Obama mocks 'drill here...drill now'
Posted: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 11:56 AM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Obama said McCain is taking a page from the “Bush-Cheney playbook” on energy, saying his only solution is to drill anywhere and everywhere for oil.
“That’s what he talked about yesterday, ‘I want to drill here. I want to drill now,’” Obama said, quoting McCain talking in Sturgis, S.D. “I don’t know where he was standing. I think he was in a building somewhere. This plan will not lower prices today; it won’t lower prices during the next administration.”
He did say that increasing domestic production “has its place,” but that oil companies should be forced to use all of the land they currently lease before expanding it. Obama also repeated much of his energy platform announced yesterday, again claiming McCain’s support for offshore drilling preceded a boon in contributions from energy executives.
“After one president in the pocket of the oil companies; we can’t afford another,” he said. “For the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we have to end the age of oil.”
Speaking in the Buckeye State, Obama also treaded carefully when an audience member said he was tired of seeing old lawmakers deciding policy for new generations. The man did not mention McCain, but Obama, now 47 years and one day old, recognized it was a “kind of tricky question for me.”
“You know I've got colleagues in the Senate who are doing just outstanding work and they're well into their 70s and they've got incredible energy,” he said, specifically mentioning Sen. Ted Kennedy. He also said he thought term limits could shift a balance of power to lobbyists. “And so my attitude is, I'm less concerned about what age folks are than what are they doing. And if they are not looking out for your interests, then it's time to throw the bums out.”
