Obama Caves On Drilling

Barack Obama has seen which way the wind is blowing on gas prices, and today he changed his mind about offshore drilling:

“My interest is in making sure we’ve got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices,” Obama said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post.

“If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage—I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done.”

Obama left no doubt about the political calculation behind his flip-flop:

“The Republicans and the oil companies have been really beating the drums on drilling,” Obama said in the Post interview. “And so we don’t want gridlock. We want to get something done.”

As I’ve said before, there is no philosophical or political principle that Obama cares much about, other than the desirability of his own ascension to the Presidency. So we can look forward to more such shifts between now and November.

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