So maybe we should be calling Obama Obusha now! LOL Seems to me like he has adopted every nuance of Bush’s energy policy.

If Obama thinks Bush is to blame for the mess that we are in then why is his plans exactly the same as what Bush is already doing? Seems to me that Obama likes “borrowing” a lot from others. I mean first the speech, then Carter’s plan and now Bush’s energy plan. Can’t he come up with his own ideas!? What other plan has he “borrowed” I wonder!?

HMMM…and here I thought that he was supposed to be the man of change! This just goes to prove that he is nothing but the same old same old in a new and improved suit of rhetoric!

Cindy…Ga.

Cindy, I couldn’t have said it better myself. The “man of change” sure likes to take ideas from others and pass it as his own.

Well I am against drilling for more oil. Its horrible on the environment, demand is just going to go up along with prices regardless. Drilling is not the solution. We need a government devoted to alternative energy sources. Other countries have made use of them a lot better than we have so it is possible. Imagine what we could do in 10 years focusing our efforts not on oil but on renewable forms of energy.

By the way, $22 billion since 2001 is nothing compared to the $10billion a month we spend in Iraq.

Obama should have Gore in his administration leading this initiative. This country needs an overhauling and I think its possible if Obama brings our troops home then takes some of that Iraq money to use towards a serious commitment to other energy sources. The future is now and oil just is not enough, no matter how much drilling we do.

WOW, what’s an article favorable to Bush and unfavorable to Obama doing on CNN? This must be the token attempt at balance. Just 3842 more articles favoarble to Republicans and we’ll call it even. Good article. I didn’t know we were spending this much on alternative energy sources.

I hate to sound naïve here, but is it possible that they coincidentally have the same energy policies to begin with? I mean, who isn’t for reduced carbon emissions and investing in a clean energy future? Don’t we all want that?

Lilibeth
Edmonds, Washington

Remembering when regular gasoline was 27 cents per gallon, bread
was 25 cents for a regular wonder bread, hamburger was 22 cents,
and cigeretts were 17 cents to 24 cents. Now that was then and this
is now, we need our grain for the cows and we better start drilling for
oil because Israel is two months from putting craters in Iran. This will
affect the price of oil real big.. As for the cigeretts they are being bought up by China for the olympics. Bread, please don’t start using
it for bio-fuel! Bio-fuel is great for deisel tractors going down the high-
way saving on pollution but we need nucular reactors to fuel our con-
sumption of electricity, you know all those let plug em-in at night and
save the enviroment! Three choices, coal fired plants, nucular react-
ors or back to oil? All the oil we need in two years with the production
of gasoline independance, or nucular energy in 5 years with battery ran cars and bio-fuel for the semi-tractor trailor going down the road!

Let me get this straight — the same administration that relaxed EPA standards and didn’t want to participate in the Kyoto Agreement has a process in place that has the US leading the world on global climate change (something he doesn’t really believe is happening) and it’s the Clinton administration’s fault that drilling wasn’t started 10 years ago, even though it was a Republican-controlled Congress for the last 12 years. Wonder how that R&D is coming along — any remote idea for a prototype BEFORE Bush leaves office? That would certainly boost his ratings …

Bush has Chaney and he is big oil. I don’t see that moving very quickly.

Also, they have a million acre oil “sandbox” that they are not using right now. Chaney wants to open up ANWR and other off-shore drilling before he leaves office so his company can still make windfall profits.

We have clean energy but it is, like the 311 song, “suppressed”. It is hydrogen fuel cells. Both BMW and Chevrolet have cars that run on hydrogen and they are waiting for the stations to pop up.

Hydrogen fuel cells are CLEAN ENERGY. They emit only water!

Time to let go of oil and be self-sufficient here - no need for oil, no worries about what is going on the Middle East. Even they will tell you this “pain at the pump” is not from production. IT is artificial by the oil company to put pressure on the public to tell government to open up ANWR and off shore drilling for this useless, polluting stuff.

Switch to CLEAN ENERGY HYDROGEN.

Even non-food bio-fuels are not the best long-term solution. Bio-fuels,
when burned, produce carbon dioxide. The big picture is that we need to go a lot further than just getting away from our “addiction” to foreign oil for energy (we get a lot more than just energy from oil). The industrial revolution has upset the carbon balance in our bio-sphere.
We are increasingly releasing excess carbon that was stored underground back to the atmosphere. We cannot survive with excessive amounts of carbon compounds in our atmosphere. We have the technology to solve this problem. Greed is the roadblock to a better future.

Isn’t one of them a leader who pays lip service to the truth and has caused painful and, in many cases, unmitigable or irreversible consequences? Twenty-two billion dollars that had been spent on “researching and developing” alternatives to oil dependency since 2001 almost amount to lip service when some sources have indicated that eight billion dollars are being spent on the Iraq war monthly.

My question is why waste even the relatively insignificant $22 billion in clean energy “R&D” when we know that nuclear energy is clean energy and is being used in France and by the US Navy? Maybe the word “nuclear” is absent from GW Bush’s vocabulary or the word “nuculer” is not in the dictionary.

Leslie Sanchez,

Would love a “heads up” about how much CNN coverage there will be about talks in Saudi Arabia among oil producers. Some journalists say the meeting will just be an exercise in finger-pointing, but I’m wondering how much time CNN will devote to tomorrow’s meeting and when CNN’s coverage of the event will air–early, midday, late?

Cindy, GA………….

You seem to be the first to blog in many of these articles……….it’s a shame, because the first thing most see is a very pro GOP opinion with no facts and all BS. Your candidate McCain is a weak one. I swear the Republican Party put him out there as a sacrificial lamb.

This entry probably will not be allowed but I had to make the statement……………………..Obama and Bush have nothing in common. This author can spin, spin, spin……..if you know what I mean.

If I vote for McCain, how will anything change? McCain says he wants to drill but Congress says no. How will it be different under McCain than Bush?

Does the governor of Alaska want to drill for oil?

No nuke plants unless there is a 1000% guarantee we won’t have another three mile island.

Come on now, just because titles to policies are similar, the substance and willingness to put these policies ahead of the other gross misjudgments of President Bush’s cabinet are extremely different. At least for those of us who like to read and decide for ourselves instead of listing to pandering journalists.

Nobody spins it more and better than Republicans. Do you really want to compare Bush to Obama? That is hysterical! Anything not to compare your candidate (John McCain) with our current (lack of) leadership.

Leslie:

The United States has always had ” cheap ” oil. That is why we never developed a long term energy policy, which included alternatives to fossil fuel. We use 20 million barrels of oil per day. We only started paying attention as we watched the price go up,up up. Now all of a sudden all the politicians and the American people want to point fingers and blame it on everyone else. In reality we are all to blame for this mess.

Susan
Phoenixville,PA

P.S. We still have ” cheap ” oil. Are we really going to deal with our energy problems?????? OR Are we just going to do a bunch of short term fixes?????????????

Kent, if McCain is such a weak candidate, then why is Obama only leading him by 5-7% in the polls? There’s still so much we don’t know about Obama.

I have a simple solution to the gas crisis:

OPEC sells oil for $138.00 a barrel.

OPEC nations buy U.S. grain for $7.00 a bushel.

SOLUTION: Sell grain for $138.00 a bushel to OPEC nations.

Can’t afford it? Too damn bad, EAT YOUR OIL!

Then the price of oil will come down.

The one thing I see missing from these policies is a dedication to balance the pursuit of oil with the preservation of the environment especially as concerns habitat loss for wildlife. The Bush administration has been very unfriendly to this cause having only placed arppoximately 60 species on the Endangered List in the entire 8 years of his administration while his father and Clinton averaged 60 each year of their administration.

As far as the US taking the lead on climate change I think if you read the daily reports you will find that other countries who are trying to help combat climate change as well still consider the US as a laggard on this issue and not anywhere near a leader. We are the problem child and while US citizens can hardly wait for Bush to leave office these other countries on the subject of climate change can hardly wait either - they have stated that nothing of any substance on climate change will occur on Bush’s watch.

Annie Kate
Birmingham AL

Obama is right, we can’t drill our self out of this mess. You don’t see Brazil drilling off their beautiful coast lines and their are already energy independent of foreign oil. We need a long term solution without oil.

oil = wars and the past

Clean energy = peace and the future

Chris in VA- Excellent idea. That’s free trade if there ever was. I’m voting for you.

Mary- There was war long before oil and there will be war long after clean energy.

It’s true it may take 10 years to bring any oil we drill for to market. It’s also true that it will take longer to wean ourselves of it. Even if the US citizen no longer needs oil in the near future the airlines, military, and space program still will. For at least the next 50 years. We will still be dependent on foreign oil and that is unacceptable. We need to be responsible for our own oil. So drill and get it until we TRULY no longer need it.

the more i see him talk without the TelePrompTer the less i come to like Obama. My goodness, did we make a mistake nominating him??

It’s time we stop passing our energy problems on to the next generation. $22 Billion is not enough, more needs to be done to end our dependency on non-renewable energy.

There are some considerable differences between Bush and Obama.

Bush:
Invaded Iraq for big oil.
Supports huge tax breaks for oil companies.
Supports drilling ourselves out of the oil crisis

I find it very odd that Bush claims that Americans are addicted to oil, and on the other hand he encouraging consumption (by drilling)! It is like getting a heroin addict on rehab program by increasing the patient’s heroin consumption! Something is very wrong with this logic.

Emma…………..

There still are alot of undecided voters. That poll is a confusing one. I can’t explain it. Hopefully there will be some debates that bring real issues out into the forefront that show the candidates together. More of the same Republican policies? I just can’t see it. Our country cannot sustain the pace it is at right now. What is the real mission in Iraq? That war is doing more harm to us financially than we are doing good over there. Relief has to come soon……………….we need fixing right here in our own country.

They showed a car running for an hour on water alone yesterday on tv. They remarked that the oil companies would probably be shutting that guy up soon. What is going on here? I think he is on to something. That is a great option to look at. Enough with the oil. I started walking to work. No more. I’ll drive in an emergency……………..

Obama is right!!! We also should have done this when Jimmy Carter told us to do it. BUT NOOOO, the big oil companies came in and took over the White House. Reagan even took all the solar panels off the White House that Carter had installed. We are just like the frog in the pan of water, the oil companies just kept creeping up the heat (cost) till we can’t jump out anymore without a whole lot of pain and change.
And the pain is in our pocket book!!!

Sometime during the early day’s of the Busch administration cheney met with CEO’s of oil company’s and what came from that $4.00gas & two war’s. Go Obama 08

We need any type of help we can get to start drilling as soon as possible.
Obama doesn’t have a plan.
He just zeroxes other peoples plans, stump speeches and now Bush’s energy policy

No experience, empty suit and not honest

Obama cannot do or say anthing without his speech writers.

He has no clue of what is going on in this country.

If he is elected President it will be a disaster for our country.

He is raising millions, so there fore he is buying the presidency. He dosen’t want to take public financing now, what a flip flopper. This man
lies about everything. A democrat for 30 years, will now vote for McCain.

once again the republicans are at it comparing obama to bush is the funniest thing i have ever heard thats like comparing apples to oranges you see the repugs know mcsame is another bush and they know we the people know so they are real scared their gonna lose and guess what they are now thats funny bellive the republican lies and youll belive anything!!!!!!!

I agree with Cindy. Barack Obush does like to steal other peoples ideas because he has none himself. Eventually every one will see that he is just like every other politician. He will tell you anything he thinks you want to hear just to get your vote and then he will go ahead and do whatever he likes. I’d almost like him to get elected just so he can explain why he can’t take the troops out of Iraq just yet. There is no such thing as change, it’s just old stuff rehashed and presented in a new way.

I can’t even believe you call yourselves a news organization.

Don’t you care about your PLANET!

Don’t you care about your CHILDREN!

What is CNN trying to do…give us war with Iran, Offshore drilling in seismically active CA & AK, Nuclear power plants when natural disasters have been increasing, erosion of the constitution (FISA, Patriot act).

This is not a game and it is not for entertainment. Get new advertisers! Stop selling out your country and the whole worlds future. Keep them honest!

Maybe if Bush was up for re-election the price of Gas would go down, after all isnt that how it has worked for the last 7 years??? Election time = cheap gas, right??? All some one has to do is lie to Bush and say he is up for a 3rd time and gas will drop