Things Have Come to This…

7th August 2008 Charles J. Brown
04:30 pm

Things Have Come to This…

Yes, it was parody. And no, I don’t agree with everything she proposes in her spoof campaign ad — for example, I’m not convinced offshore drilling is either environmentally or economically feasible.

But am I the only one who thinks that Paris Hilton’s compromise energy plan makes a lot more sense than those espoused by either candidate? At least it moves beyond the gotcha politics that both sides are pursuing so diligently right now and tries to come up with a real solution.

So what does that say about our politics that parody makes more sense than reality?

Sigh.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under foreign policy, politics. It is tagged under Barack Obama, election 2008, energy, John McCain, Paris Hilton. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 2 responses to “Things Have Come to This…”

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1 On August 7th, 2008, Joel Suarez said:
“Her” “plan” actually makes no sense at all. Her claim that offshore drilling will “carry us” until new technologies are produced is rather stupid because it assumes that it takes no time to actually tap that oil. The truth is that even if we start drilling right now, it will be nearly 10 years before we could even start using that oil and how much is projected to be produced is insignificant compared to our growing consumption rate. I’m sorry to say but hilton, mccain, and obama have it all wrong.

The Energy Information Administration of the US government notes in their last annual survey:

“The projections in the OCS [Outer Continental Shelf] access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.”

Considering that it will be nearly 10 years before the US could actually extract this oil and that offshore oil production would reach 200,000 barrels a day (0.2 percent of projected world production) at peak production in close to twenty years, it is clear why many deride offshore drilling as a wasteful non-solution.
2 On August 7th, 2008, Bob Miller said:
What, precisely, is the difference between Ms. Hilton’s plan and Obama’s? Obama has already said he will (a) agree to off-shore drilling IF (b) it is part of a larger plan that invests in energy technology and energy independence. Obama knows what Joel Suarez points out about off-shore drilling (that it’s a red herring), and my guess is he’s betting that allowing it doesn’t mean it will ever get done, because (b) will make it more risky for investors. The key to his policy is the IF.