Obama shifts on offshore oil drilling

Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 11:08 am

In a sudden and major shift, Democrat Barack Obama said, he would be willing to support limited additional offshore oil drilling if that would help promote alternative energy sources – a proposal, he has repeatedly blasted rival John McCain for supporting.

The presumptive Republican nominee, meanwhile, defended an Internet advertisement mocking the Democratic Presidential candidate as a presumptuous messianic figure, saying it was important to “display a sense of humour” in the Presidential contest.

The rapid fire developments yesterday (August 1, 2008) capped a week of campaigning in which the two White House hopefuls sharpened their attacks on each other, escalating the rhetoric and prompting each campaign to accuse the other of injecting race into the Presidential debate.

Obama, who has campaigned on a platform of change, previously ridiculed a push by the Republicans to open off-shore areas to oil exploration, in a bid to bring down surging energy prices. The country’s economic woes have largely eclipsed other issues in the Presidential race.

The first term Illinois senator, in comments echoed by other critics of the proposal, had argued that any new oil found would take years to come onto the market – and that conservation and fuel-efficient vehicles, were a quicker solution to soaring costs.

But Obama told a Florida newspaper in an interview, that he could support a compromise with the Republicans and oil companies to prevent gridlock over energy. “My interest is in making sure, we’ve got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices,” Obama said in the interview.

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

Obama shifts on offshore oil drilling

From World:

Todays news from World News Alerts

Advertisement

Email Subscription

Advertisement