How about get off his ass and push ANWR drilling? How about suspending gas tax? How about gettign the EPA out of the gas formualtion business? How about stepping in and fast tracking permits for refinery construction (I know feds can't do it directly, but use the blly pulpit). How about opening up the strategic reserves? How about putting the hammer down on opec and make sure they come out monday saying they are increasing production?
Unfortunately Bush can do almost none of those things. Only Congress can allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; even at the present petroleum price levels, the Congress dares not budge because the American people care too much about the liberal translation of a scientific paper on the mating habits of the porcupine caribou. Only Congress can suspend the gasoline tax, and they never shall suspend this odious levy because it provides a gravy train for projects absolutely necessary to the defeat of the terrorists such as a paved parking lot at a Montana sheep ranch and an indoor rain forest in Iowa.
Congress put the Environmental Protection Agency in the gasoline regulation business, and only the Congress can extricate the Agency from said business; Congress will not act because the health of American air depends critically upon these regulations, at least according to certain environmental organizations. Permitting the construction of refineries requires the Congress to act because the Congress legislated a significant portion of the current prohibition against the construction of petroleum refineries.
Although the President perhaps could open the strategic reserves without an Act of Congress, doing so only would deplete the reserves just before hurricane season without solving the long-term petroleum crisis. This measure would provide temporary relief at best, and depletion of the reserves would encumber the American economy in the event of a real crisis, whether a terrible hurricane or a sudden supply disruption at the hands of Venezuela or Iran. Bush will not and should not compromise our national security by opening the strategic petroleum reserves.
The Oil Producing and Exporting Countries effectively has maximized petroleum production or sided with the enemies of the United States or both. The advance of communism in Venezuela and the saber-rattling of the theocratic dictator in Iran have imperiled the security of future oil supplies, leading to the present price rise. China and India meanwhile continue to demand enormous quantities of petroleum to fuel their incredibly inefficient, highly polluting economies as they gradually evolve from communism to socialism and thence hopefully to capitalism.
Given the obvious political constraints, the best available short- and long-term solutions involve trading cars away in favor of bicycles and the development of alternative liquid fuels available in private ownership within the red states. The President certainly has set an example by embracing the bicycle, and he has seen the political constraints to begin work on the second. Solving the crisis will take decades more.
Drilling ANWAR will not reduce the price that we are paying now. ANWAR will take years to come on line and will only knock about 50 cents of the cost of a barrel of oil. Expanding the supply to lower the cost is no longer an option, given the extent to which China and India are increasing their consumption of oil. I agree with Charles Krauthammer: put a tax on gas that holds the price of a gallon of gas at $3.00 and use the revenues to fund the development of alternatives to oil. The era is of Cheap Oil is over. The fat lady has sung. Stick a folk in it, it's done.
I have been dumbfounded over Bush's 2nd term. It seems that he is in need of a spark. Something is wrong. If he truly believed we need to drill in ANWR, it seems he could have twisted more arms in Congress. I hope the powers that be in the Republican leadership will understand clearly that the Republicans will "rightfully" deserve to lose both houses on Congress because they are failing to save this Republic. The RINOS in the party are the cancer that will put the final nail in the coffin. The elites in Washington truly are beyond arrogant. It has been difficult to acknowledge but a part of me wants the Republicans to be serious flushed in 06 so that maybe, just maybe some damn idiot in the party will realize that "more government truly isn't a good thing" and that we need a physical, impregnable wall built along our borders -- in other words, we need a leader with balls. I sometimes wonder just what pressure Laura exerts on issues such as the environment and education. I can understand that people believe that "government is there to help" but the reality is that on social issues government NEVER succeeds when it undertakes these socialist programs. An ideal president would be from the Warrior class, a William Wallace. We need a President would will finally help the American taxpayer get rid of the 70% of government that is pure Socialism. Right now I have ZERO interest in voting in 06; screw the Republican leadership in Congress - a bunch of pathetic fools. Sorry for the babbling rant.... lol.