Who Really Supports the Bush-Cheney Energy Plan?

John McCain seems to be gaining traction on Barack Obama in a large part due to the energy crisis.  Senator Obama stumbled by suggesting that we could save the amount of fuel generated by new off-cost drilling simply by maintaining the correct tire pressure for our cars. I remember this energy saving tip was provided as a public service announcement by Mario Andretti back in the day.    For some one who is running to solve some of our country’s biggest problems, it simply didn’t seem too, well presidential. It seems more like a topic for Hints from Heloise.

The Obama campaign must have gotten the message that these household hints during speeches aren’t a substitute for specifics on national energy policy when the McCamp camp started handing out tire gauges with ‘Obama’s energy plan’ emblazoned on the sides.  Obama immediately responded with both an ad and a very long speech.  The few specifics layed out by the plan aren’t very earthshattering. I already attacked one of his suggestions as simply bad economics in my blog yesterday.  Any tax placed on the sellers of a price-sensitive product will be passed on immediately to the buyers.  So, the suggestion of a $1000 tax rebate to the taxpayers based on windfall profits will just eventually come from higher prices at the pump.  So, you get a rebate with one hand and you get higher gas prices with the other hand.  Since we’ve never seen an Obama transcript, I’ll just have to speculate that he never took Economics 101 or 102.  I should know because I’m a professor of economics and I teach those classes.

I reviewed Obama’s ad yesterday and found one attack on McCain.  This was the charge that McCain is simply supporting the Bush-Cheney Energy plan.  I checked into the voting records for the 2005 Bush Cheney Energy plan and found something astounding.  McCain voted against it.  Obama voted for it.  It didn’t take long for McCain to pick up on this.  i heard a McCain speach today in Lima, Ohio pointing out that Obama voted FOR the Bush-Cheney Energy plan while he voted against it.  The Bush-Cheney Energy plan was generally seen at the time as a series of huge handouts to petroleum interests.   So, how is it that Obama voted for it and McCain voted against it?

McCain policy advisor Dough Holtz-Eaken had this to say in a press release reprinted by the Chicago Sun-Times.

While distorting John McCain’s vision for energy independence, Barack Obama is also misleading the American people when he says John McCain supported the Bush-Cheney energy policy. Let there be no mistake: the only candidate who voted to give tax breaks to Big Oil is Barack Obama when he supported the 2005 Bush-Cheney energy bill that gave $2.8 billion in subsidies to the oil companies. John McCain voted against this bill for the very reason that he opposed these tax breaks to oil companies and as president he will ensure their repeal. While he may decry them on the campaign trail, Barack Obama had no problem standing side-by-side with the oil companies while in the United States Senate.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/08/mccain_policy_advisor_doug_hol.html

I’ve seen the ad playing on CNN.  This has to be a misstep by the Obama campaign.  Why would you actually bring attention to such an obviously questionable charge?  A quick check of campaign contributors also shows that Obama has also taken a lot of money from Big Oil as has the McCain campaign.  Why would you charge your opponent with being in the pocket of big oil with such an obvious elephant in your own room?  (And this could be that Obama, at the time, voted more Republican than McCain) Senator Obama must think the press will cover for him by not pointing out the obvious about the contradictions in his behavior and campaign rhetoric.

Taking on high oil prices is going to play much better in Peoria and Omaha than giving speeches in front of German Victory monuments shouting out with “I am a citizen of the world”.  I can really see a McCain ad coming with this contrast set out for those of us living in the big fly over.

Once again, we see the Audacity of Hype.

The McCain Ad:

and the Obama response:

Again, linking McCain to the Bush-Cheney Energy plan when McCain voted against it and Obama voted for it, seems an odd tactic.  I think this will back fire big time if there’s actually some discussion of the facts-on-the ground.  I’m sure the RNC is just waiting for the DNC convention to nominate this clearly in-over-his head candidate before the attack ads start in full.

Please, delegates, run away from an Obama nomination as quickly as possible.