I know you are reading this, 18 minutes and more promises:

Wednesday – June 16, 2010

I know you are reading this, 18 minutes and more promises:

I want to start today’s FORUM with a retraction. On Monday, I wrote that the President would address the nation that night. Well, last night was his scheduled address. I didn’t catch the typo and I apologize. Thank you, David for pointing out the error. I know I am being read, because I do get responses.

Well, last night was historical. The President used the Oval Office to address the nation. Kennedy used it during the Cuban missile crisis, Eisenhower used it, Roosevelt used it, Reagan and Bush used it and I am sure future Presidents will also use it. The difference is that when other Presidents used the office it wasn’t to increase their poll numbers or to deflect blame. The other president’s approval ratings were not as low as this president’s either.

President Obama is the first president not to use the Oval office for a speech in his first year as President. Richard Nixon used it to announce his resignation.

The President was not responsible for the oil spill. Let me say that again, he was not responsible for the oil spill. However, what he is responsible for is the current crisis the current outcome and the devastation that has been caused by this man made disaster. This was not a terror attack, that this administration would label a man made disaster. The President and the administration cannot hold BP solely responsible. There is no reason to drill for oil in 5,000 feet of water. The reason why, is that technology does not exist that will address this type of man made disaster.

The environmentalist, the Democratic Party and many liberals have forced these oil companies to drill in these depths, so that the oil rigs will not be visible. The President intimated the reason why we drill in these depths is, because conventional drilling does not yield the crude that our energy demands require. He said “we consume 20% of the world’s oil and we have only 2% of the worlds supply.” There are untapped, known reserves that we are prohibited from touching. There are reserves in Alaska that we have known about for decades and we cannot drill there, because of the “environmental impact”. I don’t know about you, but I cannot think of a worse environmental impact than what is happening in the GULF today.

1/3 of the president’s 18 minute speech was devoted to new initiatives. There was not one mention of what is being done to stop the leak, except that a new relief well is being worked on to stop the leak and that will take time. He said “there will be more oil and damage before the siege is done.” This is precisely the problem!

We cannot demonize the energy producers. What we can do is lift the demands that make them operate in conditions that cause risk, because there is no technology that reduces the risk when accidents happen or a man made disaster occurs.

As the President laid out the challenges for the future, he moved his agenda. He said, “we are unsure about what that looks like.” This is, again, precisely the problem with his agenda. We cannot depend on what he is saying. This was not oil clean up speech; this was a political clean up speech. He wants a new energy initiative. Remember, Rahm Emanuel said,"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." If you listened to the President last night I believe this was the hidden message. Last night was not the time to speak in code, it was the time to lead and excuses were not needed.

I wanted the president to level with me and tell me what went wrong. I didn’t want him to talk about all the brains working on this. I wanted to know what was happening today to clean up the environment.
What he failed to do was take the responsibility. This Administration did not tell us why they turned down help and turned down the equipment that was offered by the Brits, the Dutch the Norwegians and yes, the Mid East oil nations that would have collected the oil at the site by siphoning, by dispersing and by cleaning the water at the source. It is now day 57 and the oil is still spewing and he asked us to be patient.

Not only the environment is at stake, our financial environment it at risk now and I am afraid the President will use that as an excuse when the economy fails again, because of the man that caused the disaster, after the one he was not responsible for. This is what he needs to learn and he didn’t in the 18 minutes that our attention was turned to him in the people’s office!

One last thought the two words the president didn’t use were liberty and freedom, because a good energy policy would give us both.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: Just a reminder in case you didn’t already know there are now 139 days until we get to invest our 18 minutes with our vote for liberty and freedom.