I thought it was exactly the right thing to do and say. That they need to drill where we gave them already...

and I wouldn't be surprised if he says...not only will we open more areas if we see significant movement and ethics with how you drill in the areas we gave...but if you don't drill in the areas we gave you that have oil (Just not the windfall profits that you are trying to raise by finding even better loscations) then we are going to slap you with a windfall profits tax and take those areas away and give them to companies that will.

If there are votes in it, Obama is definitely for it. Especially after the tire inflation position was doa ...

JA...

you're absloultely, without a doubt, correct. the majority of americans want us to drill. people are pissed, and pressure is being applied to congress to act. republicans are BEGGING at this point for pelosi and the dems to actually work on this. but, of course, they are playing election time politics. playing games with the american people. now, due to the growing pressure, obama changes his tune. based soley on POLLS on what the american people want. this guy has absolutley no backbone and is a puppet. i just cant believe he has suppoters like he does.

Many Americans have been conned into believing that off-shore drilling will have some effect on oil prices.

It won't.

Many Americans don't live near the coasts where the drilling takes place. I think you'll find the people that actually live anywhere near where the drilling will take place overwhelmingly oppose the idea.

SW Missouri:

I'm right there with you on the Cheney Energy bill. You do know that of the two remaining candidates, only Obama voted FOR it and McCain voted AGAINST it, right?

So don't assume that McCain, as a republican is the big bad guy here. Obama is the one getting "bundles" from the oil and gas guys ....

MKoch,

More ignorant comments from you. Off-shore drilling will increase supply, putting downward pressure on prices. Getting the oil will take at least 3 years for the first ones to come online, but future expectation of a supply increase decreases prices NOW (study the markets and economics if you don't understand this).

Additionally, producing oil at home will keep money in the US rather than sending it to the Middle East.

Finally, I feel no sympathy for those who live on the coasts in multi-million dollar houses. We have to think of America as a whole, not just a subset of it.

I appreciate your analysis of my intelligence, JA.

However, needing to resort to ad hominem attacks is usually considered to reveal a weakness in your reasoning skills, not intellectual superiority.

I'd like to know YOUR standard of discerning a legitimate compromise from a pandering position, and while your at explain to me how McCain hasn't "compromised" on nearly every single issue.

I can link to a list if you would like to study the information in more depth.

If McCain can change his mind about timeline for Iraq troops withdrwal, why can't Obama change his mind about offshore oil drilling.

I don't recall there being a series of major polls that showed Americans overwelmingly supported timetables for withdrawals discussed right before McCain changed his mind.

JA

He is not flip flopping...

he is saying we do not open up the shores because the oil company lobby is telling us they need more places with oil...all the while they have shown there is oil where they already have permission to drill and they are not really drilling.

They want the best case scenario and John mcCain's advisors and the oil lobby are spending a lot of money to get the federal regulations rolled back for them ...so they can go after state officials with that same amount of money and lobbying...

think about the shark fest that will happen on the state level with small time local political officials if the gates get opened to the oil lobby.

Obama is saying I will hold that carrot out there...but he is saying what McCain isn't..."Oil companies...you need to drill where your profit margin may not be as great but stalling on those acres because you see abetter profit margin in more areas...isn't going to happen anymore"

either you drill in the areas we gave you (which HAVE OIL no matter how the republicans want to spin it) or we are going to slap you not only with a windfall profits tax that will go to coming up with alternative fuels and the ailing car companies...but we will start taking that acreage away from you and giving it to companies that will drill.

now why hasn't McCain said that?

becasue he is to busy spinning it for his lobbyist political team that came over fromthe Bush Cheney administration...because that is the team he has to use for a republican run at the white house.

and that is the truth.

It is flip-flop

Obama is a flip-flopper

Nothing more - a candidate without an agenda who hops a ride on the nearest poll.

MKoch,

I am not here to defend McCain. Without a doubt he is a flip flopper as well. Unfortunately, this has already been priced into the McCain brand. And now, unfortunately, it is being priced into the Obama brand.

Take away Obama's "new politics" and what are you left with? An empty suit, full of rhetoric, with little experience and no major life accomplishments.

Recognize the truth. You voted for a concept - and concept who is changing his colors by the day.

If this is a window into what an Obama presidency will be like then he has my vote. The good sense to accomodate the diverging views of both your opposition and your allies within the framework of a comprehensive bill that will move the country forward is what has been missing in Washington for a very long time. This is exactly what he has been sayong he will do. And I wouldn't bee too worried about a rush to drill new offshore oil,leases. Even with the high price of oil once alternatives, solar, wind, second gen biodiesel and hydrogen kick in at scale it will be economically too expensive anyway.

first off, im not a huge supporter of john mccain either. its a lesser of two evils vote again. but let me say this.... changing your mind on a troop pullout is different than changing your mind on drilling for oil! the war situation is changing from day to day. its hard to set a "deadline" on the unpredictable. the oil situation is different. most people have their idea of how to deal with the energy crisis. its more of a fundamental idea versus a situation that is constantly changing. but obama, changed his mind simply due to THE POLLS. the guy dosnt stand for anything.

JA, I didn't vote for Obama... yet.
I don't know what sort of leader he would be.
He is able to string together two sentences without sounding like a moron, though.

I do know what kind of leaders Republicans have been for the last 8 years, and I know who's been steering the ship that got us into this situation in the first place.

dl

I don't believe any of those people are oil lobbyists. Can you name your source? Thanks!

Would you rather have a leader that graduated at the top of his class, or one that graduated at the bottom of his class and is very very very old.

with 70+% of the amerian population (as per recent polls) in favor of drilling, of coarse obama is going to compromise if he wants to win this election.

Whenever McCain supporters run out of ideas they start hurling insults, just like their candidate who will rather run a series of vacous "swift boat" Ads rather that discuss issues.

The game is up. You can fool some people sometimes, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. McCains pathetic attempt at swift boating ain't gonna work this time.

The article title is misleading. I see no shift in policy. Obama still opposes offshore drilling. He's simply using it as a bargaining chip to get what he wants. Sounds smart to me.

This compromise idea calls the GOP's bluff. Even they know offshore drilling won't do anything. If they compromise on that issue, they'll end up giving Obama what he wants, and end up getting something they never really wanted that much.

- Independent against Irrationality

I like that Obama is talking about compromise. When Bush was running he talked about being bipartisan in Texas, but in office has never really made anything like a compromise on a substantice issue. I think its goping to take a President prepared to compromise to make a difference. And the GOP seem to be saying that Off shore oil is going to solve all the problems of the US, and I think actually waht Obama is saying is right, in that it won't solve all the problems.