Nothing for Something

Earlier this month, President Obama announced a plan to open much of the Atlantic and Arctic seaboards for offshore drilling. Most view it as a means to get Republicans and conservative Democrats in the Senate on board for a climate-change bill. But given that the Republican-bloc strategy is to oppose everything that Obama and the Democrats propose, this move raises fears that--in the words of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)--that Obama is "giving up something for nothing."

But perhaps Obama is being craftier that Menendez lets on. The move may convince a few moderate senators to vote for a climate bill. Or it may make it easier to paint Republicans as unthinking, obstinate reactionaries who care more about scoring political points than making good-faith attempts to improve the country. This should give Democrats a useful political argument for the 2010 mid-terms, also theoretically making it easier to pass a climate bill.

Now here's the kicker: Most of the land offshore won't be open for drilling until 2012. Who knows what the economics of energy will be like then, especially if a bill passes in 2010/2011? It may not be worth the cost to energy companies to explore and drill offshore, in which case Obama would be getting something for nothing.

But these are high stakes, and the fact remains that we can't drill our way out of global warming. We can't even drill our way to energy independence. The only solution is to replace fossil fuels with wind, solar, and even nuclear energy. So let's make sure that in the course of his political gamesmanship, Obama does not lose sight of that.