly ignorant of the pain of the average American, Biden launched into a longwinded conspiracy theory to explain away our country's overwhelming support for offshore oil drilling. "I think this is a last-ditch effort to go out and rape the offshore continental shelf, so that they (presumably the oil companies) own it and are able to use it as leverage in the future, because they know if they don't get it in the last couple of months of this administration, they're not going to get it" said Biden.
If that's the case then the 67% of Americans who support offshore drilling must be in on the conspiracy too. Joe Biden would like us all to believe that offshore drilling is an environmental catastrophe, but the facts are that only 1% of the oil pollution in the sea is the result of oil drilling while 63% is the result of natural seepage on the ocean floor. Yet, we don't hear Biden condemning mother nature. China (one of the world's worst polluters) will soon be drilling for oil 60 miles off the coast of Florida. As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, one would think this might concern Senator Biden. Wrong. Clearly Biden is only worried about Americans who use America's ocean resources. He's fine with foreign governments from half way around the world stealing our oil. He just doesn't want Americans to have it. In addition to opposing offshore oil, Biden continues to oppose drilling in ANWAR and oil shale exploration in Wyoming and Utah, which would potentially yield 3 times the oil in Saudia Arabia.
As every American loses more and more of their hard-earned paycheck at the gas pump, Joe Biden wholly ignores the real-life, immediate solutions available in favor of a hodgepodge of distant alternative energy experiments. In short, Senator Biden's plan can only be described as Hooveresque slap in the face to distressed Americans. This "let them eat cake" attitude toward millions of suffering Americans is indicative of just how out of touch career politicians like Joe Biden truly are. Not everyone has the luxury of riding the Acela train to work like Joe Biden. Most Americans have to drive to work or we will lose our job. We have to pay $60 for a tank of gas or our children won't get picked up from school. We don't need to be patronized. We need solutions, now.
A responsible energy policy must combine research into long-term renewable solutions such as hydrogen fuel and clean-coal technology with a realistic approach to relieving the current oil crisis and easing crippling gas prices. There is no question that America needs clean alternatives to oil for our long-term energy independence and a safe environment, but we must not allow America's drivers to suffer needlessly when we have energy resources that are readily and abundantly available in the U.S. right now. As Senator, I will eschew the one-sided energy policy of Senator Biden in favor of an aggressive, well-rounded energy initiative that combines relief for today's consumer with a vision for the future.