Energy Will Be Obama's Waterloo ( wishful thinking?)

By William Tucker on 3.2.12 @ 6:09AM

excerpts:

• When President Obama suggested last week that we might eventually be replacing oil with algae, Mark Whittington of Yahoo suggested that the President had reached his "lunar base moment."[ comment:  It isn't even clear what the author means by "lunar base moment", except that Obama is spending money on oil from algae research.  Does he mean that it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to develop this technology, as Romney said in a debate?  "Cocking its head" isn't the same as proof, you know.  The proof follows successful demonstrations.  If the public is willing to believe Obama's claims, the attempt at a proof may be allowed!]
• This will be the first issue in four years where President Obama won't be able to cast reflexive blame on George Bush.[ comment:  Not so fast!  See above.  They've gotten this far, haven't they?  How do you explain Obama's presence in the White House?]
• Last year when temperatures rose to 110 degrees in Texas, that state's 7 percent "wind capacity" proved absolutely useless in the heat-induced doldrums. [ comment: To be fair, the author then makes a series of very good points about the impracticality of Obama's green initiatives.  But the point is this:  can Obama fool people long enough in order to get elected?  The full brunt of the price increases may not be felt by election day.]
• With extraordinary chutzpah, Obama has claimed credit for the increase in oil and gas production through fracking technology. [ comment:  As Abraham Lincoln once said: "You can fool some of the people most of the time, most of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time".  You don't have to fool all the people, just most of the people long enough in order to win an election.]
• The good news for Republicans is that the battle lines are drawn. After a summer of $5 gas plus power shortages in industrial regions, the results of four years of Obama energy policies will be hard to avoid. And there won't be any George Bushes around to take the blame.

Comment:

Sure, if a skillful campaign focuses on these very points, the Republican nominee may have a winning issue in November.  The point is that as long as Romney keeps running a vapid, issueless campaign based upon negative attacks on the opponent, as opposed to a campaign based upon issues and offering clear inspirational choices, none of this will matter.