Our Disingenuous President

By Bruce Bialosky
Monday, April 02, 2012

Many Americans believe that whenever a politician opens his mouth, something pops out other than the truth. But on the issue of energy, this President has really stepped into an issue and now seems able to maintain his political credibility solely with more lies and obfuscation.

We live in an age in which America and the rest of the world has a huge need for electrical power – with no evidence of reduced demand on the horizon. Even though our automobiles, appliances, and tools have become more energy-efficient, we have more devices than ever like smartphones and tablets and our thirst for energy has not and will not subside in the foreseeable future.

President Obama repeatedly attacks his political opponents for not supporting taxpayer-funding of new forms of energy. First he accuses Republicans of being behind the loans given to Solyndra and other “clean-energy” companies – most of which have gone bust during his administration. But then out of the other side of his mouth, he accuses Republicans of being members of the Flat Earth Society for being “against energy innovation.”

This is the same man who enthusiastically extols the benefits of wind-generated power. But when I think of wind energy, I just can’t help imagining a 16th-century Dutch windmill. There’s a reason that this form of energy went out of use – it is grossly inefficient. I’ve had extensive conversations with the owners of wind farms, the quality of whose windmills has vastly improved over the past twenty years. They are far more productive than they’ve ever been, and yet they still don’t come close to the energy density of fossil fuels.

And there are other downsides. First, windmills generate huge numbers of dead birds – including endangered species – but for some reason there’s no outcry from the likely suspects on the left. PETA is attempting to eliminate the killing of chickens – one of our most important food sources – but never says a word about the large-scale slaughter that windmills cause every day. Windmills consume thousands of acres of quality farmland, blighting the horizons worse than billboards. And yet, even if we were to devote large swaths of the American landscape to windmills, we would still be producing only a small percentage of our energy from what is a highly irregular source. And the President calls us Flat-Earthers?

Again and again, the President attempts to defend his preposterous decisions and policies on the topic of fossil fuels. Let’s face it – he and his green buddies (most of whom are big-time campaign contributors) just don’t like oil and natural gas and want to get rid of them as a fuel source. But now that gasoline prices are going through the roof, largely due to his mismanagement of energy policy and the injection of trillions of dollars of false money into the economy, he’s saying that there is no “silver bullet.” Unfortunately for our disingenuous Mr. Obama, there really is a silver bullet.

After decades of declining domestic oil and gas production, our ingenious scientists have found new ways to extract energy from underground sources. Based on these new methods, we have the largest oil and gas supplies in the world. Yes, folks, that’s correct – the entire world. Regrettably, we have a political class unwilling to address our energy problems. Just think how many jobs would be created, not to mention how quickly our trade deficit would plummet, if we were to produce our own energy for the next hundred years. We have the unique opportunity to actually be energy-independent in the next five to ten years. But our disingenuous President says that there are no silver bullets.

The President continually ridicules Newt Gingrich for talking about $2.50 per gallon gasoline. Obama should be saying that this price is too high. The two states at the forefront of energy development – Alaska and North Dakota – have virtually eliminated state taxes and are giving back money to their residents. Perhaps the President should familiarize himself with the price of gasoline in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. In both countries, gasoline costs less than a dollar per gallon. Development is the key.

Unfortunately, this President still continues to prohibit the transportation of new sources of oil through the Keystone pipeline in order to appease his rich, environmentally-radical friends. He and his cronies maintain that Nebraska halted the line – despite the fact that Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman made it very clear at the beginning of this year that they are ready, willing, and able to move forward on their portion of the project.

Our President has stepped into an issue that has come back to bite him; but, instead of re-thinking his policies, he has jumped in with both feet. Rather than adapt to modern, far-reaching developments in the world of energy, he has doubled down on the antiquated, anti-energy policies of his far-left base. And he calls Republicans anti-Galileo. We can disagree on issues, but Obama has no right to be use disingenuousness as his only defense.